SATURDAY'S BEST BOOK DIARY: Barry Eastbrook's TOMATOLAND

Barry Eastbrook's TOMATOLAND is the story of the modern industrial tomato.  To corporate industry, the goal is not taste but yield, tomatoes per acre, + appearance, the two things which equal quick sales.  That, plus the downgrading of labor.  This valuable book shows how the corporate efficiency experts changed their tomatoes into high-yield varieties sprayed with poisons that look pretty but taste bland and indeed seem to be full of chemical changes that are unhealthy.

In these last days of August, in our own garden, the vines on our cucumbers dry up.  The bib lettuce is gone, the peppers are gone, even the squash vines are dried up.  We still have pumpkins on the vine, and best of all, we still have plenty of tomatoes.  We'll keep them going as long as we can.

Just Listen to John Denver's "Homegrown Tomatoes" at this link.   A very catchy tune, and the words will grow on you:

There's nothin' in the world that I like better
Than bacon 'n lettuce 'n homegrown tomatoes.
Up in the mornin', out in the garden
Get you a ripe one, don't pick a hard 'un,
Plant'em in the spring, eat'em all summer--
All winter without 'em is a culinary bummer
I forget all about the sweatin' and the diggin'
Every time I go out and pick me a big 'un


You can go out to eat and that's for sure
But there's nothin' a homegrown tomato won't cure.
Put 'em in a salad, put 'em in a stew,
You can make your very own tomato juice.
You can eat 'em with eggs, eat 'em with gravy,
You can eat 'em with beans, pinto or navy
Put 'em on the side, put 'em in the middle,
Homegrown tomatoes on a hot cake griddle.


Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes
What would life be without homegrown tomatoes?
Only two things that money can't buy--
That's true love and homegrown tomatoes.