Heirloom tomato starts
The Edible Garden Festival is coming up this weekend Oct. 24-25 at Fairchild Garden. Farmer Margie and her crew will be there, selling starts of heirloom tomatoes, basil, arugula, garlic chives, lemongrass and chard so you can plant them in your garden. (She promises to have an even bigger selection at Ramble next month.)
Heirloom varieties available for this month’s event are mostly small and plum-fruited types. The larger, beefsteak types won’t be ready for another three weeks. I’ve met heirloom tomato fans who explain they buy starts year after year from Redland Organics because there are certain varieties (like black tomatoes, such a deep dark red it looks almost black) that only Margie sells.
You can also get fruits that are in season now: avocados, carambolas, perhaps bananas, cas guava, and antidesma (bignay). Also available are the usual offerings of organic eggs in lovely shades of browns — and even light green ones from auracana hens — and wildflower honey from hives kept on the farm.
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Events presented by growers or members of Redland Organics CSA:
LECTURES
Saturday, October 24
12:00 p.m. Growing Organic Heirloom Tomatoes, Margie Pikarsky
1:00 p.m. Edible Landscaping in Paradise, Gabriele Marewski
Sunday, October 25
4:00 p.m. Extreme Edible Landscaping: Urban Homesteading!, Melissa Contreras
GARDENING DEMONSTRATIONS
Sunday, October 25
10:00 a.m. Slow Food School Gardens, Hunter Reno
1:30 p.m. Square Foot Gardening with Kids, Hunter Reno
Redland Rambles 
This is a great festival – very educational. I am involved in growing Florida citrus and while it is difficult to grow organic citrus in Florida, we do our best to keep chemicals and pesticides at a minimum during the growing process. Organic Florida fruit is amazing! http://www.indianrivercitrus.net