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Hello Farmgirl Friends!
How are your gardens growing? We’ve had some hot, dry days and my tomatoes have been going crazy! I am swimming in tomatoes and I’m so happy. Keeping cherry tomatoes on my counter top in my favorite vintage Pyrex bowl makes snacking on them so much fun! What is it about cherry tomatoes that just taste SO good?
is a certified farmgirl at heart. She’s happily married to her beach bum Yankee husband of 20 years. She went from career gal to being a creative homeschooling mom for two of her biggest blessings and hasn’t looked back since. Debbie left her lifelong home in the high desert of Northern Nevada 10 years ago and washed up on the shore of America’s hometown, Plymouth, MA, where she and her family are now firmly planted. They spend part of each summer in a tiny, off–grid beach cottage named “The Sea Horse.”
“I found a piece of my farmgirl heart when I discovered MaryJanesFarm. Suddenly, everything I loved just made more sense! I enjoy unwinding at the beach, writing, gardening, and turning yard-sale furniture into ‘Painted Ladies’ I’m passionate about living a creative life and encouraging others to ‘make each day their masterpiece.’”
is a “MaryJane Farmgirl” who lives in a large metropolitan area. She is a lawyer who has worked in both criminal defense and prosecution. She has been a judge, a business woman and a stay-at-home mom. In addition to her law degree, she has a Masters of Theological Studies.
“Mustering up the courage to do the things you dream about,” she says, “is the essence of being a MaryJane Farmgirl.” Learning to live more organically and closer to nature is Rebekah’s current pursuit. She finds strength and encouragement through MaryJane’s writings, life, and products. And MaryJane’s Farmgirl Connection provides her a wealth of knowledge from true-blue farmgirls.
an old-fashioned farmgirl with a pioneer spirit, lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. As a “lifelong learner” in the “Live-Free-or-Die” state, she fiercely values self-reliance, independence, freedom, and fresh mountain air. Married to her childhood sweetheart of 40+ years (a few of them “uphill climbs”), she’s had plenty of time to reinvent herself. From museum curator, restaurant owner, homeschool mom/conference speaker, to post-and-beam house builder and entrepreneur, she’s also a multi-media artist, with an obsession for off-grid living and alternative housing. Cathi owns and operates a 32-room mountain lodge. Her specialty has evolved to include “hermit hospitality” at her rustic cabin in the mountains, where she offers weekend workshops of special interest to women.
“Mountains speak to my soul, and farming is an important part of my heritage. I want to pass on my love of these things to others through my writing. Living in the mountains has its own particular challenges, but I delight in turning them into opportunities from which we can all learn and grow.”
Dori Troutman is the daughter of second generation cattle ranchers in New Mexico. She grew up working and playing on the ranch that her grandparents homesteaded in 1928. That ranch, with the old adobe home, is still in the family today. Dori and her husband always yearned for a ranch of their own. That dream came true when they retired to the beautiful green rolling hills of Tennessee. Truly a cattleman’s paradise!
Dori loves all things farmgirl and actually has known no other life but that. She loves to cook, craft, garden, and help with any and all things on their cattle farm.
describes herself as a goat charmer, chicken whisperer, bee maven, and farmers’ market baker renovating an 1864 farmhouse on an Ohio farm. With a degree in Design, Mary says small-town auctions and country road barn sales "always make my heart skip a beat thinking about what I could create or design out of what I’ve seen.”
Rooted in the countryside, she likes simple things and old ways … gardening, preserving the harvest, cooking, baking, and all things home. While you might find her selling baked goods from the farm’s milkhouse, teaching herself to play the fiddle, or sprucing up a vintage camper named Maizy, you will always find her in an apron!
Mary says, “I’m happiest with the simple country pleasures … an old farmhouse, too many animals, a crackling fire, books to read, and the sound of laughter … these make life just perfect.”
is a budding rural farmgirl living in Palmer, the agricultural seat of Alaska. Alex is a graduate student at Alaska Pacific University pursuing an M.S. in Outdoor and Environmental Education. She lives and works on the university’s 700 acre environmental education center, Spring Creek Farm. When Alex has time outside of school, she loves to rock climb, repurpose found objects, cross-country ski on the hay fields, travel, practice yoga, and cook with new-fangled ingredients.
Alex grew up near the Twin Cities and went to college in Madison, Wisconsin—both places where perfectly painted barns and rolling green farmland are just a short drive away. After college, she taught at a rural middle school in South Korea where she biked past verdant rice paddies and old women selling home-grown produce from sidewalk stoops. She was introduced to MaryJanesFarm after returning, and found in it what she’d been searching for—a group of incredible women living their lives in ways that benefit their families, their communities, and the greater environment. What an amazing group of farmgirls to be a part of!
Suburban Farmgirl Nicole Christensen calls herself a “vintage enthusiast”. Born and raised in Texas, she has lived most of her life in the picturesque New England suburbs of Connecticut, just a stone’s throw from New York State. An Advanced Master Gardener, she has gardened since childhood, in several states and across numerous planting zones. In addition, she teaches knitting classes, loves to preserve, and raises backyard chickens.
Married over thirty years to her Danish-born sweetheart, Nicole has worked in various fields, been a world-traveler, an entrepreneur and a homemaker, but considers being mom to her now-adult daughter her greatest accomplishment. Loving all things creative, Nicole considers her life’s motto to be “Bloom where you are planted”.
This pie looks fabulous. We’ve got tomatoes coming out of our ears (a good thing) so I’m going to try this immediately. Thank you. We have sweet 100’s on a bowl on the counter (the one’s that don’t get eaten right off the vine) and I think they’re so much better than cherry tomatoes. Different strokes and all that but when it says sweet it means sweet.
I have never had tomato pie, but I’m definitely going to make this one. I have Amish paste tomatoes, but I’m guessing that they will work fine. Yours looks yummy!
This is my first year gardening in many years. My corn and beans got eaten by local critters but my tomatoes did not disappoint. I can pick my cherry tomatoes twice a day! I’ve had enough to share with my friends! I too keep a bowl of cherry tomatoes on my counter as a quick snack throughout the day.
Hi Dori; Wow, your pie looks so good. Never tried a tomato pie but have heard about them. Never made one either though we do have tomatoes this year but my plants are starting to turn yellow for some reason and my Beef Steaks didn’t produce at all * could be because of the basil I planted close to them* I guess, but the plant grew really huge, just no tomatoes on it. Lots of blooms too but no pollination I guess. Maybe net year will be ok. I did get tomatoes on my Big Boy plant and they were delicious. Not very big though, they ripened before they grew very big. Lots of green tomatoes on all my plants but the Beef Steak one. We planted them in a raised garden container. Maybe too many together also could be a reason. Will do something different next year and hope to get some really big tomatoes. It is my favorite summer food. Thanks for sharing your post.
I too was having trouble with one of my tomato plants getting flowers but not producing tomatoes. It’s frustrating to watch all the flowers die. So I put on my pretend bee costume and fertilize them myself. I just took a bloom from another plant and touched each of the flowers on different plants with it. As long as the plants aren’t related, it worked. I have tons of tomatoes on all of my plants and the bees finally took over too.
I’ve been making a similar tomato pie for years, using different tomatoes and it is always delicious…this year our tomatoes are taking longer to ripen so we’re hoping for some warmer weather soon … I do love my Sungold and Brandywine tomatoes – your pie looks yummy.
Hi dori
Yes that’s a nice recipe
I just retired from heirloom seed business and I used to sell about 100 plus kinds of tomato seeds
Here is my favorite tomato pie recipe it’s
From my late great fellow tomato lover
Norwood Meiners from Louisiana
Make your
pie shell
Sorry fori I come from the south and we always use lard in our pie crusts
Anyway
Layer your tomatoes and try to drain the juice a bit
Then a layer of sweet onion like Visalia
Then a layer of mayonnaise
(We in the south swear by duke’s)
Then repeat
Until full
Best if you add Parmesan or
Romano on top
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes until bubbly
I like to
Mix it up and use several colors of tomatoes
Ruby’s German green is best for a green type
Hope you like it!
Enjoy!!
Lisa
Everyone in the family is about gone but Momma, Daddy and I still love a tomato pie. I just make an old fashion pie crust. (why is it Grandmas and Moms pie crusts were always flakier than mine!?) The tomatoes Daddy raises every year, onion, basil, mozzarella, parm, and a little ricotta. I do like to lay the slices of tomato out between two paper towels to get out a little of the moisture before baking. If I don’t have fresh basil just sprinkle with some dried Italian seasoning.
Has anyone had tomato sandwiches before? You just need really soft white bread!
I love tomato pie!!! And I have a super recipe. I’m not a Mayo person, so mine has some different toppings, but it is similar. These are some of the changes I made
I added a beaten egg and 2 TBL flour to tomatoes, cooked bacon & thyme instead of basil.
I substituted sour cream for mayo. Could also use yogurt. I used gueryer, cheddar & jack cheese. I topped it with breadcrumbs & Butter crumble. I also caramelized the onions and drained the tomatoes.
One of my summer favorites!
That pie looks delicious. Enjoy!
Marilyn
Hi, I made the tomato pie for dinner tonight and we thought it was delicious. I did change one thing. I’m not a fan of mayo so I used 1/4 cup mayo and 1/2 cup of nonfat Greek yogurt As suggested. Next time I might try all Greek yogurt and I wondered if you had tried that.
Thanks for a nice recipe.
Pam
hi again Dori,
I wanted to share my own easy peasy tomato glut sauce:
EASY ROASTED TOMATO GLUT SAUCE
This is so easy and perfect for the end of the season when you have more tomatoes that you know what to do with. I’m not big on canning, so this is the way I preserve the bounty of my harvest the easy way! It’s very fast and much easier to make than it sounds.
3 medium onions (I prefer Vidalia’s, but any white sweet onion is fine) sliced thin
2 – 3 lbs (about 8-12 large fruit) heirloom tomatoes, thickly sliced (I often make individually colored batches, using only golden colored tomatoes, or black fruit or pink fruit)
3/4 cup fresh chopped basil leaves, the smaller the leaf the better
2 Tablespoons fresh chopped oregano (or you may use 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1/2 cup fresh chopped Italian (flat leafed) parsley (or regular curly parsley if you don’t have Italian)
3-6 Tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs
3 Tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
DRESSING:
2-3 cloves minced garlic
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar (this sounds strange but its important for full flavor)
1/4 teaspoon sugar (you may skip if using sweet type tomatoes)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine all dressing ingredients. Using a large baking or roasting pan: layer onions and tomatoes drizzling the dressing over each layer. Keep layering. Put the cheese and breadcrumbs on top layer. Bake one hour. If it gets juicy, you may spoon off the extra liquid. I like to keep it all in for more flavor. I let the pan cool and just spoon out servings in zipper freezer bags and freeze. That’s it! Use over pasta or any recipe calling for tomato sauce. The sweet, rich flavor of the Heirloom tomatoes really comes out when baked.
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ENJOY!!
HAPPY EATING , Lisa
I love tomato pie. Even my kids who won’t eat fresh tomatoes love my pie. It’s just a pre-baked pie crust with lots of Monterey Jack shredded cheese, sliced tomatoes, lots of fresh basil and oregano, bread crumbs on top with melted butter. It’s a Paula Deen recipe. Wonderful!