East Texans love their tomaotes.  Last weekend's Tomato Fest in Jacksonville is evidence of that love; it is a 29-year-old event that honors this favorite food! The presence of this festival underscores the importance of the tomato in East Texas culture.

Many of you don't depend upon buying tomatoes at festivals and markets, instead, planting your own garden full of tomatoes. The time will soon come when your production outpaces your ability to eat the fresh tomatoes. If you're  not a farmer selling your crop at a farmers market or festival, what will you do with the abundance?

I had this "problem" some  years ago, when we had forty or so tomato plants in a patch of good dirt next to our home. Those tomatoes were happy as can be there in Anderson County, and by June, my counter, bar, windowsills, and kitchen table were covered completely by Celebrities, Better Boys, as well as cherry and grape varieties.

We ate bacon and tomato sandwiches several times a week to help use the bounty, (my husband won't eat lettuce on this sandwich, so we have BLs for him instead), and we had a plate of sliced tomatoes on the table every night at dinner. I learned to can that year in order to manage the bounty without wasting food. I gave away bags full of them to friends, family members and neighbors, as well.

The salsa, the tomato sauce, and the canned whole tomatoes were a great blessing for my family all year long. I loved breaking open a jar of salsa to pour over a plump chicken before roasting, or making a big pot of chili on a cold January evening with a jar of juicy whole tomatoes. Nothing in a grocery store tastes quite as wonderful as that.

Sometimes, sitting still is one of the most difficult tasks asked of young students. That’s why, the Tyler ISD Foundation trialed a “Wiggle Room” grant—so that students could have a place to let off that pent up energy and get back to their lessons.

The grant, written and submitted last fall by Diana Koop, school counselor at Rice Elementary, is now being considered for expansion due to the high level of success.

We have all heard that eating vegetables and fruits is good for our health. Nothing new there.

The problem is that many of us forget to purposely grab healthy vegetables, often opting instead for foods that are quick and easy to prepare, but are, admittedly, not so good for us.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the types of vegetables or fruit that most often appear to be protective against cancer are raw vegetables, followed by allium vegetables, carrots, green vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, and tomatoes.