*LOL*

Yeah, us kids went to have some icecream at the General Store!

Thanks, Lyn, for this great story! More from me a bit later - must do some work first. :)

I don't have much time either, but wanted to post a quick note to say - it was fab :-) Lips and I had a great time and there is a great photo of the tomato table, but my hosting server is misbehaving so I can't upload it :-( Will try tomorrow

We are still recovering from the big tomato battle.
Whose tomatoes reign supreme? Bring them on - bang the gong! Mine is bigger than yours, mine is tastier than yours. Ugly scenes ensued, a tomato whizzing past, a splash here - a splatter there. Phew...we are back home. Scarred for life - but alive!

Needless to say we had a smashing time! A big thank you to Mr and Mrs Lomatia for accommodation and a great dinner on Saturday. And everbody who was involved in the planning and organisation.

It was great meeting old and new friends. And the tomatoes were an additional bonus. ;)

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This is only one section of the tomato rotunda.There were tons of tomatoes on the sides, too.

Nice hats!

Great company, great location ... who could ask for more.
My biggest thanks go to Mr and Mrs Lomatia for their very generous hospitality and a wonderful dinner on Saturday evening.
Thanks also to Kionga, Patrina, Lomatia and Totora for bringing along a fantastic selection of tomatoes.
It was a treat to put faces to names - Lomatia, Totora, Mabb and Lynlyn and to meet up again with others.
This year some local residents came along and were thrilled to discover tomatoes with flavour. Some took away seeds of their favourites to try out next year.
I discovered a few that will be on my grow list next year - Green Giant and Black Brandywine being for me two stand out varieties.
All in all, a wonderful weekend.
Ray

What's with the hats? Going cheap or something? ;)

Sounds like a hoot. And glad to hear the Mystery Green was keeping such esteemed company. Thanks for the feedback Lynlyn.

Looking forward to trying Green Giant and reading more tasting notes.

:)Grub.

My apologies to Mabb and Fin who also brought along tomatoes to sample - thank you to you both. And it was good to meet up with you both.

And ME!
*sulks*
*glares at Raymondo*

Grub, we actually both prefered GMG to Green Giant. But that is us. So I brought a couple back home for seeds. Husband would like to see it in the garden next year. I think you guys inspired him, sunday he finished the sprinkler job he started 4 months ago.
And yeah, thanks to Spatz for her tomatoes and her home-made chocolate chips cookies :)

....and to Mabb for her delicious eggplant dip :)

foooooood glorious foooooood!

.... and Adam for the pickles - Where's the recipe please? Not to mention all those Sunday breakfasts he did!
Spatz, your biscuit recipe too!! (Was it a MB one?)
Lyn's lovely platter (now we know why you were drinking water!!!!)

Lomatia, reason for dinking water and also reason for the platter. Stop at grocery shop and voilà . The plan was for me to bake a maple syrup pie on saturday morning.....unfortunalty it was NOT going to happenned. Next time :)

OK pic now uploaded. Ray, thank you for organising the weekend, what a fine tradition :-)

Thanks must also go to Mr & Mrs Lomatia as others have said, for generosity above and beyond - arranging dinner on Friday night, providing us with gorgeous accomodation and a fabulous dinner on Saturday night. Thanks also to Adam for cooking a sumptuous breakfast on Sunday morning and to everyone for making it a wonderful weekend.

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I just had a good look at that photo - LOL, more hats :-)

Lol. Hats are go.

Now, there are a lot of tomatoes there, especially late in the season. But what are your favourites? You are mostly seasoned tomato growers. Reds, pinks, yellow, greens, whatever?

My favourite new one this season is Prue.

Cheers, Grub.

Sorry. Way too relaxed at home tonight. There IS a lot... :)

I also had a great time. And we actually even had tomatos for lunch the next day so obviously I wasn't as tomatoed out as I thought. It was great to finally meet you all in person - and see that i was pretty spot on with what i expected everyone to be like. Even my hubby had a great time and as a total non-gardener that speaks volumes :-)

Dinner was awesome as testified by Alex who loved the pesto and coppacola. What more could we ask for!

Thanks to everyone esp ray for organising everything, Lomatia for the food and everyone for tomatoes and company.

MY fav's where Green giant (yummy sweet taste), and the black brandywine. I also added brandywine sudduth, kellogs breakfast, snow white cherry and wild tomato to my next years grow list. There were so many varieties I loved but with my limited tommie space I was going for my fav's in each class. I actually loved all the greens, and had a hard time removing several other varieties from my list.

What an experience!! Hope we can continue the tradition next year.

G'day sorry I haven't posted 'til now. Thank You so much to John and Lee-ann(?) for the beautiful accomodation. We really felt spoiled. A lovely time had by all. The tomatoes were a highlight. Grub starred without even being there. Typical Sydneysider!!.
I got to be a ferret on the way up in Kionga's car, another highlight, I can tell you!!!!. Going through the neighbourhood I grew up in , in the most powerful car I have ever seen. The locals were dead Jealous. Let 'em eat dust.
Came home to all the pumpkin and cuke and melon vines at the end of their lives. Oh well, we have a barrow load to keep us in soup for the winter ahead.
It was lovely meeting yooooz all, and Thanx for the lovely time.
Next year I think it should be in Costume, Waddya reckon????

Oh I forgot to mention the Collective Farm Woman melon - that was very nice thanks to Adam for sharing a taste and seeds! I'm going to let that ramble somewhere in our yard next year, I just need to find a hill for it!

hmm what kind of costumes ... maybe we should *all* wear hawaiian shirts next year :-)

Kionga's car was certainly Legend, and what about Nick's Chilli Oil?

Favourite new tomatoes for me were Green Giant, Black Brandywine, ummmm what is that yellow on the left hand edge of the table, just below the Kellogg's Breakfast? I've forgotten its name. What else... yes, the orange one that's sitting below the Green Giant with a great name that is so good I've forgotten it, LOL.

OK now I have to go and write things down.... and tomrrow I will be separating my seed slices that I brought home so they can dry. They're sitting in the fridge waiting to become parents :-)

Lomatia, MB??? - the choc chip biccies are from The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander. With some modifications. I can scan in the recipe, if necessary.
Am baking another batch today, as all biscuits were gone in no time on Saturday.

Green Giant was a great tomato. Must get some seeds for this one. I really liked it. Also Black Brandywine. Grub's Green is certainly going to be in my garden again. Have saved seeds, if somebody wants some.

Nick's Chilli Oil is sitting on my kitchen bench. Very yummy, too. Have been munching on the chillies since Sunday. Put some in a batch of spicy tomato salsa, too.

Unfortunately, I forgot how Totora made this oil. Must ask him.

Lomatia's Bresaolo was fantastic! Really inspired me to make one come Winter! Thanks for sharing it with us. :)

Hello to everyone.
I have been busy trying to organise painting of the house-and other minor renovations, like ripping weatherboards off the house-so forgot to touch base on the forum.
It was certainly a great weekend and it was a pleasure to meet all of you.
Grub, your Mystery Green was a winner. I didn't have any to take to Marysville but will grow it again next year for sure. I also liked Green Giant as well, as well as Black Brandywine and Tasmanian Blushing Yellow.I will grow all three next year as well.
Jan enjoyed coming along as well and with some luck will join us for future events.
It was great fun driving Adam and Patrina to Marysville; great company, and The Beast loved it: hasn't had so much exercise in a long time and likes playing with the local hoons.
The Beast is due to go in for major surgery soon. Needs a new set of lungs with greater capacity, and then he can go a little faster!
A special thanks to Mr & Mrs Lomatia for hosting a great weekend.
If anyone is interested in some seeds let me know as I may be able to help.
Cheers
Craig

Spatz, the 'MB' was Maggie Beer but I became confused with Stephanie Alexander. Must have been your SA connection. The meat was Coppacolla and the tiny hard "lump" that I also had was the last of the Braseola. (You are right about needing cooler weather to mature them) Totora's coppa is ready now (just didn't make it to Mville - cunning!!! - joking) and we tried it last night. He started it a bit later than mine and it was good.

Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like I need to try Tasmanian Blushing Yellow. I've got fruit on Green Giant but it's a way off ripe. At worst a seed save. Food sounds great too.

Spatz, I'd like the recipe for the cookies too please or ....you are making another batch today, 9 hrs drive from me! Long week-end :)
I made some Tortora's chili oil sunday morning. What he told me was very simple:
Chop the chillies, rub salt in and leave overnight. Do not rinse salt of just put in a jar with good olive oil.
Kionga, I want a ride in the "new and improved" beast when it's recovered from surgery.
Lomatia, thanks for the link we'll get back to you next week. Going away bush camping for the long week-end.

Ah yes, of course. It was the Coppacolla! Thanks for pointing that out to me, Lomatia. Winter will be a good time for things like that. Maybe I'll even try my hand in smoking and/or air-drying some sausages. :)

Sure, Lyn. This batch is another winner. There are still some left.
Will scan in the recipe in the next few days.
Enjoy your camping trip! :)

I think Tasmanian Blushing Yellow was the yellow whose name I couldn't remember so thanks everyone!

My most humble apologies Spatz for leaving you off the list of tomato suppliers.
Ray *on bended knee, head bowed, hat clasped in hands, hoping for forgiveness*

Still waiting for the list of varieties with rankings!

Craig (NC, USA)

Hi all,
My apologies for not comminting on the tomatofest. As things have gotten away from me this month.
First of it was a great weekend meeting all those faces that were only names on the screen.(great company). It was also supprising to see so many tomato varieties and so many colours. A big thanks to Mr& mrs Lmatia for there hositality and the good weather that they turned on. I hope that it's as good next year. Only can we see some Chillis as well. (does anyone have any left over seed that I could have

I see no reason why we couldn't add chillis. I love chillis (thanks for those orange rocotos Totora) but I fear a taste test might not be too popular! However, the variation in shape and colour should provide some interest.
If I have any, I intend bringing melons next year.

I think it's a brilliant idea to bring along a variety of fruit and vegies from the garden. Not only tomatoes. We could have a big Cornucopia Taste Fest with all kinds of goodies. And in the evening we can cook up the leftovers, or those goodies that we couldn't taste during the day.

This might also attract more people who might otherwise give this event a miss.

Here's the recipe for Chocolate Chip Biscuits. It's from Stephanie Alexander's 'The Cook's Companion'.
It's a great recipe and you can play around with the quantities and varieties of the chocolate and nuts used.

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I gave the old Italian fellow next door to me at Marysville a mixture of tomato plants to make his "sauce" for the winter. Unfortunately he passed away in February and didn't see the results of his labours. The bed was fertilised with the leftovers of his wine production (seeds and stems etc) and a whole lot of alpaca manure. If you look at the picture below then I'm sure the benefit of all that organic matter will be obvious. (He was going to come to Tomatofest of course) These are a sample of what is on the bushes. If you know how big the tray is then I'm sure that you will appreciate the size of some of the fruit. Arrivederci Peter.
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Lomatia,
Sad that the fellow missed the Fest and judging by the bounty, sad that we missed out on meeting him.

Spatz,
Yes, a Cornucopia Taste Fest. Let's broaden the horizon a little.

Finbar, if you're reading this I want you to know that you and Mrs Finbar were sorely MISSED, as those of us who were at Rutherglen last year commented... You both would have loved the surroundings there at Marysville!

Thanks to everyone, especially Mr and Mrs Lomatia our gracious hosts!

Totora, I have lots of seeds to share for chillies - please send me an email with your address details. It might take me a while to get them off to you but I definitely will get around to it at some point, so don't be concerned if I'm a bit slow :) I'd love to spread them around!

Patrina

I wrote a little article for the community newsletter regarding our Tomatofest. (Which wasn't published in time for the weekend for some reason) This annoyed me a little bit since it was an event of interest to the town and ultimately I was contacted again to see if I wanted it to run "posthumously". The editor took some notes re the weekend and rewrote my article (changed the tense?) which I have included below. I thought it was a great experience and would like to thank everyone for their efforts in coming south and east and sharing their fruit and good comradeship.

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Fear not, Zia P, we have followed the activities at the Fest from afar via this thread. Thank you for the thoughts, too. I'm about to start another thread with all sorts of pics - including my new vegie patch, now finished and already merrily growing broad beans and peas - and all sorts of news - including that we've made an offer on an apartment here in our little town. Nice, large, light and airy, with, best of all, a 100sqm garden out the back, with the back fence being the 14th Century wall around the town's ancient fortress.