Just read the most fabulous Tomato article about a neighbor

[vfem]

I broke open a local magazine, something you can just grab at any news stand in Wake county NC. Its called Cary Living. (A snobby town I lived in briefly and will not return since they don't allow chickens or more then 2 dogs per household...but that is another story/vent for another time.)

To the point though, there is an article covering a Raleigh man, someone who didn't live far from where I lived before I moved outside of town. I do still live close to the area though, so I consider this neighboring!

The article "Raleigh Gardener Cultivates Reputation as Tomato Expert" by Dan Bain. The gardener, Craig LeHoullier. Some of you may know all this already, but I found it quite a shock.

Apparently, in 1990, while collecting seeds...which he had been doing since 1986 when he joined the Seed Savers Exchange... he received an envelope of unnamed, unmarked seeds from a family in Tennesse by the name of the Greens. The Green's told him that is was a purple colored tomato that had been passed down through the family with the story that the Cherokee nation had gifted these seeds to their family more then 100 years earlier.

LeHoullier grew the tomato, named it "Cherokee Purple" and then sent the seeds to multiple companies. It became so popular he created 2 more varieties and called them Cherokee Green and Cherokee Chocolate!!!

OMG! How crazy! I was just going crazy trying to find some of the Cherokee Purple's... and got some from Broke Down Ranch, who was kind enough to share some Cherokee Chocolate with me too.

Now I have a better sense of where they came from.

It was also nice to find out that his wife and he are at our local farmers market selling seedlings of rare varieties and almost extinct varieties he's been collecting and trying to get back out there.

Even better, they host an event each year called Tomatopalooza. Just visit www.Tomatopalooza.com to see where the location will be this year in July.

I'm going to have to go look this guy up and see if I can trade for one of the 3000-4000 varieties he claims to have in his home.

I found his page with seedling varieties they will have available for sale this coming season:
http://www.nctomatoman.topcities.com/From_The_Vine.htm

 

[ninnymary]

Wow, Vfem - You've found a "goldmine"! Hope you get to meet him and pick his brain.

mary

 

[vfem]

Tell me about it, I'm so excited. I am going to the Farmer's Market in April when they open for sure! I saw this one on his list of kinds he'll have available to buy:
"Japanese Trifele Black very odd potato leaf plant, true pear shaped chocolate colored tasty medium sized fruit. Very cool! "

I am dying to give that one a try!

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

Great to see this article is somewhere out there. I first received seeds from Craig and Susan LeHoullier in 1998 and have been sporadically ordering hard to find varieties from them.

Seed Savers Exchange is a great resource also.

Japanese Black Trifele is a variety I've grown for year and is amazing. If you don't end up ordering from them I can send you some seeds.

Carlos

 

[digitS']

Vfem, Craig LeHoullier is the real deal.

You have another tomato grower legend there in NC, Randy Gardner. I know, when I first saw that name I thought . . . well, never mind what I thought.

Dr. Gardner is the real deal, too. He's the guy who developed the Mountain series of tomatoes.

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

"Japanese Trifele Black very odd potato leaf plant, true pear shaped chocolate colored tasty medium sized fruit. Very cool! "

I am dying to give that one a try!

I gave one to my brother a couple of years ago. He took one bite and started saving the seeds. I do not find it a really prolific producer but it is one of the best tasting tomatoes I have tried. We all have different tastes, but I highly recommend you give this one a try.

 

[vfem]

I feel so lucky to know that I can just take a quick trip to the farmers market and try a special variety of tomato from someone who has such great knowledge of them... and a great MANY varieties to share. He even had a list on his site of the top 10 most disease resistant heirlooms for our area.

I sure am going to try to go with that list if I can. I noticed Amish Paste were on there, and the green sausage I started this year were on their too. Those are one's I wanted to try.

Oakland, I may take you up on that... I would hate to go to the farmers market in late april to find out the seedlings I want are gone, or never made it to market. We have an early planting season... my tomatoes will most likely be in the first week or second week of May at the latest!

 

[digitS']

. . . He took one bite and started saving the seeds. . .

Yes, I try to get as much of the juice on the front of my shirt from a good tomato I'm sampling, as possible.

Nearly always, there's a seed or two that sticks to the fabric that I can scrape off later.
Steve's digits :tools