So it finally happened. It got cold. For a minute. But sadly, just long enough to do in the last of the mighty 2015 tomato plants.

After producing seven gallons of grape tomatoes, countless salads, and scads of lunch-sized portions, we laid our dearly beloved front yard tomato to rest. Planted in April, on the very day we signed away most of our future income on a tiny cottage in Lockeland Springs, this big fella’ was a winner. He wasn’t anything particularly special: just a plain old Bonnie from  Lowes, but man, respect.

He didn’t go down without a fight, naturally. So those  And now that POD hails from the south, it’s time to give chow chow a shot, y’all. It’s seriously delicious. Trust. This, from a woman who despises sweet pickle relishes and green tomatoes. Go figure.

As canning inherently scares me, I followed Garden and Gun‘s (yeah, yeah, I know) and Ball’s FreshPreserving to the letter. Assuming, that is, six cups of diced green grape tomatoes equals six green tomatoes.