Design This - A Green Necklace

One day I wore a pair of earrings that included a gold and a green czech glass bead that caught the attention of a friend of mine. After talking with her for a while, I found out what caught her eye was the green in the bead and that she was interested in getting a necklace that included one or more green beads and was more of a pendant and chain style than being a totally beaded necklace.

I happened to have a variety of green or partially green beads. I pulled together all that I had and showed them to my friend. She picked out a couple of shapes of a green and white gemstone bead and liked my light green jade beads as well. Based on the shapes and colors of beads that she picked, I mocked up a "Y" style necklace using antiqued brass tone findings that I thought complemented the two bead colors. It used more beads than a pure pendant necklace but still maintained the lighter feel of one. (The first photo shows the components I used in the necklace mock up.)

My friend loved the vintage feel of the design so I completed the construction of the necklace, except for the length. Since she had been unsure how long she wanted the necklace to be, I let her hold it up in front of a mirror and adjust it until she liked the length. After adding the clasp to make the finished necklace match that length, I delivered it to my happy customer. After wearing it for a while and receiving many compliments, she decided that she would prefer to have the necklace shortened a little bit. I took care of this for her and it was the perfect accessory for the dress that she had in mind to pair it with when she started the custom order process.

If you have an outfit that you are looking for just the right jewelry to compliment it, contact me to see if I have the supplies to make it happen for you.

No More Green Tomatoes

In an earlier post I described what I do when I’m faced with a blue norther threatening to turn my still unripe tomatoes into tomatocicles. And as promised, I’m back to share with you the photos of the small green slicer, shown in my previous post, that I was letting ripen on my kitchen counter.

Three weeks later, on December 8, I decided that the small slicer, that I had picked on November 17 for this green tomato ripening test, looked ready to be sampled. I took a photo just before and after slicing it. You can see that it was a nice even red inside and out and was still nice and plump. My two guys and I tasted the tomato and the verdict was that it had a nice tomato flavor. The flesh was not dry or mealy. If we hadn’t polished it off sampling it, it would have been perfect on a salad or sandwich.

I picked my green cherry tomatoes and remaining small slicers on Thanksgiving as our first predicted freeze bore down on us. They have been ripening nicely in my kitchen too. Last night, December 15, we enjoyed a fresh salsa made from most of what remained from that harvest along with store bought tomatillos, garlic and cilantro.

So remember next year that your unripe tomatoes don’t have to turn to mush on the vine or be turned into fried green tomatoes if the first freeze of the year threatens them before they are ready to be picked. Go ahead and pick them all, leave them in a colander out of direct heat and light and use them as they ripen, just as if they were ripening on the vine.

See a complete list of my gardening tips at my garden coach profile.

Green Tomatoes and the Big Chill

So, your tomatoes are still producing, not all of the fruit is ripe and a heavy frost or freeze is forecast, what do you do? You get out there and pick all of your tomatoes of course, regardless of color, as the cold front's winds are bearing down, threatening to turn your still productive plants into dead tomatocicles.

You're not into the fried green tomato thing you say? Not to worry. Tomatoes are climacteric fruits. This means that they will continue to ripen after you pick them. Last year I decided to see just how green a tomato could be and still ripen to a lovely red and taste like a homegrown tomato. I kept my rescued tomatoes in a colander in the kitchen away from heat sources and out of the direct sunlight. I was surprised to find out that even the dark green ones would eventually ripen. The occasional fruit would shrivel a bit, however almost every tomato ripened and was enjoyed instead of being left on the vine to freeze. It was great having a tomato from my garden at Christmas.

As I am writing this, we are in a warm spell in between a couple of light frosts and our first freeze that is predicted for Thanksgiving night. (Guess what I'll be doing after turkey dinner?) Before our previous light frost I picked just one small slicer that was barely beginning to blush. (I have a system for keeping a light frost from damaging the plants so that they can continue to produce until a heavy frost or freeze.) The tomato pictured was picked on November 17 and photographed on November 18. I will do a follow up post to let you know how long it took to fully ripen and what it looked and tasted like.

So, if your tomato plants haven't been done in by Jack Frost yet and still have tomatoes on them, grab a spare colander as that blue norther is bearing down and pick them all. By doing so, you will enjoy some fruits of summer during the gray days of winter.

Update: Click here to read my follow up post.