A Year of Gratitude – July 2, 2024

It’s amazing how much gratitude you can find in something so small. If you don’t believe me, just ask a gardener how much a few homegrown cherry tomatoes can fill their heart with joy. That’s exactly what happened to me today.

I was doing a bit of pruning in the kitchen garden, removing low lying tomato branches to try and im-prove air flow and hopefully stave off disease. It’s a chore that I don’t enjoy, but I do it in the hopes of giving us a good harvest of the tomatoes that we love.

As I was making my way around the garden beds, I discovered a cluster of yellow pear tomatoes had ripened. They had been hiding behind a large leaf and I hadn’t seen them in all my trips to the garden this week.

I couldn’t believe it. First, I was surprised that I hadn’t seen that they were ripening before now. I was also surprised at them ripening sooner than expected. In the 18 years that we have tended a garden here on the farm, we have never had a ripe tomato before the Fourth of July. Finding them this year was a welcome surprise.

Three little tomatoes aren’t a big harvest, but the first harvest of ripe tomatoes is such a reason to celebrate. If these tomatoes found the conditions to ripen, there will be more to come. In fact, I’m willing to bet that they’ll be coming on soon and we’ll be enjoying thick slices of juicy tomatoes on sandwiches, burgers, and salads.

I can’t wait!

How are your tomatoes doing this year?

This post is part of our A Year of Gratitude Series. You can find the introduction, inspiration, and entire year’s gratitude’s posts here.