I'm still not gardening much at all, but it still is producing some things. Above are my townhousemates harvests from Thursday. They weren't weighed. But I was told it was delicious.
Then Sunday I picked some things for my CSA. She picked some tomatoes too. She could have picked a lot more peppers, but she still had tons of chili peppers from last week. In this was a few pounds of some shelling beans. These are Tabais beans which are traditional for cassoulet. I should have enough for me too. I can't make a regular cassoulet since I can't have tomatoes, but I can fudge it up enough to get something yummy I'm sure.
While I was watering my new Asian greens bed I found some alpine strawberries were ripe and one everbearer regular strawberry. The yellow ones are divine. The red ones were just OK. I think if they self seed (which I'm told they do. I'll be replacing the red ones with yellow. I hope so. But I think most of them are red right now.
I picked a few other things during the week, but they were neither photographed nor weighed. Mostly I've been eating a really bland diet, but I am starting to feel a bit better. I've been out for walks a couple times recently. I get really tired, but I'm on the mend. It turns out I'm not allergic to tomatoes at all. I have solanine poisoning. This is the poisoning you get when you eat green potatoes (which I didn't). But my doctor says it is absorbed through the skin. I'd hug my tomato plants for long periods during picking and pruning. I typically wear short sleeveless dresses in the summer and as Granny noticed I go barefoot. So I'm totally exposed to all the plant. And I don't take showers as soon as I get inside. This year was worse with the contact because of the narrow paths and the double row of tomatoes instead of single.
He thinks I just absorbed too much. I've got all the typical symptoms of solanine poisoning (fatigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea). It is a neurotoxin that does a lot of nasty things to your body. It typically has a 1-2 month half life so it takes a while to get out of the system. I've now cut all solanum crops out of my diet, and not just tomatoes. This is what has been getting me better. The small quantity that was still in my diet was enough to keep my levels too high. The last time I had a little bit of pepper I got very sick again that night. I won't be eating any of those again for months. Usually the little bits of it that you eat are easy enough for your body to handle. I just got too overloaded with it. But the good news is the odds are I can eat them again in 4-8 months since it isn't an allergy. But in the future I'll have to be careful since I'm obviously more sensitive to this poison that most folks are.
- Beans 2.73 lbs.
- Cucurbits 0.30 lbs
- Eggplant unknown
- Greens 3.02 lbs
- Pepper unknown
- Tomato unknown
- Weekly Total 6.04 lbs
- Weekly Spent $0
- Yearly Total 470.36 lbs
- Veggie Garden was worth $975.10
- Fruit 1.69 lbs
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.
Daphne, it's great that you found the root of the problem and you are feeling better!
ReplyDeleteI know what you are going through. It was the same for me when I became lactose intolerant in my early 20's. Just give it some time and you'll be feeling 100% again.
Wow, you are up early this Harvest Monday! I have never heard of Solanine poisoning! I already feel like that all the time, so I would hate to be exposed to that! Hope you get better soon!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that your dr figured out why you have been so sick. I had never heard about solanine poisoning.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are feeling better and better each and every day.
Wow 2 things in one post I didn't know existed Solanine poisoning and yellow strawberries. Obviously I hope to only acquire one. Really pleased that you're starting to feel better.
ReplyDeleteAfter all you've been going through, you must be overjoyed to learn that this is not a permanent allergy. Still, I'm sorry you're going through this. I'm sure the experience is changing your entire approach to gardening.
ReplyDeleteYour harvest looks delicious. I'm really amazed to see any strawberries this time of year. Yum!
I have to agree with Liz, never heard of yellow strawberries. I'm sorry to hear you were so sick, but thank you for posting about it so the rest of us could learn a bit about solanine poisoning. That was all new info for me. I get itchy skin when I have bare arms in the tomatoes. Maybe I'll be more careful from now on...
ReplyDeleteI have never hear of solanine poisoning either.
ReplyDeleteI guess we should all wear long sleeves, gloves and cover our legs & feet when doing a lot of pruning in the garden.
Wishing you a speedy recovery!
Glad you are feeling better Daphne, hope your system get rid of the solanine poisoning quickly.
ReplyDeleteI have entered the world of blogging and posted my first Harvest Monday today. Please give me some feedback there is so much to learn.
Oh, that was bad news and good news at the same time, Daphne! Must be a relief to know what was wrong.
ReplyDeleteTake care now,
Charlotta
While I have definitely heard of Solanine poisoning before, I had absolutely no idea you could absorb enough from just skin contact to be affected by it. Glad you figured out what was going on and that this is not a permanent ban from tomatoes for you. Hopefully you will get the toxins out of the system soon and be back to your old self.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're on the mend!
ReplyDeleteAt least you know the source of the problem now and how to deal with it in the future. It sounds like all Solanacae have some of this in the plant. I wonder if the great tomato smell that you get from the foliage is a solanine. Be well.
ReplyDeleteWow - do You have alpine strawberries NOW? Fantastic! have a nice day! :) Mia
ReplyDeleteYikes! Who knew gardening could be bad for you:( Hope you feel back to yourself soon.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to hear that you are getting better and that it isn't a tomato allergy. I am sorry that you can't eat any of those things and odd that you just found out you are so sensitive to the toxins just from having the plants touch you. But at least you know its not permanent and in the future you can find ways to prevent it. Although I am sure right now none of this really matters because you just want to feel better asap. I hope you get well soon!
ReplyDeleteWow Daphne, I hope you feel better soon. I always shower after working in the garden now, particularly the tomato bed. Last year, I noticed that the bath water would turn a bright yellow from all of the tomato pollen I'd pick up on skin. Marc and Jonathan are particularly sensitive to pollen so it definitely helps. I didn't know that you could absorb the toxin in your skin.
ReplyDeleteBTW - the yellow strawberries are my favorite too. The reds are only good when they are extremely ripe.
Oh my! I hope that you feel better soon! {{{HUGS}}}
ReplyDeleteDaphne sorry to read that you have been sick. I can't imagine not being able to have tomatoes this time of year since I never buy them.
ReplyDeleteGet well soon and nice harvest.
Your garden is still producing beautiful things even if you can't tend to it. I really envy those eggplants. It's good to hear you found out what was causing it. Hopefully you recover to the point you can enjoy tomatoes and peppers again.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear that you were so sick! That must have really been a tough ordeal for you. Nausea is bad enough, but everything else on top of that? Ugh! I hope you continue to completely recover very quickly.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, even when you're ill, you have a beautiful presentation of your harvests!
While I am sorry to hear that you have actually been poisoned by your garden (I've never heard of solanine poisoning before!) I am happy to hear that you've figured out what it is (and it's not permanent), you're on the mend and you should be recovered and well shortly! That's all great news!!!
ReplyDeleteGood you found the root cause and its not an allergy. Best wishes to you, I hope you start to feel your best sooner.
ReplyDeleteWhat a relief it must be to figure out what the problem has been, but how frustrating that you can't eat some of your favorite foods for a while, thank goodness it's not forever. I agree with you about the red and yellow strawberries, the yellow are the best. They do volunteer around my garden but are not weedy, sometimes I take over ripe berries and scatter them around areas where I would like them to volunteer.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad they figured out what was wrong, get better soon.
ReplyDeleteWe love strawberries, I'm going to have to give those yellow ones a try they look great.
poisoned by your plants! how awful. i have a lot of skin contact with tomato plants too...guess i should be careful. i hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a speedy recovery Daphne! I did not know how serious solanum poisoning can be. I also don't use glove and goes barefoot. Alpine strawberry plants can be divided after a few years. I just did that in July and now the plants are flowering. Those are gorgeous eggplants.
ReplyDeleteI've always been a bit worried about too much contact with tomato leaves, so i try to avoid it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pain for you! But at least you know what it is and it's not a tomato allergy.
What variety is the yellow strawberry?
Hi Daphne,
ReplyDeleteI love those alpine strawberries. They taste like wild strawberries to me. yum! I hope that you feel better soon.
I took in the last of my peppers this week, and the tomatoes continued to steadily roll in!
ReplyDeletei am glad to hear you were able to find out what was wrong! I hope you get well soon! Your harvest was still pretty nice too :)
ReplyDeleteOh dear! Glad you were able to discover what was wrong & that you soon will be on the mend. :)
ReplyDeleteSolanine poisoning is probably far more common than we recognize but is almost unknown by doctors and gardeners alike.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry you experienced this but so very glad you posted about it and what you've been through. Please keep doing so. I am not bothered by this, but my guess is that a lot of other people are and hopefully, if they read your story, little bells will go off and they'll be able to get appropriate help!
I can only repeat what everyone else has said, a relief to know it's not an allergy, even if it's sad not to be able to eat them for a while. And good to know in case I ever have a "real" garden again. I hope you'll feel better soon, and the wait won't seem too long!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are getting better, take it easy.
ReplyDeleteDid you have bugs attacking the chard? My swiss chard looks like swiss cheese!!
ReplyDeleteOh, my....I was just out hugging my tomatoes! I get itchy, but like the others I didn't know it could actually make me ill. I do hope you find relief soon.
ReplyDeleteWho knew hugging our plants could be so harmful! :) Thanks for providing a way for us to share our harvests through your blog!
ReplyDeleteDaphne- It must be a relief to know the root of your problem. Hope that you are feeling 100% well soon.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know about solanine poisoning. Thanks for sharing your story. Hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteYellow strawberries, very cool
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of that before. You learn something new every day. Hope you feel better soon and thank you so much for sharing the info.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear your dr. figured out what was going on. Hope you're feeling better. Your harvest looks great!
ReplyDeletePoisoning? This gives me a lot to think about. I've long been allergic to hot peppers. The year we bought our house I got a horrible rash from my tomato plants. And now my throat closes up when I eat anything in the nightshade family. Would you be willing to contact me and tell me a bit more about your experience? I'm miserable without nightshades.
ReplyDeleteLisa and Robb send me an email and I'll tell you how to tell them apart. Solanine is a nasty neurotoxin when you have too much in your body.
ReplyDelete