The tomatoes are ripening at a much faster pace now. We keep a chart on the refrigerator, tallying each day's tomato harvest. So far, we have harvested 175 pounds, but 62 lb.9 oz was just from this haul we got yesterday. There are many more to come...
I am trying to freeze, dry and can at the same pace as the harvest. I have now canned 21 quarts of tomatoes - my first venture into canning ever. The Gold Medals will make an exotic golden meal next winter.
We were pleasantly surprised at how readily our urban pooches became farm dogs. They seemed to know instinctively know that the livestock are to be protected, not chased, even though they chase rabbits and squirrels obsessively. Yesterday, our friend Pat arrived here from Portland OR, with her two city dogs. She did not intend to let them out of her vehicle loose, fearing they would chase the animals. But I accidently opened the van door and Billie, the bigger black dog of uknown heritage, leaped out and, sure enough, raced joyously after 50 squawking, scrambling chickens. 
Here is our younger dog, Cocoa, an Australian Shepherd rescue dog who is equally good with the animals, and a good protector of the farm, although considerably more alarmist than Nutmeg is. 
Nutmeg and Cocoa are good buddies who love to play dog tag
and keep away with a stick.
Nutmeg, demonstrating the dog-herding technique on Cocoa.
Whenever we want the geese to come, we hold our arms up in a V, flap them slowly in a goose-like manner and honk loudly; they come running, honking and holding their wings high. Yes, it is a bit embarrassing, but it is very effective when you want to lure them away from the road or the patio or the garden.
For the Labor Day weekend farmers market, I created tomato tarts with our garden tomatoes - a Labor of Love. Imagine this: wheat pastry crust filled with caramelized onions and creamy gruyere cheese, topped with carefully arranged sweet tomatoes and kalamata olives, and a twist of fresh ground pepper.
Large tarts and tiny tarts, they were all snapped up quickly.
It was a pretty morning--I took my camera along to check out the other market vendors' wares. This corn truck had a great sign.
My gardener friend Richard, with some of his gigantic dahlias.
Last Saturday bought a case of 12 pints of these berries with a raspberry pie in mind, but they disappeared before I could make my pie. Note to self: Next year I will have raspberries...
and plant grape vines...
and lots of sunflowers!
Early mornings the past week have been foggy, with the sun rising vivid hot pink --unfortunately the color just can't be captured in a photo.
Geese in the driveway at dawn.
Sunrise through fennel.
The tomatoes are finally ripening despite ongoing cool weather. They seem to be taking their time. That may be a plus-- they are coming in at a rate we can easily handle now. We have picked a few of the delicious big heritage tomatoes, Brandywine, Purple Cherokee and Gold Medal but many more are still very green. These two weighed in at just shy of 2 lb. and 2 lb. 2 oz --even larger ones are still on the vine.
I am gearing up to try my first canning, but first I decided to try Rog's Mom's favorite tomato preservation technique. She slices the tomatoes in half and sets them face down on a baking sheet, then roasts them just until they collapse in on themselves. 
Some tomatoes were so picture-perfect I could not bear to roast them. Perhaps they will go to the Farmers Market.
