Lessons learned in tomato patch create sturdier family

About a month ago, I was at the home of Aunt Sandy (Hommel) and Uncle Floyd Watson, celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with a whole lot of well-wishers. It was a perfect day for a big outdoor party for an awesome couple.

As I stood near the bonfire, I looked over and saw rows of green, lush tomato plants with an enormous number of perfect red tomatoes. Even after the severe drought we had, their tomato garden had persevered and was producing beautiful fruit. Of course, one of Uncle Floyd’s (yes, the Trafalgar barber) tricks is to cover them at night with a tarp so the fall frost doesn’t take them early.

I suppose tomatoes have actually staked up the Hommel family.

My grandfather Ralph, the youngest of 11 children, bought a farm near Franklin in 1927. He paid the loan off three years later with one summer’s bumper tomato crop.

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