Storms, Sun, and Tomatoes - Fall Is Coming Closer

The sun, or lack of sunshine, is becoming a problem on work days. I realize it's autumn - or close enough. The seasonal change is only a single day away. The sun is rising later and setting sooner and autumn is one of my favorite seasons, so usually I don't have a problem with the change of the seasons. But this year I have tomatoes - cherry tomatoes - on very full bushes, at varying stages of ripeness. This year I want to harvest and enjoy eating as many of these little red fruits of goodness as I can, but now it's getting too dark by the time I get home, to see them properly for harvest. It's a problem! 

I've really been enjoying my cherry tomatoes. DH planted two plants
for me and I've harvested hundreds of the globes of goodness over the
past month or so. SO good! 

Of course last night really wasn't the easiest harvest in any case. We had line after line of severe thunderstorms pass through our area, pounding us with rain and high winds all afternoon and into the evening. We didn't get tornadoes here in the Cities, but just south of us did get some tornadic activity and the winds were high throughout the area. It was the proverbial hot meets cold issue that we can get sometimes, and it was quite the show. 

This lovely band of red, orange and yellow was what was over
us late yesterday afternoon. There were tornadoes to the
south and east of us, but at least we escaped that. There were
torrential rains and localized flooding, though, from the storm. 

DH will be out cleaning the rain gutters today. We survived the third round of storms, but it was a close thing in a couple of places. The new drainage he dug for the front earlier this year really helped a lot. And ... amazingly enough, the sod-covered bank that we had so much trouble with in late July/early August held up. Thank goodness! We might still terrace that bank out in the next year or two, but if the sod holds up now, it won't be as urgent on our to-do list. 

As a reminder, we laid sod along the back yard bank - a steep
slops leading down to our creek. The sod already fell once in
a strong thunderstorm, but it seems to have finally taken
hold enough to handle a tough rain like yesterday's. We're
seriously thinking about terracing here instead of using
grass. That's a year or two out, though. 

So, to return to light and lack thereof, I guess I'll be harvesting my little tomatoes with a flashlight until we get our first deep frost. I'll have a BUNCH of green cherry tomatoes at that time. Anyone have any suggestions for green cherry tomatoes? 

I'm going to have a LOT of green cherry tomatoes when the
growing season ends. Anyone have recipies or suggestions
on what to do with a bucket or two of green cherry
tomatoes? 

Have an excellent Friday. I'm happy that another week is finally reaching its end. It's been quite an eventful week and it's not quite over yet. Of course, the plan is to be back tomorrow, so ... see you then!