Tomato Patch in Geyserville

[Melanie Wong]

The Chowhound Team split this tangent from the Lunch @ Diavola thread
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/539891#
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Here's the photo I took last year of the original sign for world's best tomatoes in Geyserville.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3903328742/sizes/l/
I missed it completely last year.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniew...
When there's a lot available, Tomato Patch has a stand at the Healdsburg farmers market. Last Saturday I bought a Crane melon, never bought one grown in Geyserville before, which is warmer than where the melons was developed. I was told they started harvesting them a week ago.

[rworange]

Thanks for reminding me about this. I've been exploring the farms in the Sonoma County Farm Trails book. I've learned just wandering around to those places that not every Sonoma Farm is listed in there. The Tomato Patch isn't.

Next on my list is Verdure Farm in Healdsburg so the Tomato Patch will get added on that trek. Have you been to Verdure Farm? I am coming up with nothing in a Chowhound search. The farm trails book says

"`Tomato Heaven` farmstand specializes in over 200 varieties of Heirloom tomatoes, `Profumo di Genova` basil, Italian varieties of eggplant, squash and onions, and American and European heirloom melons. Unusual specialty pumpkins"

I think I'll plan on eating at Diavola while I'm up there. I'm glad I ran out of steam last week and decided to save Verdure for another time. However, I'll probably be doing the delicate dance of trying to catch the last of the late season tomatoes along with the first Crane melons. Hopefully a twain will meet.

So how was the melon? I drove by Crane Melon Barn last weekend but it was still shuttered.

[Melanie Wong]

I'd say that the majority of farms and farmstands have not signed up to be listed in the Farmtrails book. Many are quite seasonal, just putting a handwritten cardboard sign by the road indicating "cucumbers" for sale for a couple weekends, for example. I've hardly been home to explore, like I haven't driven on W. Dry Creek Rd for two years to see what's new in wineries or farms. There are quite a few signs posted along the byways that I do drive regularly and I'll make more of an effort to go by during business hours to see what's up.

Instead of Diavola, you might want to try Santi, if you've not been there before. It will be moving in a few months and won't have garden seating at the new place. It's sibling Diavola is staying put.

The tomato season seems to be late this year, just getting the bounty from friends' gardens now, and I've seen hardly any eggplant yet. So, the growing seasons might overlap a bit more . . . or Cranes will be really late this year. I gave away the melon from Tomato Patch, figured that I'd bought far more than I could consume in a week. It did smell fantastically ripe and lush, hope it tasted as good.

RIP: Thomas Oden, Co-Founder of Santi
“Setting Italian cooking back 75 years.”
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/...