An estimated 7000 visitors from many states attended the 12^th Annual Spring Planting Festival at Baker Creek’s Bakersville Pioneer Village on Sunday and Monday. Sunday’s hot and humid weather did not deter guests from browsing the many vendor booths, listening to non-stop music, buying seeds, and watching the pioneer demonstrations. Monday’s cool and cloudy weather was perfect festival weather and brought a great week-day crowd.

Besides enjoying music on several stages throughout the entire two days, the National Folk Music Contest proved to be quite popular. More single and group acts entered the contest than ever before, creating a 2-hour contest of amateur music. Sydni Guinn won $600 when she was voted the best act of the contest. Second place prize of $200 went to Allison Ann Green.

The old-fashioned costume contest was a hit with the audience both days. Sunday’s first place winners were Essence of Joy and Ezekiel Pierce of Mansfield, MO. Melissa Niednagel of Nottinghill, MO, won second place. Monday’s costume winners were Katurah Richardson of Mountain Grove, MO, who placed first, and Laura Richardson, also of Mountain Grove, who placed second. All winners received monetary prizes.

Baker Creek staff added a children’s area that was a big hit with kids this year. Featuring an art wall, huge sand pile filled with treasures, along with many fun games and activities for kids of all ages, the area was always busy with kids waiting to take their turn to participate in the potato sack races, bean bag toss, and much more. Some of the area schools took advantage of Baker Creek’s invitation to bring their students on Monday to participate in the free fun for students.

Nationally and internationally known speakers drew large crowds to their informational presentations in the speaker barn. Many of them are well-known authors who also held book signings after their presentations. Jeffrey Smith, founder of the Institute for Responsible Technology, drew a full house on Sunday as he talked about the impact that genetically modified foods have on our health. Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of the Washington DC based Food and Water Watch, had an engaged audience for her presentation about the “False Promise of Genetic Engineering.” Culinary historian and author William Woys Weaver informed his audience about how the heirloom movement got started and the nutritional implications of heirloom foods raised organically. Doug Oster, newspaper columnist for Pittsburgh, PA, Gazette spoke both days: how to get the biggest and tastiest tomatoes, and succession planting, respectively. Dave Murphy, founder of FOOD DEMOCRACY NOW, continued to promote pure food. Authors Jimmy Williams and Susan Heeger informed and entertained the audience with their presentation about the “Magic and Pleasure of Growing Food.” Illinois farmer Mac Condill’s “Tips & Stories from The Great Pumpkin Patch” was also a crowd pleaser. Missourians in the audience appreciated Charlie Hopper’s information about Missouri’s food economy.

More visitors than ever before also took advantage of the Gettles’ offer to pitch a tent or park a camper for the festivities. Some folks commented that it was a good way to beat the high price of gas by not having to drive long distances for a hotel room and allowed them the opportunity to attend both days of the festival.

The Asian-themed restaurant at Bakersville always had a line of folks, often extending out the door and across the graveled lot, waiting to be served. It is a rare restaurant where people pay by donation rather than having assigned menu prices. Diners were treated to great music on the piano and and banjo. In addition, KSPR-TV chef Lynda Roy lectured there about here raw food journey and the health benefits of eating a fresh diet with plant-based foods.

The annual Spring Planting Festival is the only two-day festival scheduled at Baker Creek this year, but we do host Heritage Festivals the first Sunday of each month through October. Anyone wishing more information may log on to www.rareseeds.com or call call 417-924-3031.

The event that you have been waiting all Winter and Spring for has finally arrived! Come on out to our Spring Planting Festival this Sunday and Monday, May 6 and 7. Our gates will open at 10:00am both days, and the festivities will continue till 7:00 pm.

This is your chance to browse more than 100 vendor booths from all across Missouri and several other states, as well. Visitors will enjoy strolling through the many graveled paths lined with huge vendor tents and booths where they will find an abundance of plant starts of everything from vegetables, to flowers, to succulents, to herbs, to fruit trees and bushes. Visitors with no space to garden will still enjoy browsing the vendor booths for all different kinds of wood crafts, food crafts, needle crafts, survival and sustainable living ideas, metal crafts, and many more.

READ MORE HERE: http://rareseeds.com/spring-planting-festival

New this year will be our ongoing children’s activities throughout the two days. We will have a large children’s area in which we will have activities such as potato sack race, obstacle course, treasure/scavenger hunt, sing-alongs, seed starting, making pine cone bird feeders, and a whole lot more. Best of all: there is no admission charge for kids 16 and under. We do ask that parents accompany their children to these activities.

People who relish in old-time music will want to experience the western, folk, country, gospel, Irish, bluegrass and Americana tunes scattered throughout the grounds. In addition to performances on our four stages, there will be single, family, and group performers entertaining in other venues. Diners in the restaurant may enjoy piano music with their meal while browsers in the mercantile listen to a folk quartet while visitors to the flour mill enjoy gospel with an hint of Irish flavor. Old-fashioned musicians, both solo acts and groups, travel from many states to compete in the Folk Music Contest. Instrumental and vocal acts alike have fun vying for prizes while entertaining the masses.

Our speaker line up is filled with nationally and internationally known presenters: Mac Condill, Art Davidson, Wenonah Hauter, Susan Heeger and Jimmy Williams, Charlie Hopper, Doug Oster, Dave Murphy, Jeffrey Smith, and William Woys. Come and hear what the experts have to say about GMO’s, succession planting, the heirloom movement, and much more.

Come on out: Bakersville Pioneer Village, 2278 Baker Creek Road, Mansfield, MO

Admission: $5 per adult per day Children 16 and under admitted free

www.rareseeds.com 417-924-3031

The subject of leeks in my last blog made me realize that I have an extremely large collection of leek recipes, so I thought I would share this one. I developed it while visiting friends in Kent, England and since they live near the English Channel, I was inspired to mix fresh local seafood with fresh local leeks. To make the pasties, you will need a large batch of puff paste. You can buy it pre-made and frozen at your supermarket.

Crab Pasties with Leek and Saffron

Yield: 6 pasties

2 pounds chilled fresh puff pastry

¼ teaspoon saffron strands

2 teaspoons hot water

12 ounces white crab meat

3 ounces brown crab meat

8 ounces of leeks, thinly sliced (white part only)

2 ounces fresh white breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground white pepper

1 and a half tablespoons melted butter

Preheat the oven to 400^o F. Divide the puff pastry into 6 pieces on a lightly floured surface. Cut it into 7 ½ inch circles. Set aside.

For the filling, soak the saffron in the water for 5 minutes. Put the white and brown crab meat, leeks, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper into a bowl and stir together until well mixed. Crush the saffron into the water to release the color, then stir into the melted butter. Stir the butter-saffron mixture into the filling ingredients.

Divide the filling equally between the pastry circles. Brush the edge of one half of each circle with a little water, then bring both sides together over the top of the filling and pinch together. Crimp the edge of each pasty with your fingers or a fork, then transfer to a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven or until golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature. May be served as finger food.

We are excited to have William Woys Weaver Speaking at Our Spring Planting Festival, May 6th and 7th.

If you’re a farmer and have the opportunity to display your harvest on the White House lawn for all of America to see, that’s some great publicity. For Mac Condill, fifth generation farmer and production manager for The Great Pumpkin Patch in East Central Illinois, creating a 12-foot high pumpkin, gourd and squash pyramid to grace that very lawn a couple of years ago gave his family’s farm lots of attention. Yet, what Mac was most exited about was that “it was an awesome opportunity to give the squash their due.”

Mac gets excited about any opportunity to “get these vegetables in places where people can see them. . .the creative colors, shapes, sizes,” and to introduce them—and raw food in general—to kids, who love “something with warts on it or bigger than their brother.” He’ll often teach children about cucurbits by presenting squash with names from A to Z, which is an easy way to introduce 26 varieties.

“Meet” some of Mac’s cucurbit varieties at this year’s Expo

For those who attended the first National Heirloom Exposition last fall, you may remember Mac’s display there—his eye-catching cucurbit (pumpkin, gourd and squash) pyramid in the main auditorium, towering over the heirloom produce display tables. (Mac will be building his produce pyramid again—and bigger—at this year’s National Heirloom Exposition scheduled for September 11, 12 and 13, 2012, at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, California. Learn more about this must-see event at: http://www.theheirloomexpo.com/conference/the-2nd-annual-heirloom-expo/)
Folks who won’t be able to make it to California for the National Heirloom Festival have an earlier chance to meet Mac Condill at Baker Creek’s 12th annual Spring Planting Festival in Mansfield, Missouri, on May 6. While the festival is a 2-day event on both Sunday and Monday, Mac will give a presentation in the speaker barn at 2:30 on Sunday, May 6.

Video of The Heirloom Expo 2011

That’s alota pumpkins, squash and gourds

The Great Pumpkin Patch farmland has been in Mac’s family for over 150 years. Over 100,000 cucurbits, as well as beans and corn, are grown each year. Mac has also founded The Homestead Seeds, keeping up the family tradition of selling heirloom cucurbit seeds, which was started by his older brother, Kit. There is a Homestead Bakery on the property as well, featuring made-from-scratch baked goods, many with fresh pumpkin as an ingredient.

The famous Wall O’ Squash at The Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur , IL

In the fall, during peak pumpkin season, the Great Pumpkin Patch sells as many as 5,500 pumpkins a day, says Mac. About 400 varieties of pumpkins, squash and gourds are raised on 63 acres. Many of the more exotic, heirloom varieties are started in flats outdoors, up to 15,000 transplants a year. Other varieties are raised from seed sown directly into the ground.
“Growing heirlooms, going back in time to get our varieties (some dating back over 500 years and from another continent) and being able to do that here in Illinois, is really cool,” says Mac. “I’ve been doing this all my life,” he adds. “I’m a big gardener, so I like seeing every stage of it. I love seeds in general and to see the ultimate fruit at the end. That outcome specimen still gets me excited.”

For more info visit: http://the200acres.com/thepatch/

Tips on raising your own cucurbits

Wait until it gets warm to plant. One of the biggest mistakes people make when growing cucurbits (pumpkins, squash or gourds) is that they plant them too early, according to Mac. “There’s no gain by planting early. They love, thrive on the dry and the heat (period) across the board. Planting in early May, all you’re doing is giving the plant a handicap. They come out of the soil and look gorgeous, then get thrown a curve when it gets cold and wet“Cucurbits play catch up so well,” he adds, “that if you wait to plant later in the season, you will have saved yourself lots of headaches. There’ll be no stress and perfect growing conditions.”

Rotate your squash crops. Crop rotation is important when raising squash, Mac stresses. “Make sure you don’t grow your squash in the same spot every year. We have a three-year crop rotation. If you don’t rotate your squash crops, you are inviting cucumber beetles and vine borers. Once you have a vine borer, it takes eight years to work it out.”

Get creative with your cucurbit growing space. If you’re lacking garden space, a 2-foot-by-2-foot pot on a deck or terrace will accommodate a summer squash or zucchini plant. Cucurbits can even be grown on trellises or climb up trees, says Mac. “Grow them on a chain-link fence or up a TV tower. If people don’t think you’re crazy, then you’re not doing something worthwhile,” he adds, laughing. It will get your neighbors’ attention and draw them over, so you’ll be creating a garden and a relationship.

Mac with his cucurbit display at The White House

Save this for fall pumpkin seed roasting. . .

One of Mac’s favorite cucurbits is Veracruz pepita, an heirloom pumpkin from Mexico, which he shared with media wonder Martha Stewart when he appeared on her show. It’s prized as a decorative pumpkin—a real “showstopper,” says Mac, with its unusual flattened Hershey® kiss shape, huge stumpy stem and brown, white and green coloring. It’s also favored for its unique seeds, which are shaped like an animal’s fangs and have a great taste when roasted. And, it’s a “naked” seed variety, meaning it has no hull to contend with.

To roast Veracruz pepita seeds, you don’t have to get all the goopy stuff off of them. Simply place the seeds on a baking sheet and into an oven that has been pre-heated at 350 degrees. Let roast for about six minutes—you’ll hear them make a popping sound—lightly drizzle with olive oil, add a dash of coarse sea salt, and enjoy.

“These seeds are so healthy for you,” adds Mac. “They’re a great form of good fat, Vitamin A and D, and have been shown to fight off colon cancer and are good for the prostrate.”
Cucurbits have a lot to offer, he adds, if you take the time to learn about them.

For more information on Mac Condill and The Great Pumpkin Patch visit: http://the200acres.com/thepatch/history/

Post by William Woys Weaver

If you are a fan of Agatha Christie murder stories, then surely you are familiar with her famed character Hercule Poirot. His last name is a pun, since it rhymes with poireau, French for leek, surely the most unlikely name for anyone aspiring to solve crimes! But a-ha! My little gray cells also tell me something about Christie and perhaps a wink and a brilliant idea that came to her over a warming bowl of leek soup. Who is to say this did not inspire her?

You cannot explore Belgian cookery (the homeland of Poirot) unless you also get to know leeks. I grow many varieties, have them in the ground all year around, and very glad of that fact when I price leeks at any supermarket. But what kind of selection do we find? Normally there is one bin of leeks. Let’s see, Baker Creek offers five distinct varieties and I have nine more than that, and yes, each one has a unique flavor. But you have to sample them side by side in order to detect the subtle nuances.

My great-grandmother, Esther Hannum Hickman, studied at Mrs. Rorer’s cooking school in Philadelphia in 1884-1885, and one of the first things she was taught, was the fine art of cooking leeks in white sauce. Her favorite variety was Musselburgh, a market leek developed in Scotland in the 1700s and still valued as one of the hardiest for overwintering in the ground. Don’t forget that those leaves that you trim off the top of leeks are one of the best things to toss into the stock pot. They will give stock a delightful flavor, so don’t waste them!

The Musselburgh leek has been grown for such a long time that it has produced a number of progeny, new sub-varieties selected out for special traits, like size, hardiness, or ability to stand up under heavy rains. One of the most popular of these is the sub-variety called Giant Musselburgh, which also goes by the names American Flag, Selected Musselburgh, and Scotch Flag. It is generally larger than the original Musselburgh strain, and seems to do better in our American climate. Regardless of which variety of leek you like, you should be starting your seed now (March to mid-April) so that the plants can get themselves well established before the heat of summer. It is important that they develop a good root system to help them overwinter, and if you have seeds left over try adding one or two tablespoonfuls to the next batch of bread you bake. They will give the bread a zippy onion flavor, just like Indian chapattis.

William Woys Weaver is a culinary historian living in Devon, Pennsylvania, were he maintains the Roughwood Seed Collection consisting of some 4000 varieties of food plants. http://www.williamwoysweaver.com/

We are excited to have William Woys Weaver Speaking at Our Spring Planting Festival, May 6th and 7th.

Plans are in full swing to make this year’s Spring Planting Festival better than ever at Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company’s Bakersville Pioneer Village near Mansfield, Missouri, on May 6 and 7.

Visitors will enjoy strolling through the many graveled paths lined with huge vendor tents and booths where they will find an abundance of plant starts of everything from vegetables, to flowers, to succulents, to herbs, to fruit trees and bushes. Visitors with no space to garden will still enjoy browsing the vendor booths for all different kinds of wood crafts, food crafts, needle crafts, survival and sustainable living ideas, metal crafts, and many more.

Our speaker line up is filled with nationally and internationally known presenters: Jeffrey Smith is an international best-selling author, founder of Institute for Responsible Technology, and one of America’s leading experts on the subject of genetically modified foods.

Our speaker line up is filled with nationally and internationally known presenters:

Jeffrey Smith is an international best-selling author, founder of Institute for Responsible Technology, and one of America’s leading experts on the subject of genetically modified foods.

Doug Oster is host of the Organic Gardener radio show, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s garden writer, and author of several garden books.

Jimmy Williams is an urban farmer and co-author of the the critically acclaimed From Seed to Skillet, a guide to planting a backyard garden. He has an extraordinary wealth of knowledge when it come to growing edible gardens without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers.

Susan Heeger is co-author From Seed to Skillet and a long-time magazine and newspaper feature writer with a specialty in garden, design, home, lifestyle, and food stories.

William Woys Weaver is a well-known heirloom gardener, author of respectable collection of cookbooks and food industry books, and contributing editor to Mother Earth News.

Dave Murphy is founder and executive director of Food Democracy Now!, a grassroots movement of more than 250,000 American Farmers and citizens.

Mac Condill is a famed cucurbit farmer, homesteader, and seed developer from Arthur, IL.

Charlie Hopper is a Marketing Specialist for the Missouri Department of Agriculture, spent seven years in Appalachia working in rural development and sustainable land use where he had an organic vegetable operation on the side, and now works directly with farmers and community groups preaching the gospel of local food.

New this year will be our ongoing children’s activities throughout the two days. We will have a large children’s area in which we will have activities such as potato sack race, obstacle course, treasure/scavenger hunt, sing-alongs, seed starting, making pine cone bird feeders, and a whole lot more. Best of all: there is no admission charge for kids 16 and under. We do ask that parents accompany their children to these activities.

People who relish in old-time music will want to experience the western, folk, country, gospel, Irish, bluegrass and Americana tunes scattered throughout the grounds. In addition to performances on our four stages, there will be single, family, and group performers entertaining in other venues. Diners in the restaurant may enjoy piano music with their meal while browsers in the mercantile listen to a folk quartet while visitors to the flour mill enjoy gospel with an hint of Irish flavor. Old-fashioned musicians, both solo acts and groups, travel from many states to compete in the Folk Music Contest. Instrumental and vocal acts alike have fun vying for prizes while entertaining the masses.

Aside from scheduled activities, people who live the pure and natural life of gardening enjoy sharing ideas and swapping stories. Many take advantage of the Gettles’ offer to pitch a tent or park a camper in designated areas for the duration of the festival. Those folks then can be found enjoying the after-festival time to meet and exchange seeds, advice, and anecdotes.

Join thousands of visitors from farms, small towns, and large cities across the United Stages at the 2012 Spring Planting Festival, America’s largest heirloom planting event.

The festival is held our our village and farm. Simply take Highway 5 north from Mansfield for 1.5 miles and follow signs. Food is available at the festival from our Bakersville restaurant and a variety of vendors. Admission for adults is $5 per person, per day. Children 16 and under are free. All pets over 20 lbs must be pre-approved. No weapons are allowed. Vendors are welcome (call 417-924-8917 for info).

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Visit us online at www.rareseeds.com or email us at seeds@rareseeds.com.

Post by William Woys Weaver

A few weeks ago I posted some comments on the Red Wethersfield Onion, one of the heirloom varieties maintained by Baker Creek. I want to continue that conversation today with a recipe for onion soup. The classic French onion for soup is the one the French call Jaune paille des vertus otherwise known as Brown Spanish and introduced in 1793. Other good soup onions in the Baker Creek catalog are Alisa Craig (developed in Scotland and introduced in 1887), Australian Brown (1897) and Yellow Flat Dutch (1888). Of course, you can make onion soup from just about any onion you want, but if you’re after that rich buttery flavor with huge depth and character, go for the heirlooms. When raised organically, they take up all sorts of vital minerals from the soil, and that is part of the secret of their good flavor. I am now going to share with you my favorite onion soup recipe, which only takes about 30 minutes to prepare. Company coming on short notice? Here is your starter course to launch the dinner! It’s even better when reheated the next day.

 Australian Brown Onion

Soupe à l’oignon

Yield: Serves 4 to 6

1 and a half pounds of onions, preferably Brown Spanish

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 and a half quarts well-flavored beef stock or bouillon

salt and pepper to taste

Cut the onions in half lengthwise, then slice paper-thin to make half-rings. Heat the butter and oil in a deep stewing pan and when the butter begins to foam, add the onions. Stir to coat the onions with the oil mixture, then add the sugar, stirring it as well. Cover and sweat the onions over a medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, or until soft and beginning to turn color. Add the stock and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer gently for about 20 to 30 minutes then serve. For variation, you can brown some slices of crusty bread in butter and then float them on top of the soup liberally sprinkled with grated cheese.

William Woys Weaver is a culinary historian living in Devon, Pennsylvania, were he maintains the Roughwood Seed Collection consisting of some 4000 varieties of food plants. http://www.williamwoysweaver.com/

We are excited to have William Woys Weaver Speaking at Our Spring Planting Festival, May 6th and 7th.

Many of the approximately 1400 varieties of heirloom seeds offered by Baker Creek are extremely rare. Some have been introduced and offered by us alone. Customers often ask: where we do we get such a stunning diversity of rare varieties?

Well, our seed comes from lots of sources. Fortunately, many heirloom varieties are still available through several small seed producers. These we buy, just like any other seed house would.

However, a large amount are NOT readily available. These are grown here on the Baker Creek farm, or are assigned by us for grow-out, to our network of over one hundred growers, who custom produce the seeds for us under contract.

On our own farm, we produce as many as one hundred varieties annually. Growing that many varieties involves careful planning, plenty of space, and a lot of hard work! To keep pure strains, each variety must be properly isolated from other varieties of the same species. Isolation distances vary according to species. Self-pollinating types, such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, don’t require nearly as much isolation as out-crossers like cucumbers, squashes and melons. Those types require a half-mile of isolation from other members of the same species. So we grow only a single variety, or else we build cages around the plants, to keep bees from carrying in pollen from other varieties.

Caging is pretty easy to do if you have the materials, but it does involve extra work. We build our cages by creating a temporary frame of PVC pipes over the beds. Then we stretch floating row cover over the frames, and anchor the edges firmly by burying them in the soil. Since access inside the cages is nearly impossible, we lay drip irrigation lines when we plant. That way, we just have to connect those lines to a water souce when the plants are thirsty.

Since the cages exclude bees, we must add bees of our own, since out-crossers won’t produce quality seed without pollination. This is done by bringing in hives of bumblebees, which we then give access to only a single cage. (Honeybees don’t work: the cages are too small for them.) After we’ve obtained good fruit set, the cages are removed and the materials stored away.

When the crop matures, the seed must be harvested. Extraction methods vary, depending on the species–each species has its own requirements. For seed that is extracted wet, like tomatoes and squashes, there is usually a fermentation process involved. Types that dry right on the plant, like beans, cowpeas or okra, is merely harvested, threshed out, and cleaned. Finally, the seeds are tested for proper germination, and then packaged into our colorful, trademark seed packets.

But we cannot grow ALL our rare varieties on the Baker Creek farm–there simply isn’t enough room here. So each season we assign growouts to our contract growers. These folks are usually small-scale farmers, growing crops for market or to feed their own families. So for them, it has been a relatively small step to doing seed production. Some produce seed for other companies as well.

Each spring, we pore over our inventory lists and try to make our best determination of which varieties will need to be grown that season. Then we begin the process of matching up varieties with growers. We send the growers selected foundation seed, at just the right time for planting. Our growers then work all summer, providing proper isolation, carefully tending their plants, and finally bringing in their hard-earned harvest. They send the seeds to us, we get them tested for germination, and finally credit them for payment.

It’s a lot of careful work for all involved. But, if we do everything just right, the result is quality seed, viable and true to type, which we can then distribute to gardeners throughout North America and beyond. It’s the only way we know to safeguard and increase these wonderful, deserving old varieties. It’s really a labor of love!

Seventeen years ago, Tim Stark, began raising heirloom tomatoes, chili peppers and zucchini from seed on the fourth floor of a brownstone walk-up in Brooklyn. He was a freelance writer and consultant at the time, living a somewhat unsustainable existence. He was also a frustrated gardener, whose “real” garden was a tiny plot of land miles away in the country. The urge to plant indoors was driven by a desire to grow and nurture a garden close to home, one he could keep an eye on and whose bounty he could enjoy before the gophers and other pests.

There were other challenges of course, like the shock his indoor-sprouted seedlings went into when he transferred them from their grow-light existence to their new, sunlit home on the roof. Yet despite the many challenges, that first year, Tim, and his then-girlfriend-now-wife, Jill, raised 300 plants, including fifty varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

Tomato growing passion ‘grows’ a book, a farm

That initial experience of “city farming” and the subsequent years, during which his heirloom growing business flourished, became the inspiration for Tim’s book Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer (Broadway Books, a division of Random House, 2008). And soon after his book was published, Tim purchased a 58-acre farm in Pennsylvania. Last year, he raised 30,000 plants and 100 varieties of tomatoes, mostly heirlooms, some hybrids, as well as heirloom chili peppers and several other varieties of produce. He has a staff of farm employees now and sells his just-picked vegetables to the general public as well as over 100 New York City restaurants, including Restaurant Daniel, Jean Georges, 4 Seasons, Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, and Bouley from the back of his farm truck at the Union Square Street Market. He also makes special deliveries to city eateries and tries to grow something new each year to have some surprises for his customers. Last year, it was cardons and micro greens.

Tim with His Tomato Plants

Tim’s love of raising “love apples” and of farming is still smoldering. “There is a very nice reward,” he says. “People are very happy with the product and will thank you for your time.”

Of course, heirloom tomatoes and fresh farm-raised produce in restaurant dishes are not a new phenomena, not as “exciting” as they were almost two decades ago when he started growing heirlooms, says Tim. What keeps his customers pleased and returning to his truck at the street market is the flavor. “Virtually all our produce is picked two or one day before it’s sold. It’s that fresh, never refrigerated.” (Of course, there is also the rich flavor inherent in heirloom varieties, which is part of their attractiveness as a whole food or ingredient.)

Some of his customers’ favorites are the darker colored heirloom tomato varieties with their strong, musky flavors, including Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, and Black Prince.

Heirloom versus Hybrid

Heirlooms are open-pollinated (purebred) and raised from seeds passed down through generations. Having access to these “heritage” seeds provides a huge choice of varieties for any given vegetable or fruit. Heirlooms are also touted for their richer flavor, beautiful and unusual colors and shapes, and more potent nutrient content.
Heirlooms also support biodiversity. As many plant species are dying out, heirloom gardeners and farmers are growing and saving seeds, protecting them from extinction and supporting diversity in our food supply.
Raising heirlooms is also a frugal way to grow a bountiful garden, as seeds from each season’s crops can be saved for planting the next season.

(Go to http://rareseeds.com/shop to choose from among the over 1,400 heirloom seed varieties offered by Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.)

Hybrids are the result of cross breeding two or more varieties of a particular vegetable to achieve uniformity and vigor. Depending on the varieties crossed, hybrids often produce sterile seeds, which cannot be saved and used to raise the next year’s crops. Hybrids are often chosen for their disease and pest resistance and their heavy yields over flavor. Consequently, commercial growers chose hybrids for their durability, which also provides ease in harvesting and “ship-ability.”

Heirloom tomato growing tips from Tim

Tim is happy to share his tips for growing happy heirloom tomatoes:

• Give them a lot of sun. All-day exposure is better—don’t try to get away with three hours. Not enough sunlight can cause tomatoes to fall off.
• Provide well-draining soil and incorporate rich compost and calcium.
• Water deeply, soaking well and letting dry out—but not completely to bone dry—between waterings.
• Watch for blossom end rot, which can be the result of low calcium levels in the soil, drought stress, excessive soil moisture, and/or fluctuations due to rain or over watering.
• Tomatoes like a light breezy environment. Air circulation is beneficial, as humidity can make the plants disease-prone.
• Always stake your tomato plants.

Farming then and now

Whether large or small, the business of farming is susceptible to many challenges.
“I still like it,” says Tim, “but spring is a scary time, no money coming in. It’s bone dry here. No rain right now.”

Bringing In The Harvest

Also, one of the things Tim really enjoyed about gardening when he first started raising heirlooms so many years ago was the peacefulness of the pastime. “I had a garden, a peaceful place for me.”

Today, people still think I have this bucolic existence, he shares, with a chuckle. During this phone interview, he reveals, he’d been planting seeds and then sat on the steps of his greenhouse, looking out at his property. It was 6 p.m. on a day he rose at 3 a.m. to sell produce at the street market in the city. “Right now,” he says, “it’s pretty peaceful.”

Baker Creek gets a thank you

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company is pleased to be teamed up with Asma Eschen in her effort to assist the people of Afghanistan. Asma is co-founder of Bare Root Trees Project and led the 2011 delegation in conjunction with First Presbyterian Church of Anselmo, California. Their mission was to plant and distribute heirloom seeds donated by Baker Creek and to plant trees in areas near the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Distributing Baker Creek Seeds

Asma wrote that while the sights, sounds and smells of Kabul and neighboring communities and country side were foreign to her senses, there was nothing foreign about the truly warm welcome they received from the Afghan people as demonstrated by their smiles, their eagerness to communicate, their gracious acceptance of the mission and their genuine sense of humor.

Asma and her delegation helped to plant the trees because the holes had already been dug by the people who were to receive them. The seeds, however, were give to those industrious people who expressed delight at receiving them. Asma is certain the seeds will be planted and nurtured.

Ms. Allen planting trees with the boys of Alice Khan community…Spring 2012.

The delegation enjoyed the food which they described as a treat to their taste buds: meat, vegetables, fruit, rice and bread (nan) but made delicious with spices the Afghans know how to use. It was a blessing for them to experience a part of a country, a city, and a people that seem so different at first glance but prove to be more alike than not.

It was Asma’s second time to visit Shark-E-Naween community. The community people welcomed the delegation and showed them how well the apricot, mulberry, and pine trees were growing. The seeds that had been given the past three years were growing and producing fruit and vegetables, and the people had learned to save seeds to plant in following years.

Each community always welcomed the delegation with a hot lunch with such fare as lamb/vegetable soup, Afghans Palue (rice dish), green onions, radishes, mint and peppers from their gardens.

Lunch with Council members of Parwine community of Refugees.

In 2011, the Bare Root Trees Project had installed a generator for the community water pump, distributed bout 5,000 trees and over 500 packages of seeds. This year they are taking over 2,700 packages of seeds donated by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, church members, and Asma’s students. Asma points out that it is amazing to witness the changes that these trees and seeds have brought to the communities, and how much Kabul also has changed. She states, “I can honestly say that the country has finally found its rhythm and people are much happier and there are more colors everywhere than before. Including that young women wearing colorful scarves and clothing, not just blue ‘Chadarie.’”

Jere and Emilee Gettle work extensively to supply free seeds to many of the world’s poorest countries, as well as here at home in school gardens and other educational projects. Projects such as Asma Eschen’s help to fulfill the Gettles’ goal to educate everyone about a better, safer food supply and fight gene-altered Frankenfood.

For more information on the Bare Root Trees Project visit http://www.afghans4tomorrow.org/