Culling Tomatoes

Recently I was involved in a discussion about how as parents and grandparents we teach our children. One of the things we discussed is just how much of our teaching is not in words but in our actions.

This got me to thinking about my own grandfather and how much he taught me. While he was wise and I still remember his words, the everyday tasks he performed on his farm taught me life lessons I can never forget. One of these life lessons was Culling Tomatoes.

My Grandfather raised a large garden for many reasons. Most importantly he made sure that everyone in the family had plenty of fresh vegetables in the summer and canned or frozen in the winter. But another reason was that he supplemented his income with some of the bounty; especially those beautiful tomatoes.

Many a hot summer day was spent helping him pick his prized tomatoes. He always seemed to have a knack for growing them just right. I still remember picking a fresh tomato off of the vine, wiping it on my shirt, and eating it right there in the field. Never has a tomato tasted better than that.

In the evenings we would all gather on the front porch of that old farmhouse to prepare the tomatoes for market. My grandfather was very proud of his crop, and only the best of the best was to be taken to the farmers market. Each and every tomato was wiped off with a damp rag. Then the best were set aside and the culls were put in a bucket for later. Even today I remember the care my grandfather would take placing those bright red tomatoes in new baskets. Each one was put in the basket just right and he knew exactly how many he wanted in each basket.

The next morning he would haul a pick-up load of tomatoes to the Chattanooga Farmers Market and spent the day selling them. I can’t ever remember him bringing any of them back at the end of the day. As for the culls those were for the family. While they tasted as good as the rest, they just didn’t pass his inspection as good enough to sell. Never would he have sold a tomato or any other produce he wasn’t proud of.

All of this brings me to my point that as a child I was taught the value of hard work. But even more importantly I learned that only our best is good enough. He also taught us the value of family and families being together and working together for a common cause. Amazing what you can learn from culling tomatoes.