Another Tomato Book

I recently read the book Tomato: A Guide to the Pleasures of Choosing, Growing, and Cooking, by Gail Harland. It had some nice charts in the beginning listing the best tasting tomatoes of each type of tomato and listed them by usage for canning, sauce, etc. It would really help in picking tomatoes to grow, because you can pick tomatoes easily that will produce the type you want without having to look through all of the other types. The only problem with this book is that it seems to focus more on UK tomato varieties and inter-mixes hybrids in with the heirlooms in each section. I'm interested in saving seed, so I typically avoid the hybrids and look for open pollinated or heirloom varieties. Another note to make is that stabilized open pollinated varieties like Green Zebra are listed as hybrids in this book, whereas I would consider them more as open pollinated. I think the distinction comes down to the stability of the genetics and maybe Green Zebra loses its striped characteristics without adequate selection over the years, meaning it isn't as stable of a variety as others. That doesn't mean I can't select the seeds that are most true to type every year and maintain the variety. Some traits in Green Zebra are likely polygenic and will vary over time without selection pressure, the selection pressure would be exerted by the person saving the seed. Pick from those that are true to type. Virtually all tomatoes were probably selected from hybrids and stabilized at one time. Heirlooms were stabilized in the more distant future than tomatoes like Green Zebra. So keep in mind that hybrid in this book doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't open pollinated.

The book also had a nice simplified 4 section crop rotation schedule in the book that could prove helpful to the gardener. I haven't really done standard crop rotations yet, but am interested in setting up a crop rotation system with companion plants in each section. I've planned companion plantings yet, just haven't gotten around to formulating a rotation schedule, which would be really useful and simplify the planning each year. This book has some useful ideas in it.

Finding Prolific Heirloom Tomatoes

A while back I read the book 100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden, by Carolyn Male and took some notes about the varieties. It has some great information about numerous heirloom tomatoes and shows detailed pictures of the plants and fruit. When I read the book I was primarily looking for heirloom tomatoes that were highly prolific to plant in my garden. Why grow heirlooms tomatoes if you are going to only get one or two. I've created a list of the heirloom tomatoes that I liked in bold. The asterisks denote how prolific they are supposed to be, with three asterisks (***) being the most prolific. I think that will likely vary depending on your climate and soil, but the ones reported as being prolific are probably a good place to start.

I have since grown some of the varieties and can anecdotally report how well they performed based on my recollection. I grew Box Car Willie, Brandywine Red, Debbie, Green Zebra, Heidi, Noir De Crimee, Santa Clara Canner, and Yellow Pear. The tomatoes are listed from greatest to least productive in my experience.

= is a tie
> is greater than

Box Car Willie = Heidi > Green Zebra > Noir De Crimee = Debbie > Yellow Pear > Brandywine Red > Santa Clara Canner

Yes, Box Car Willie was probably my most productive tomato and Heidi was just as prolific but a bit later in the season. Box Car Willie would be a good main crop bottling variety and Heidi is a good paste tomato like Juliet or Roma. I love Green Zebra tomatoes; they have a nice zingy flavor much different from red tomatoes. Noir De Crimee is similar to Black From Tula it had perfect tomatoes that never cracked and were always blemish free. Noir De Crimee was also the perfect size for bottling tomatoes. Santa Clara Canner did not do well at all, which could be partly due to the zucchini squash that tried to overtake it. I only grew one Santa Clara Canner plant, so maybe I just got a dud. I grew two of all of the other varieties and had decent luck with them. I was also not impressed with the Red Brandywine either, I have never been impressed with the production of the Brandywine tomatoes, sure the taste is good, but they don't seem to put on many of those good tasting tomatoes unless you have a really long season with perfect weather.

Tomatoes in bold made my cut.

Aker’s West Virginia
Amish Paste
Amish Salad
Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo Red***
Anna Russian
Aunt Ginny’s Purple**
Aunt Ruby’s German Green***
Basinga
Big Rainbow
Black From Tula*
Box Car Willie**
Brandywine, OTV
Brandywine, Pink (Sudduth Strain)**
Brandywine Red***
Brandywine, Yellow (Platfoot Strain)***
Break O’Day
Brianna
Bulgarian #7*** not commonly available
Bulgarian Triumph***
Cherokee Chocolate***not available commercially, same as Cherokee Purple except color
Cherokee Purple***
Chris Ukrainian***
Crnkovic Yugoslavian***
Cuostralee***huge
Debbie***red heirloom, not available commercially
Dr. Carolyn
Dr. Lyle***
Dr. Neal
Dr. Wyche’s Yellow***
Druzba***hardy, also called Druzba, Drushba, or Druzhba
Earl of Edgecombe***
Eva Purple Ball***mottled white
Germaid Red
German Head***
German Red Strawberry***
Gogosha
Gold Ball Livingston’s ***not available commercially
Golden Queen (USDA Strain)***USDA strain not available commercially
Green
Green Gage***old, not available commercially, found in USDA collection
Green Grape***green cherry
Green Zebra***
Grosse Cotelee
Heidi***West African, red paste tomato not available commercially
Herman’s Yellow
Hugh’s
Hungarian Oval***
Jaune Flammee***
Jaune Negib
Jefferson Giant
Kellog’s Breakfast***
Kiev***
Large Pink Bulgarian
Lida Ukrainian***
Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom***
Manyel
Marizol Gold
Martino’s Roma***
Mary Ann
Matchless (Austin Strain)
Matina***rare potato-leafed with red fruit, not available commercially
Mortgage Lifter
Mule Team**
Nectarine
Nicky Crain
Noir De Crimee***not available commercially
Olena Ukrainian***
Omar’s Lebanese***
OPalka***
Orange Strawberry
Pale Perfect Purple
Peach Blow Sutton
Pink Ice*
Pink Ping Pong*
Pink Sweet
Plum Lemon**
Polish C
Rasp Large Red
Redfield Beauty
Red Pear***old
Red Penna
Regina’s Yellow**
Reif Red Heart**
Riesentraube***
Russian #117***
Sandul Moldovan*
Santa Clara Canner***
Soldacki***
Sophie’s Choice
Stupice***
Sutton***not available commercially
Tangella***not available commercially
Tiffen Mennonite***
Ukrainian Heart (O’Neill Strain)
Ukrainian Heart (Tnmuj Strain)
White Queen***
Wins All
Wuhib***determinant, not available commercially
Yellow Pear***
Zogola***

"In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" - Real Food & Your Health

I read a really great book this last week. It is called In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. It has some really sound advice on eating and how to improve your health. It hearkens back to the days when people ate real food and focuses on eating a diet filled with real food whether it is high in fat, meat, vegetables, or fruit doesn't matter as long as it is real food.

It tells of aborigines that were eating the western diet high in white flour and sugar and had developed numerous health problems because of it. As part of a research study they were sent back to the bush to their native diet and within a few weeks of eating real food, their health drastically improved and most of their type 2 diabetes symptoms were reversed. It also cover some of the amazing research done by Weston Price looking for western diseases around the world and documenting what people ate. He didn't find many western diseases in any other population around the world that ate real food. It appears that it doesn't matter what you eat as long as it is real (the problem is highly processed food like white flour, white rice, and sugar). Some of the people ate high fat diets and were skinny and extremely healthy with no tooth decay or health problems. Amazing!

It also covers the failed lipid hypothesis in terms of heart disease. Cholesterol does not cause heart disease and you shouldn't need to limit cholesterol in your diet. The real problem is indicated by high triglycerides and not by excessive cholesterol or too much so called bad fat (except maybe transfats which are not real food). The book clearly takes down many of the fallacies perpetuated by nutritionist and the medical community. The medical community really doesn't want to admit that they were completely wrong and look like idiots, so they perpetuate the myths. They perpetuate the myth that many fats are bad and that we should be on a low fat diet to be healthy, which is obviously not true. High carb low fat diets (high in sugar and white flour) actual lead to weight gain and western diseases like metabolic syndrome x, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and all the other maladies you hear about in your communities.

Does the United States Government Really Care about Haiti?

Does the United States Government Really Care about Haiti? My answer is no, the United States does not care about Haiti or the plight of the Haitian people. But, wait the majority of Americans do actually care about these people and what has happened to them. It is unfortunate that our government takes actions in opposition to the will of the people of American and kicks the Haitians when they are down and out right now. I wish our government would stop the corruption and pull the money, greed, and lobbyists out of Washington.

Here is a great summary of one of the ways that the United States government of corruption is using our tax dollars to kick the Haitians. Read it here in the article titled Haiti's New Earthquake: USAID Delivers Monsanto's Poison Pills.

Monsanto will be giving Haiti 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds, some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides. Hybrid seeds have to be purchased and planted every year.

Monsanto's seeds will be distributed by the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) WINNER program. USAID is a tax-payer funded agency that promotes the United States' interests abroad. It is run by Dr. Rajiv Shah, an Obama appointee that the Organic Consumers Association opposed because of his work with the explicitly pro-GMO Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation works closely with Monsanto.

Haitian peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called Monsanto's poison pills Haiti's “new earthquake.” The MPP has committed to burning Monsanto’s seeds and has called for a march to protest the corporation’s presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.

Like other US efforts to deprive Haiti of food security, dumping Monsanto’s seeds on Haiti's farmers will seriously undermine Haitian farmers’ independence, force an industrialized agriculture model on the impoverished nation and seriously threaten public health in the country.

Take Action in Solidarity with Haitian Farmers Who Vow to Burn Monsanto's Seeds

 This is a prime example of our government run amok. This program uses our tax dollars to try to hook Haitian farmers in perpetual debt and enslavement to industrial farming methods. Haitians cannot afford this. This is in effect kicking them while they are down. We need to take back our government. The government of WE THE PEOPLE.

Great New Video: "Dangers of GMOs" from the Health Ranger

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are increasing every year in our food supply from the widespread marketing and growth of the GMO market primarily corn, canola, and soy. The dangers will only increase in the coming years as the corporate seed companies (also chemical manufacturers) expand into the fruit and vegetable market. Soon we won't have an option of healthy fruits and vegetables at the grocery stores. Only GMO food will be sold unless we the people unite to suppress this travesty and demand healthy non-GMO food. You are probably wearing pesticide and herbicide clothing right now. It cannot be washed off because it is produced in the cells of the engineered plants and is present in the cotton fibers of your clothes. Any wonder diseases and health problems are on the rise with the continual exposure to potentially harmful pesticides and herbicides. Here is a great link from the Health Ranger exposing some of the problems with GMOs. Click here to watch the video, "Dangers of GMOs."

One Step in Taking Back Our Food Supply

I recently read through another one of Raoul A. Robinson's books about horizontal resistance. This one is titled The Amateur Potato Breeder's Manual and it had a really great quote I wanted to share. I would recommend you all read this book if you are interested in not just saving your own garden seeds, but want ideas on how to improve the quality of the vegetables you plant. Here is what he said...

Many of the big chemical corporations have been buying up seed companies. They have also been buying up plant breeding institutes. These take-overs, which have nothing to do with chemical manufacture, will give them an almost monopolistic control of the cultivars available to farmers. And the best way to guarantee their market for crop protection chemicals is to ensure that these cultivars are susceptible, and that they can be cultivated only under the shield of both certified seed and crop protection chemicals.

The best way for crop scientists to combat these commercial trends is to breed crops for horizontal resistance. By and large, they have not done so, and they show few signs of doing so. There is a sad mindset within crop science that rejects the use of horizontal resistance. And, if the scientists refuse to investigate horizontal resistance, and they are backed up by chemical corporations who oppose its use, the only remaining possibility is for the public at large to undertake this task by forming plant breeding clubs. And, once started, and successful, there will be no stopping this trend.

It is true that most of these chemical companies (now garden seed companies) likely do not have our best interests in mind. Monopolies on your food. I think that it is outrageous that a company would try to make a monopoly out of our food supply by keeping crop varieties susceptible to disease and hooked on the chemicals. This dependency can't be healthy and appears in many aspects to have some similarities to a drug addiction. Farmers are hooked on these engineered plants and the chemicals required to keep them alive. All we need to do is save our own seeds and breed plants for horizontal resistance to get off this horrible chemical dependency and break the cycle.

It is a dangerous predicament that we are so dependent on these chemical companies for the fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides that our crops would die and we would starve if these companies stopped supplying these chemicals. Truly this is a dependency that we need to break in a concerted effort as united citizens, farmers, and scientists world-wide.

Cima di Rapa Quarantina - AKA Broccoli Rabe or Rapini

This is a picture of one of my earliest crops from my garden it is often called rapini at the grocery store, but is also known as broccoli rabe. This is a picture of a variety of rapini called Cima di Rapa Quarantina (the yellow flowered plants in the photo). They grow very rapidly and should probably be planted in succession a week or two between each planting in the spring as they may go to seed early if the weather heats up. These were great tasting with a strong flavor, not like mild broccoli, and don't be deceived it is closer to a turnip genetically than to broccoli anyway. To save the seeds let your best plants flower, the nice big ones. Pull up the first ones that flower as you want to extend your season not make it shorter with plants that immediately start flowering after they reach any appreciable size. Let the pods dry on the plant and smash or break them open. It might be easier to smash them in a bag and then blow the chaff away with a fan, but you might lose a lot of seed if all the pods aren't broken apart. Let the seed dry an additional week on a plate or in a bowl and store them in a bead bag.