The beauty of heirloom vegetables

When we made the decision to go into growing and selling "heirloom" vegetables, it was purely from a marketing standpoint. Afterall, we had been raised culturally and professionally to think of vegetables in the old standby - tomatoes, peppers, corn and leafy stuff. Knowing that there was a diversity of vegetables out there did not exist in our reality at the time.
It started with heirloom tomatoes. As I researched I was drawn into a world where there were hundreds of different kinds of tomatoes! Previously, tomatoes to me were either round or plum. During the height of his time on the farm, my grandfather raised about 40 acres of plum tomatoes, mostly for his route to South Philadelphia and to Violet Packing in Williamstown. To me, plums were for sauce. Round tomatoes were grown by people in their backyards to put on their salads and hamburgers in the summer or by commercial growers to send to the super market. Round tomatoes grew on a climbing vine; plum tomatoes on a bush on the ground. To me this was the world of tomatoes. The words determinate and indeterminate were not in existence in my vocabulary. It lasted that way for many years. Even with all of the different varieties of plum tomatoes, there existed only one - the Roma. That's what Grandpop raised and so I thought that was the only kind of plum tomato.
As I researched heirloom tomatoes I was struck by the names - a rich diversity in itself. I found myself picking out varieties that had great names - Boxcar Willie, Mortgage Lifter, Pink Brandywine, Caspian - they all sounded so cool to grow. Size didn't matter; deteriminate or indeterminate meant nothing; taste - they must all taste good because they were "heirloom" tomatoes, right?
Boy, what an education.
To make a long story short, I learned a lot. It started with knowing what you are capable of handling. Some of these varieties can go off on their own and really take over space! That's one of the reasons why they aren't for everyone. You need to be patient and ever caring with them. Some subscribed to pruning them as you would other fruit such as tree fruit. While I tried that and found mixed results, I sometimes think that just letting them take their course and run all over is the best method. Except for when it comes to diseases.
One of the reasons heirlooms are heirlooms is because most of them have a low tolerance for disease. As I have said in my previous post, I can see now why science continues to work for the benefit of us in some ways and some times to our detriment. Think of a disease on a plant as a cancer in a person. The disease knows no mercy or cares about the host it is attacking. Heirlooms were created with beauty of taste in mind, not disease resistance. That's why commercial growers today do not grow them. Also, they have a very short life once they are picked because they are meant to be eaten right away, not a week from now.
Yet with a little motivation to understand the adversary, in this case fungal diseases, farmers could sway the odds in their favor just like a person who is proactive when it comes preventing cancer of their own body. Unfortunately, science some times takes the place of education, common sense and above all, patience.
I have to admit that when a Prudence Purple or a Cherokee Purple reaches maturity without being crippled by nature, it is one of the most beautiful things in the world. The radiance of its skin, its firmness and it blushing appearance make it worth all of the effort. When people see them in their tray at the tailgate market I sometimes have to explicitly will them to buy them because, like a work of art, they are different things to different people. Americans like big and buyers at the tailgate markets are no different. Hence, the Brandywine has become king of the heirloom varieties.
People talk about the Brandywine (the Red variety) in revered tones. It does have everything that a red blooded American would want in a tomato - size, texture, firmness and above all, taste. I have to admit that I could probably just grow Brandywines, like some of my neighbors, and live with it. But then I would be cheating myself and others of the diversity of tomatoes that exist. That's why we now grow about five different varieties each year.
As I delved into the research of heirloom vegetables and founds hundreds of varieties of lettuces, beans and fruits, it became clear to me that there is a distinction between growing food and manufacturing it for the masses. Each has its own science, from Dr. Martin perfecting his version of the lima bean in his backyard to Heinz perfecting theirs so that it ripens for a machine to pick. Heirlooms have let me discover the joy of not only being connected to nature and the Earth in a natural way but allowing me to understand why I now farm - for the joy of growing food, not manufacturing it to feed someone.
Tomorrow I want to finish talking about the other heirloom vegetables we grow and why we grow them. Also, we become "foodie farmers". Somewhere in there is a bastadization of the two words but right now I can't think of it.