These tomatoes are a mix of red and green as this week we’re helping out Otter Oaks by taking what fruit was left on their tomato plants. As the season is wrapping, farmer Jarvi has to completely clean up and clear out their plot at the Legends farm in Bronzeville. The land the Legends farm is on is leased yearly by The Chicago Botanical Garden as part of their urban agriculture apprenticeship program, Windy City Harvest, so at the end of each growing season there is always uncertainty around whether it will be leased again the following. Fortunately, Otter Oaks has secured a more stable land opportunity so that next season they don’t have to spend as much time clearing out, and focus on getting things started for a head start on spring. Here is a reddit thread with some ideas for how to use up end of season tomatoes!
You’ll often see a similar variety in super markets branded as sun gold. Otter Oak has been growing this particular variety of gold cherry tomatoes for a couple of seasons, and Jarvi mentioned that people will usually start asking when they’ll have them as early as June.
