Tomatoes

One of my greatest pleasures of summer is fresh, ripe tomatoes. I love having a sliced tomato for breakfast. Sometimes with a poached egg and toast.

This year, we planted 12 plants. Several of which are heirloom varieties. To date, I have only had one of my tomatoes as the squirrels have made off with the rest. The area I live in has quite a squirrel problem. I had heard that human hair deters the squirrels. While I have a bag of Sam's hair from his last haircut, I didn't have the nerve to go into a Great Cuts with a bag and ask for their hair clippings. Especially after Sam got the heeby-jeebies about it.

So, I have been forced to buy my tomatoes. One specialty store had home grown tomatoes and some Heirlooms this weekend. They were sold out on Monday, so I went to my usual grocery store. Arkansas tomatoes. Not that whippy either.

I sliced one for breakfast today and took a few bites. Absolutely no flavor. I threw out the rest of my plate. Barf.

And so, I must declare war on the squirrels. I didn't want to use a chemical deterrent. Last night, I read that squirrels are deterred by pepper smell. So, I boiled some water and soaked three habeneros that I cut up. Today, after the peppers had steeped overnight, I strained the water and added a couple of drops of dish washing liquid. Then I sprayed my plants with glee.
We'll see if I fixed those bastards or not.

The Nikko wrap is coming along swimmingly. I have about 15 inches done. When I brought it to my parents' house on Sunday, Tate admired it. That's a good sign.

I went back to the specialty store and got some homegrown tomatoes and a few heirlooms. Tonight, we will have BLTs on pumpernickel. I also smash an avocado in the Veganaise. A super easy summer dinner.