I was in the yard, sort of cleaning up. I thought the tomatoes were done. They’re not done. But the vines have gotten leggy and annoying. A few of my neighbors were out as well. IT was clearing out some weeds and the Guatemalan couple were clearing the sidewalk of leaves. I gave the couple some ripe tomatoes and some bunches of arugula. I had earlier given a tomato to residents of the Section 8 house down the street.
I was cutting off green tomatoes and setting them on the recycle bin as I was cutting back the vines they were on. IT and the couple already retreated to their homes when a woman in an SUV stops in the middle of the road and says, “Excusing me, how much are you selling those green tomatoes for?”
My mind went blank for a second. Sell? I’ve never put a monetary value on my produce. I’ve usually given away the tomatoes, chard, purslane, beans, and herbs growing my yard, but to neighbors, readers of this blog, co-workers, and family. Yet, if someone wants to offer me money, I’m not going to say no. Of course, I have taken bottles of wine…
The woman in the SUV began to tell me how hard it has been for her to find green tomatoes and how she really wanted some to fry. Fried green tomatoes don’t do anything for me, so the green tomatoes have little value to me, so I made up a price, one dollar for a bag. She parked the SUV, and I grabbed a bag and collected green tomatoes off of vines I was eying to cut back. I got $1 in change, which will fund my very bad vending machine Twix habit. The woman got about 3 lbs of tomatoes, which she seemed thrilled to get. G-d bless capitalism in its simplest form.