Local tomatoes abound
Kamala Gamble has stolen my dream home. Wait, can something be stolen from you if you never owned it in the first place? Quibbling.
Bottom line, her Guilford Gardens home at 2834 Guilford Lane has pretty much everything I would need to never leave home again. A monstrous kitchen, backed by an industrial kitchen, an enormous banquet table, beautiful tile floors and smart wood tables and counters with Mexican tile edging. It’s like a lodge for the food-obsessed.
And then there’s the almost one acre of land in the back and to the sides that is home to some of the city’s finest produce: tomatoes that come in heirloom, early girl, juliet, sun gold, big beef and pretty much any other variety you can imagine. Squash that is born yellow, white, green and sometimes a mix of all three. Golden beets as well as red. Small, medium and large potatoes that breach the earth brown, yellow and purple. Canteloupe, sweet potatoes, hot and sweet peppers, herbs and leafy lettuce, chard and arugula. You get the picture, and here are a few more…
Information about Kamala’s community supported agriculture operation is available on her Web site.
Another excellent source is the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, which offers food, clothing and gardening tools and equipment.
The summer basket include potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplants and okra plus supplements from other local growers such as tender, fresh corn from Millers Farm and juicy, sweet cantaloupe from Peachcrest Farms.
Kam also does cooking classes and dinner parties. More information is available here.
Kam recommends juliet tomatoes to anyone who plans to embark on their own tomato garden. She also beseeches you use organic methods, which will be kind to your soil over time and ultimately the flavor of your yield.
Big Beef, golden and heirloom tomatoes. Kam says heirloom seeds are prolific in vegetables like squash but the yield is weak but worth the patience with tomatoes.
Juicy, plump sun gold tomatoes are the perfect compliment to your summer garden salad. They offer a burst of flavor and color.
All hail the mighty heirloom. Find local producers like Kam or John Leonard in El Reno (422-2890) to enjoy the best the tomato nation has to offer.
Producers like Dev Vallencourt of High Tides and Green Fields specialize in heirlooms and peppers and are available through the food co-op. She can be reached at 405-485-2943. These producers are supported mostly by restaurants, but public support is crucial to growth, which ultimately creates competitive marketplace and cheaper prices for everyone. I’m no economist, but that’s good, right?
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Comments
Wow, David, thank you for the blurb on High Tides & Green Fields! We appreciate your comments. Our peppers (80+ varieties) and tomatoes (not so hot this year) are also available at two area farmers’ markets: Blanchard on Saturdays and Midwest City on Tuesday afternoons.
You’re right on re local support. We’d love to just sell to our neighbors from our little farm stand, but we travel many miles a week to deliver fresh, organically-grown, beautiful food so that our farm can expand a little each year. Maybe next year everyone will shop at their local farmers’ market? Yes!
Thanks so much for supporting the Oklahoma Food Cooperative which is hands down the best food deal in Oklahoma. The Natural Farms Food Cooperative in Tulsa is also worthy of consideration. Supporting these local folks by eating the best food in Oklahoma is a must.
The Oklahoma Food Cooperative, in my opinion is not worth it. I do give them credit for trying, and some of the producers are great, but over all, not a good value for the money. The meat producers especially are not up to par.
The Oklahoma Food Coop is a work in progress, so it is not to be compared to some slick multi-national corporation. But for the predominance of all my purchases, which have been over the past 5 & 1/2 years, they have gone above and beyond about 98% of the time. The greens I have purchased have been astounding. Just watch out for what they say about whether the greens are pre-washed or not. Those that are not washed have not been satisfactory to me.
In the Meat department, the free-range, grass-only beef has been excellent from Walnut Acres out in western Oklahoma. One must cook it differently than the excessively fat-laden corn-fed type meats one would purchase in a regular grocery store. No fear of genetic modification or mad-cow when you eat that meat. A grain of corn never touches their lips.
I have purchased goat-milk laundry soap and baby gift baskets that are excellent from Rowdy Stickhorse. Bars of natural soap from several vendors and they have been excellent.
Thanks for promoting local and Oklahoma producers. OkFood Coop is a shining star in this nation.
[...] July 15, 2009 by Tricia The Oklahoman’s Dave Cathey visited Guilford Gardens yesterday to photograph the variety and bounty of tomatoes available right now. Check it out! [...]