The Lopez family living directly across the field in front of us aren't farmers but they would certainly be successful at it if they were. They're raising chickens, pheasants and even a couple of California quail. And they grow most of their own vegetables, some of which are in a big greenhouse. A while back, Sr. Lopez brought us a gift - a box of their huge greenhouse tomatoes. I'm no expert, but they were the biggest and best tomatoes I've ever seen.

Later, when we again needed tomatoes, we didn't want the "industrial" varieties that are sold in supermarkets. So we phoned the Lopez family and persuaded them to let us buy some of their excess crop. That also gave us the chance to examine their greenhouse up close.
 

On November 27th we bought 13 more of this fabulous fruit. Their average weight was 20 ounces. What makes them different from what we were used to, besides their size, is that they're solid all the way through. There are no big voids with nothing but a little pulp and some seeds in them, like we're used to with supermarket tomatoes. These are a variety commonly grown in Ourense, a warm inland province near the Portuguese border.