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Every Sunday of Labor Day weekend for seven years now, we've had our big labor day party. We have a huge tomato tasting and potluck. This year it ran from 2pm to 8 pm. We had our first out of town guest arrive the Wednesday before. We smoked three chickens, barbecued lamballs (lamb meatballs), and barbecued corn. I organized a "Name the Goats" contest for the new little kid and the buckling. There were so many people that came that I probably only spoke with a third of them.We had many large tomato varieties at the tasting this year:
Legend. Rose de Berne. Brandywine. Super Fantastic. Stupice. Talladega. Peron. Plum Lemon. Tobolsk. Paul Robeson. Purple Cherokee. Black from Tula. Ananas Noire. Marz Round Green. Lillian's Yellow Heirloom.
(A Palestinian Tomato. The one we picked that day was over 2 pounds.)And many cherries:
Gabrielle. Peacevine Cherry. Sungold. Sunsugar. Tiny Dancer. Dr. Carolyn's Pink. Matt's Wild Cherry. Green Grape.
A few people brought their own varieties:
Red Brandywine. Momotaro. Odoriko. Kellog's Breakfast. Gardeners Delight (Cherry). Black Cherry.
The winners of the contest were as follows:
Best Flavor:
Winner: Rose de Berne
Runnerup: Sungold
Prettiest:
Winners: Ananas Noire, Black from Tula
Honorable Mention: Lillian's Yellow, Peron, Rose de Berne
Best Red:
Winners: Rose De Berne, Stupice
Runnerup: Peron
Best Purple/Black:
Winner: Purple Cherokee
Runnerups: Black Cherry, Black from Tula
Best Orange:
Winner: Tobolsk
Runnerups: Kellog's Breakfast, Tangerine , Lillian's Yellow, Sungold
Honorable Mention: Plum Lemon, Ananas Noire
Best Cherry
Winner: Sungold
Runnerups: Gardener's Delight, Tiny Dancer , Peacevine
Honorable Mention: Sunsugar, Gabrielle
Best of the Best
First: Sungold
Second: Rose de Berne
Third: Purple Cherokee
My dad, Lisa, and I judged the "Name the Goats" contest. We decided that the best names for the doeling and the buckling were Acacia (AH-KAY-SHA) and Caprihorn, respectively.After all the guests left that evening, the out of town guests and us descended on the third smoked chicken like vultures. We didn't bother with forks or plates; we just ate with our fingers. It was without a doubt the best chicken I've ever had. The next day, I left with some of the house guests for the city.
(It was the coolest, cloudiest Labor Day Party yet, reflective of the summer as a whole.)
1 comments:
What a great way to celebrate the end of the summer. I am so impressed that you can grow all of those varieties of tomatoes. My son would be in heaven. He always tells us that we can't plant too many tomatoes. One year he filled two of our raised bed with pear tomatoes. I thought we would never be done with those things. Last time I let him plant something. Great names for the goats. It sounds like a wonderful event.
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