End of Tomatos

If you are a pizza snob like me by now you would have noticed that imported San Marzano tomatoes are now selling for $6 (give-or-take) for a large can.  Sure, you can purchase a quality domestic product for less $$$; but there is nothing like the genuine article grown in the rich volcanic soils in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.  Alas, the on-again, off-again, individually and personally negotiated Trump import duties (tariffs) are taxes that make imported food an expensive nuisance.  Such is the price of snobbery.

If my household was supporting a spouse and three teenage kids consuming a gallon of milk a day I would also tell you the bread, fresh fruit, produce, beef, dairy, deli meat for lunches and eggs are also up in price too.  And for a working family trying to make ends meet on the grocery bill along with sports uniforms and extracurriculars and a mortgage - life might be a challenge under Trump inflation and taxes.  But he doesn't care.  And I digress.

Last week, after putting the big garden to bed, I finally canned the last batch of San Marzano tomatoes grown in the crappy clay soil of my peninsula garden.  One bowl yielded two last pints of these garden gems.  So, yeah, there is a means to cutting costs.  Grow your own applies to veggies too.  And these are pretty darn tasty.  My two - yes, only two - San Marzano plants were tomato factories. The bunker shelves are well-stocked. 

In closing I want to announce that the big garden is being retired.  It's being seeded into native pollinator cover this fall and I'm going to install 2-3 raised garden beds in the front yard and fill them with decent topsoil and composted goodness.  I'm done gardening on my hands and knees.  Furthermore, if I want to make a giant batch of pickles there is always the Sturgeon Bay Saturday Farmers Market.

After thirty years of gardening I'm scaling-back....