Tomatopalooza X in Efland - a perfect location, a beautiful day - no TV, no cell phones - just great people sharing and learning and talking an eating, listening to music and watching dancing....kind of like turning back the clock to a simpler time.
I would love to post some pics - but neither Sue (who never cut so many tomatoes in her life) or I got to pick up a camera once! My first thoughts of the day....showed up at noon, had 12 flats of tomatoes...took Sue, Sara, Caitlin, Sara's friend Wendy and me an hour to get them out and tagged (during which time I was completely drenched with sweat) - did the intro comments, off to the dwarf table, cut there, had a zillion tomato conversations, people kept pushing bottles of water at me (especially a very caring Debbie Moose...thanks, Debbie - you kept me hydrated), and Sue dragged me to the salsa table at one point (yum...the hot salsa, the cornbread!)....then at one point, a tomato/bacon sandwich (which was so, so appreciated - thanks, Alison - couldn't imagine anything tasting better!) - back to talking to attendees, answering questions - finally headed to the clogging area at 4:30 and sat my butt down in a chair for the first time since I got out of my truck at noon! Loved the music, singing and dancing!
Of all of the Tomatopalooza events, this one was the most blurry for me - no pics, got to taste hardly anything, day flew by in a pleasant tomatoey haze.....wow, just wow! At one point, when a refreshing breeze blew in, I thought about how hot it was back in Raleigh, and felt so happy to be in Efland! It seemed like a lot of people attended, which is great - and people didn't trickle in - they were there at the start... and they didn't trickle out - they stayed until the end! I hope the organizers collected info on who most of the people were and how they found out about it - much lower percentage of my seedling customers, many many new faces. Who were all those people?
I slept the clock around - collapsed at 11 PM, got up at 9 this morning, and my brain is so totally fried! Dean, Jim, Rich, Greg, Chris, Tim (who provided so much support in set up and clean up), Ed, Steve, Scott and Lena, Jim and his wife from South Carolina, Cris - great to see you/have great conversations. Many other friends/familiar faces I was delighted to see but didn't get nearly as much of a chance for a chat, sadly - such as Rock, Reitzel, Sarig, Gray (thanks for the beets!), and Greta - to everyone, thanks for coming, wish we had more time to chat. Lee - thanks as always. The success of the event totally lies upon the hosts (Jimmy and Fred for sharing such superb location), Lori and Brian and their cast of many helpers (Sophia, who lived at the registration table, and Magdalena, tomato cutter extraordinaire) - my three girls (Sweet Sue, Sarandipity and Caitydid), Sara's many friends. Gardens and Guns magazine was there, and an article will be forthcoming. Sara's friend, Stephen, a photographer, was also there and took lots of pics that we can't wait to see - I am sure I am forgetting other people (sorry!) and details. Oh - and mother nature - never have my own tomato contributions made up such a large percentage of stuff to taste - which makes me nervous about future events - there is a risk there...always is, but something we need to ponder for the future.
Whoosh! Tomatopalooza X has come and gone.....that was FAST!
I would love to post some pics - but neither Sue (who never cut so many tomatoes in her life) or I got to pick up a camera once! My first thoughts of the day....showed up at noon, had 12 flats of tomatoes...took Sue, Sara, Caitlin, Sara's friend Wendy and me an hour to get them out and tagged (during which time I was completely drenched with sweat) - did the intro comments, off to the dwarf table, cut there, had a zillion tomato conversations, people kept pushing bottles of water at me (especially a very caring Debbie Moose...thanks, Debbie - you kept me hydrated), and Sue dragged me to the salsa table at one point (yum...the hot salsa, the cornbread!)....then at one point, a tomato/bacon sandwich (which was so, so appreciated - thanks, Alison - couldn't imagine anything tasting better!) - back to talking to attendees, answering questions - finally headed to the clogging area at 4:30 and sat my butt down in a chair for the first time since I got out of my truck at noon! Loved the music, singing and dancing!
Of all of the Tomatopalooza events, this one was the most blurry for me - no pics, got to taste hardly anything, day flew by in a pleasant tomatoey haze.....wow, just wow! At one point, when a refreshing breeze blew in, I thought about how hot it was back in Raleigh, and felt so happy to be in Efland! It seemed like a lot of people attended, which is great - and people didn't trickle in - they were there at the start... and they didn't trickle out - they stayed until the end! I hope the organizers collected info on who most of the people were and how they found out about it - much lower percentage of my seedling customers, many many new faces. Who were all those people?
I slept the clock around - collapsed at 11 PM, got up at 9 this morning, and my brain is so totally fried! Dean, Jim, Rich, Greg, Chris, Tim (who provided so much support in set up and clean up), Ed, Steve, Scott and Lena, Jim and his wife from South Carolina, Cris - great to see you/have great conversations. Many other friends/familiar faces I was delighted to see but didn't get nearly as much of a chance for a chat, sadly - such as Rock, Reitzel, Sarig, Gray (thanks for the beets!), and Greta - to everyone, thanks for coming, wish we had more time to chat. Lee - thanks as always. The success of the event totally lies upon the hosts (Jimmy and Fred for sharing such superb location), Lori and Brian and their cast of many helpers (Sophia, who lived at the registration table, and Magdalena, tomato cutter extraordinaire) - my three girls (Sweet Sue, Sarandipity and Caitydid), Sara's many friends. Gardens and Guns magazine was there, and an article will be forthcoming. Sara's friend, Stephen, a photographer, was also there and took lots of pics that we can't wait to see - I am sure I am forgetting other people (sorry!) and details. Oh - and mother nature - never have my own tomato contributions made up such a large percentage of stuff to taste - which makes me nervous about future events - there is a risk there...always is, but something we need to ponder for the future.
Whoosh! Tomatopalooza X has come and gone.....that was FAST!
RSS Feed