Hammer Dyeing (and bonus dinner)

First take some beautiful ripe tomatoes, either home grown or from a neighbour and dunk them in boiling water for a few seconds. Remove the peels and keep them aside. Do not discard the now-naked tomatoes - they come in handy for the dinner bit later on. Place on damp fabric - I use PFD and whack it with a rolling pin or hammer  or a meat mallet - anything that will crush down the plant material and then seal in a plastic bag for some weeks. I store mine under the house and away from human contact - you just don't know what's going on in the bag while the dyeing process festers along. Lorraine Glessner does some really interesting things with fruits and seeds - and it was fascinating to see the different results produced on cotton, silk etc.  Once you are happy with the rolling pin / hammering process, cook down the tomatoes with onion and garlic and pepper - when it has reduced, combine with herbs, browned mince and slowly reduce to  a fantastic sauce to put with home made pasta sheets. Easy lasagne-  a great by-product of  dyeing in the kitchen.