01/19/2022
To say we are super excited about the upcoming planting season is an understatement. We are in the midst of cataloging our seed collection and making lists for new purchases. Currently, I am over the moon with this seed purchase as it fits in with our mission of creating biodiversity in our food.
This tomato comes with a fantastic story and we are looking forward to preserving and protecting this variety. This tomato was a variety that would have been common in victory gardens during WWII and was eventually bred out of existence. But wait how do you have seeds if the variety is extinct? During the set up for the seed store for MI Gardener, they were looking for decor and went to a farm auction. During that auction, they purchased a shadow box that contained a packet of these seeds. So they did what every seed addict does and opened the box and lo and behold the packet contained 85-year-old seeds. Through very careful propagation and care, they grew those seeds into plants over the last 3 years and finally are able to have enough seeds to sell. We are over the moon excited.
Varieties like the one above are constantly being bred out of existence due to commercial vegetables being bred for disease resistance, yields, and cosmetic appeal. Having bio-diverse vegetables allows species to adapt to various diseases and pests. When we depend on only commercially grown vegetables we are susceptible to having entire crops being wiped out by epidemics and infestations. Not to mention the loss of the wonderful taste that comes from heirloom varieties.
As always we are going to continue to grow, save, and preserve these varieties to help avoid losing food resources.
Bobbie Jo Geiger and Bub Johannes
