Tony's Family Farms Tony Tomato

06/03/2026

Yep, we got them collards…

Did someone say Collard Greens..
Tony Tomatoes Collard Greens in the house.

06/02/2026

If you thought we had red tomatoes back in January, we’re just getting going look at this beautiful piece of red deliciousness on that tasty sandwich…

06/01/2026

Wow 15 years ago is when my two youngest worked hard and earned some farm money tending to tomatoes that summer. Time flys, today these two are still working hard, both college educated, chasing a law degree, the other getting paid as a computer engineer. The gentleman, Mr Fortune in the red shirt is the farmer that got me interested in this industry and passed away years ago, I bet he would love to see and smile at our operation today.
Plant the work seed in them early and watch them grow.

🌾🧑🏿‍🌾

05/31/2026

Here goes into the ground a few more specialty Peppers for our customers. I’m very excited that seeds from Chef Ozzy’s mother she shared with me two years ago have finally germinated, and are thriving. Big shout out to Dausters Greenhouse for his tireless efforts to make these seeds grow.

This perennial, rare Mexican pepper will be tested in the high tunnel to provide extra summer ground heat and I’ve also planted 300 cells outside in a designated area and will try to see if we can get multiple years of production out of this South American jewel

Let’s start the countdown to harvest in 100 days 🌶️🌶️🌶️

05/31/2026

Tomato prices in our region will fall soon…

https://abc17news.com/news/top-stories/2026/05/30/rising-grocery-retail-prices-linked-to-high-diesel-prices/

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Missouri drivers are getting a break at the pump, with gas down by 13-15 cents across all types, according to AAA. However, consumers could see higher grocery prices because of how expensive diesel is. "I think this is affecting all retail, not just grocery," CEO and president o...

05/30/2026

Tomato taste test time by Cathy our canning queen at the farm today. We are happy the high tunnel is exceeding our expectations and creating local food.

05/29/2026

Well the garden is under a new management style and we have a successful crop. We have several rows of loaded tomato plants we just need sun 🌞 to start turning them red into red 🍅🍅🍅

Next challenge is staking and tying our outside plants.

The 8ft high new fence is still no challenge for our pesky 🦌 🐇 and 🦝but we are only seeing a fewer tracks and damage from one doe vs the 10 plus cockroaches 🦌🦌🦌🦌 from last season that ate 80 % of our young tender plants. I’ll take that minimal damage as a win🙌🏿

05/28/2026

Having fun with my man Chef Pepe as we set him up with porchini mushrooms for his customers this week. I bring into St Louis a lot of top quality mushrooms 🍄‍🟫 from all over and it was fun learning from Chef Pepe how the Italian culture absolutely loves the meatiness of porchini’s.

05/24/2026

The first image was shared to me by a home Chef Ryan…I stuffed the morels with turkey mousseline then braised in chicken au jus and served as the accompaniment of the chicken roulade and foie gras. 🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿

Since I have time today let’s talk about morel mushrooms prepping.

“Serving great food requires a long process in preparation, put in the time and charge accordingly.”

How to clean your morel mushrooms…

Accept the fact that tiny little things also like making the mushrooms membrane it’s home as it comfortably sits on the forest floor.

Chef Dave and Chef Phil from the former Balaban’s the rock stars who brought St. Louis his burgundy wine sauce, morel pasta, shared these tips with me.

1. Lay your Morel Mushrooms on a cookie sheet with parchment paper and wrap that sheet with saran wrap. If you have a lot of morels you can keep them whole or you can cut them in half on the cookie sheet.

2. Place the cookie sheet in your refrigerator and let the saran wrap suffocate anything that’s living or moving in your Mushrooms overnight. If you don’t have a cookie sheet or space in your refrigerator, you can also put the mushrooms in a Ziploc bag and we’ll have the same effect. We find mushrooms and all types of terrain, breaking down wood and depending on where they’re being found at is going to determine how much cleaning you’ll need to take to get them ready to eat.

3. Now it’s time to wash those mushrooms in saltwater for about an hour to two, make sure you are agitating the mushrooms. Keep in mind we have already chased out anything that we don’t want to eat and so now it’s time to remove dirt, sand, small Pineneedles, etc..

4. Pay attention to the color of the water if it still looks dirty after you’ve done the first rinse, then repeat. We don’t want your Mushrooms to sit in the water too long and become soggy, but we just wanna get them cleaned.

5. After you have washed everything now it’s time to put them in a strainer or back on a cookie sheet with parchment paper and pat them dry.

6. Walla, you’re good to go and create deliciousness.