We're so spoiled - we leisurely pick out fresh tomatoes at the store and get to sort through the best ones. On the other hand, you can't get them while they're green that way. If you're a fan of fried green tomatoes, you probably get a hankering for finding someone with a garden. And for a real good price, you can head over to the far eastern border of Arkansas and do some picking.

Not in the fields, exactly, although these are fresh off the vine. And it's real handy to have family around those parts, because then you can stay awhile, get great food and talk about what you're going to do with all those tomatoes.

We were not so lucky making our own trip out to the field setup. The good ones are picked off first at the top conveyor level and boxed for shipping. It's hot and laborious work and we won't go into green cards and all that stuff. We get the seconds, and that's not a bad deal - a few blemishes but that's about it. Unless you're behind a couple of hairy-armed guys who are there loading up the back of their trucks. With a helper running back and forth, they were able to grab a good load. Even worse, they had a fondness for the green ones.

Back home, we spent days blanching, peeling and freezing tomatoes. At one point, we just washed them and threw them into freezer bags. There is literally no more room at the inn. It'll be nice having homemade spaghetti and hot sauce. They'll go in chili, sloppy joe's and a host of other dishes.

Three dollars for 20-plus pounds of tomatoes is such a good deal, it's easy to get carried away. That's how we ended up coming home with 4400 boxes. Not really, but it smelled that way.