Our tomatoes are coming in like crazy for us, especially the tommy-toes. If you’re unfamiliar with that type of tomato here’s the definition from the Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English.
tommytoe noun A small salad tomato, cherry tomato.
1957 Broaddus Vocab Estill Co KY 80 tommytoe = a variety of tomatoes that are approximately 1 ½ inches in diameter when ripe. 1976 Garber Mountain-ese 94 = tiny bell tomato. “We raised a bushel of tommy-toes on jist one vine in the garden.” 1981 Dumas Appal Glossary 18 = a cherry or plum tomato. 1986 Pederson et al. LAGS = attested by 37/60 interviewees (61.7%) from E TN and 8/35 (22.7%) from N GA; 45/83 of all LAGS interviewees (24.5%) attesting term were from Appalachia. 2007 Farr My Appalachia 71 Every year we would find tomatoes growing in the places where a tomato had rotted, or tomato peel and seed had been dumped. These we called “Tommy Toes,” and it was incredible how strong and vigorous the plants were and how the small, round tomatoes would be bursting with flavor. Toady at the farmers market I buy cherry tomatoes. But they never taste as good as the sweet, sound flesh of the Tommy Toes in our garden.
I love the vibrant taste of tommy-toes, but I also love their beautiful colors. The various hues reminds me of jewels—especially when I’m washing them in the sink with sunshine reflecting across the water.
Pap used the word jewel to describe pretty much anything precious, especially his grandchildren.
The Deer Hunter and Pap worked together building houses for many years. Pap would usually come up to our house before they left for work to drink coffee and visit with the girls.
One morning when Chatter and Chitter were toddlers I was complaining about what a handful they were and Pap said “Why if all I had to do was stay home with these two pretty little jewels I’d not complain about nothing.”
His point was well taken even if I didn’t want to admit it 🙂 I looked at my sweet chubby girls and decided even if they were a handful they were my jewels and Pap was right I was blessed beyond measure to stay home with them every day of the world.
Last night’s video: Matt Finally Got Some Fried Green Tomatoes.
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Hey Tipper. Tommy-toes are deliciou right from the garden. Another favorite òf mine are yellow tomatoes. I think they make a great tomato sandwich. Happy gardening!
I loved the little yellow pear tomatoes my Mamaw used to grow. We’d pick them and eat them right out of the garden, warm from the sun and so sweet!
I stayed home with my own little jewels. I have four of them . They are now 25,23,17,and 11. We are lucky Moms aren’t we?
I always say vegetables fresh from the garden are more beautiful than jewels! Here is SW Virginia my tomatoes are late this year. There are a lot on the vine but still green except for a few tommy toes!
Around here we call them cherry tomatoes, but tommy toes sound so much more sweeter. I saw your fry up with the tomatoes. I once asked the produce man in our grocery store if he had green tomatoes? Nope he did not!
If children are jewels, my parents had a bunch; but some of them were more precious than others 🙂
My own jewel is about to enter her fifth decade in this life.
Blessings to all . . .
Two comments, one for Glenda, I was also taught in school to call the mid day meal “lunch” and we would also eat in the lunchroom. I am a backslider , it didn’t stick, I still eat breakfast, dinner and supper and anytime I can in between these meals. When growing up, we called our meals, especially supper “family meals”. I think today’s families would be a lot closer to one another if we still had “ family meals”. My family would also have a “family devotion” each night before going to bed.
I saw the old post “How Hot Is Your Weather”, or something similar, it didn’t hang around long enough for me to read it. Right now it is in the low 90’s with a feel like temperature in the upper 90’s and dry with the same forecast maybe even hotter for the next week or two. The gardens and grass are beginning to dry up and the water flow in the creek on my property is slowing down. When you have a large garden and a 2 acre yard it is almost impossible to water them. I think I was one of the ones saying something about the cooler than normal wet weather we were having this spring. I am going to fix me up something that I can to use to kick my big rear end!
You were truly blessed to have Pap as your father. He seemed to be full of wisdom & relayed it in such a kind & gentle way. Hugs!
1½ inch Tommy Toes? That seems pretty big for a tommy toe. Half that is a big one to me.
My understanding is that tommy toes that grow in compost or trash piles come from the seeds of hybrid tomatoes. Apparently there is something about the tommy toe that hybridizers want in their product. Tommy toes do seem to be much more vigorous growing and disease resistant than many other varieties. The problem is, the seeds of the hybrid revert back to the varieties they came from.
Dear Tipper,
Thank you for this post. This is exactly what I needed to read in the middle of a chaotic-seeming day with my 15 month old all children are jewels and I am very lucky to be able to be at home with my little jewel. I am new to your blog and your YouTube channel and am enjoying all of it. I am not from Appalachia but find it and it’s culture very beautiful and hope to be able to visit one day. Thank you, have a good weekend!
Thank you for sharing a “jewel” of your Pap’s wisdom and loving nature with us!
Don’t you just love early morning visits from Grandma or Grandpa? It is a precious tradition that’s been passed down throughout the years in our family. I loved it as a child & as a parent, but, even more special now that I’m the grandma. Those sweet twinkling eyes & big smiles, waiting at the door or at the window, so happy to see Neema. Nothing sweeter.
P.S. I thought tommytoes was a name your family made up. Never realized its an Appalachian word. It’s perfect.
Well, your Pap really knew how to put things into perspective didn’t he?!
I was very blessed to be able to stay home with my two little jewels until the youngest one was going into first grade-so many memories. Now I am retired and enjoying my five little jewels who call me Grammy, and making new memories. The blessings just keep on coming in life. God is good!
Those tomatoes are beautiful! Thank you for reminding me to see the beauty of God everywhere. My husband and I live in an independent senior community. We are so thankful out our windows we have woods with so many trees and birds. The simple things of life are what is important. God’s beautiful world! Supper last night looked delicious. I think Pap was a jewel! Take care and God bless ❤️
Mama called them Tommy toes. Around here, it’s cherry tomatoes. My husband loves the black ones–can’t think of the name right now but he will carry a baggie of them to work every day while we still have them.
My mother had a friend she always referred to as “Jewels.” Her name was Jane, but Mom always called her Jewels. I asked her why, and she said, “Because she always been a jewel to me, and so I tell her so.” So sweet, and as a child, I remember her being a jewel to me, too. Your story about Pap reminded me. Thank you.
I always said and still tell everyone my wife was a jewel along with my children and grandchildren. We struggled but she was able to stay home and take care of our children until they started school. We had the necessities but not much for our wants. As for being a handful, I often heard my father law (5 girls, no boys) say your children step on your toes when they are little, but will step on your heart after they get older or grown. All of his turned out to be good salt of the earth adults.
When I was still at home we would plant at least 50 or more tomatoes plants a year. One year after we sold our milk cow, we planted some of our garden in the old milk cow lot around her barn. The tomato plants that year were bought somewhere and were miss labeled and turned out be be all tommy toe tomatoes. Mama canned and made as much soup out of them as she could. We would take 5 gal buckets of them to the hog. Understand back then, the plants would be bare root plants that had been sowed and grown in some type of of large tub or container, not like today’s plants that are grown in individual containers and sold this year for 5-6 dollars a piece.
Tommy-toes sure are jewels as far as I am concerned. I never raise any more than one or two plants of the little jewels unless the greenhouse bought plants get mislabeled. I grow my tomato plants from seeds and buy some from the high school greenhouse when I buy my flowers and ferns. They always have trays of plants the students forgot to label that I buy for a few dollars or the teacher gives them to me. This year I ended up with just one tommy-toe plant and two hot peppers that were supposed to be bells.
All children are God’s precious jewels! Pap knew the good and really important things in life-he surely did!!! I know you miss him every day because he loved you dearly, Tipper the jewel! I’d say he thought of you as a diamond! Your Tommy toes look tasty and fresh to pop! When they burst open on the tongue, it’s an explosion of taste! When they burst open on my shirt or in my hair, not so much lol! I gathered and canned 4 pints of bread and butter pickles yesterday! Also I want to warn you canners that 4 % white vinegar is now being sold and it takes 5% to properly can! Please be sure to not get taken to the cleaners and your precious garden bounty spoil! Love to all and blessings to you all- JEWELS OF THE LORD AND APPALACHIA!!!
The first year I put in a garden after moving to Virginia, where my wife’s people are from. I went to the local nursery to get some tomato and pepper plants. I have memories of the tommytoe plants in my grandparents garden. Every year, my papaw would try and get the first ripe tommytoe of the season. Then he’d call around and brag to just about anyone who’d listen haha! At the nursery, I asked one of the workers what type of tommytoe plants they had, and the lady just gave me the strangest look. She had never heard of them before, and I knew those little tomatoes by no other name. After some explanation, she got me pointed in the right direction. Since then, I’ve started my plants from seed, but I guess we both learned something that day.
Howdy, Cousin! Nice to meet you.
I don’t know how many generations we’d have to go back, but if you are a Hutchins from NC we are bound to be related and descended from John Hutchins of the MS Bonaventure who landed in Virginia in 1630 (or 1634, my records are unclear).
Heard it said knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit but wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. Enjoy your post.
What a beautiful story about Pap. He was a very wise man. Children are definitely precious jewels! Your tommy toes are beautiful and I know they must be good! God gave us so many jewels in life to enjoy if we would just look. We are all so blessed.
Goodness, what a spread for dinner. Thinking of dinner, I used dinner for the middle meal til I went to school…that is when ‘lunch’ came into play, and the evening meal became dinner. I know, there was the Lord’s supper, but as I said, I wasn’t introduced to ‘lunch’ til having ‘lunch’ in the ‘lunchroom’. Go figure. It is such a Blessing to have ‘family’ meals. Too soon they grow up and away, but now you can look forward to ‘grands’…God Bless you guys
God bless you friends of Appalachia, did you know tomatoes are really a fruit?
they form from a flower and contain seed, the way we cook them and treat them
in cooking means they also fall into the category of vegetables
Jewel was commonly used at one time in my neck of the woods to describe a virtuous or nice person. He/she is a jewel! I love the way you see beauty in such everyday things such as a handful of tommy-toes. You have discovered how amazing many day to day common experiences are, and now you are playing a part in teaching others so much about enjoying and feeling grateful for the simple things. I can never get over how a little sprout can come up from a seed. Each year I enjoy it anew as if seeing it for the first time. I’ve never grown collards, and realized I had accidentally bought collard green seeds instead of Romaine. Sometimes older folks need big pictures on their seeds instead of those frugal packs with just words 🙂 In some Appalachian folks it is believed that nothing happens accidentally, and that there is a reason for everything. I hope you keep celebrating Appalachia, because this is where many of us get our daily fix.