Is it time to harvest all the tomatoes?

With rain forecast and dropping temperatures should I bring in the rest of my tomatoes? I have a number in the pinkish/reddish stage as well as lots of green ones.

I have been bringing mine in the house for the last week or so, and putting them in flats in a semi warm area but not in a sunny spot, tryed that they didnt like that at all, and they have been riping just fine. If yours are pinkish/red it would even work better mine where green. And nothing is better than fresh green fried tomatoes.
Tilly

Thanks Tilly, I had planned on the fried green tomatoes. Do you use bread crumbs or do you have a secret recipe?

One FGT recipe:

Slice tomatoes - dip in flour, beaten egg, cracker crumbs - and fry in bacon grease!!!!!! No calories and absolutely heart healthy!!!! Well, they make me smile and that makes MY heart happy!!!!!

Oh boy wannadanc, does that sound good! Since bacon is on my no-no list from my doctor do you think canola oil would be a big flop! Or maybe olive oil? Darn! lol

Nummy - need to try that!!!!

KatyMac - I wouldn't want to steer you wrong - but this is one of those times that I say "to heck w/ the rules" - so you alone must decide about that. The bacon is such a huge part of what "makes" this taste right (to me) .... and there is no other time in my life that I use bacon fat (any more) .... time was when it was the only show in town. I am recapturing the childhood memory in the bacon part of it.

I used to cook oysters the exact same way w/ the same breading, but have decided that most any of the safer oils are fiine, as oysters have so much inherent flavor.

Okay, bacon is on the shopping list. BLTs with fresh tomatoes are another taste of heaven. Sorry Doc! lol

Wannadance has the same resipe as I done, and the only other thing that is good in bacon grease is fried potatoes, onions, and eggs. Yum Yum made it for dinner last night.
You only live once so once in a while it dosent hurt to injoy food, just dont over do it.
Wannadance are you from the south?

Tillysrat - nope - no Southern belle here - Alaska born - Western Washington reared

It just thought you might be, I'm a kindaTexas brat, even though I wasn't born there but my whole family was, and grandma always used bacon grease or lard. In every thing she cooked.

I've been watching the weather. I was told to bring them in just before first frost, so mine are still on the vines. A small bunch of cherry tomatoes fell off and I brought that into the house as a 'test' and they ripened just fine.

Gwen

Good to know - we have so many!!! We've eaten a ton of the cherry tomatoes, though, and are just hoping for the big ones.

A fine sodden mess of a day.
Why oh why can't the rain comply and dump its load at night?
I got so cold yeasreday from being out in the wet that i was chilled to the bone.
Friday would have been a very good day to bring the toms in. Now I will run out to salvage them, and give each one a little drying.
The cherry toms are splitting their skins this year. There are loads of larger green toms doomed to remain in that colour category, I'm afraid. FGT? Hmmm, I'm one of those "graze in the garden" types. Jeez - the corn doesn't even make it into the house, I like stuff right off the plant. I suppose with all this precipitation i will have plenty of time to peruse the recipes previously mentioned on another thread for the FGTs...
And as one who doesn't eat bacon, anything i have ever had fried in bacon grease has a superb flavor!

Wannadanc - where were you born. I was born and raised in Fairbanks. Came down to Oregon in 1981 to finish college. Came to Seattle in 1985.

Katie - I was conceived and born in Ketchikan .........and came south to Seattle at the age of 18 months. I didn't get back to the land of my birth until nearly 40 years later - and have made several visits there since .........up to Fairbanks, as well.

I was in Ketchikan in about 1975 or 6. It's a great little town, nestled between the mountains and the water. It's great that you've gotten back to visit. I haven't been back that much since I left. There are certainly things I do miss.

Katie - my parents were married there, and Dad worked hauling bags of coal on his back up the hills to the houses. I can't remember what he reported his pay was - but 10¢ a bag rings a bell of sorts. This was back before Statehood was granted.

Wow, wanna, that's amazing. It would be great if your dad would right all that down for you, if he's still around. Years ago my parents did that and I was so surprised at what came out that I hadn't heard before. Great story.

I'm still kicking myself for not having my mom write things down - she has Alzheimer's now and, although her memories are now more interesting and sometimes downright amusing, they aren't our real history! My dad's mind is pretty good, but he's forgotten a lot of things (they are 87 and 88).

I know what you mean. After my dad wrote his story, his brother read it . . . and then told him that he had the facts wrong from a particularly traumatic point in their early adulthood. They both had put it out of their minds for so long that it "morphed" into something else for each of them.

I'm sorry about your mom, but it sounds like she's past the point of anxiety. I hope so.

Thanks . . . yes, she is generally fairly happy. And doesn't realize she has anything wrong except a "poor memory." We're wanting to keep it that way - she always dreaded "not having her mind" so she just doesn't need to know (she would forget anyway, but I don't want to see the dismay she would feel if she knew for even one minute).

My brother and I remember some things differently from our childhood - I presume just because we literally experienced, or felt, it differently. Neither one right or wrong. He and I are very close - best friends even - so sometimes we chuckle at the differences.

Glad you and your brother are so close. It must help to be sharing the worry for your mom. My dear aunt is in the same boat. She still thinks most of the time that her [deceased] husband is away on a trip (as he was when he was alive) and that he'll come to take her home. I find comfort in knowing that she's anticipating that. And I think that now her kids do, too.

As we ponder the loss of history by not asking enough questions of our ancestors, don't forget your children and how much your sharing of history with them will have unending value. Whether you write it, tell it, video tape it, or DVD it - it is an incredible gift. Katie - my parents both passed away over 20 years ago - within two months of each other and just shy of their 50th anniversary. At least they were together for the celebration. Tough times for those of us left behind.

Yes, I can imagine it was a tough time for all of you.

It's hard to imagine that I'm old enough to have a history :-). Just can't quite make myself believe it. Where did the time go?

But wannadanc, you're so right. My brother, who is 61 this year, has kept journals of various kinds since he was in highschool. He's a doctor by profession, but we always laugh that he's a closet librarian. He is great at compiling notebooks of 'funny things the kids said when they were growing up' or 'songs we sang growing up.'