Polish tomato plant, set into a straw bale a few days ago. The 2022 season begins!

Here it is - the last article in Issue number 3, which wraps up Volume 1.

Any SSE tomato collector who got going in the mid 1980s or earlier know of the code “WI EA T” - as in Thane Earle of Wisconsin. He wasn’t much on descriptions, but listed loads of interesting tomatoes. Carolyn had a great chat with Thane, and she captured the essence, below.

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Nothing in Moderation! An Interview with Thane Earle

by Carolyn

Whether it’s having 1200 varieties of tomato seed, 120 kinds of bantam chickens, 450 kinds of beans or going on photography safaris to Kenya, Africa twice, Thane Earle does very little in a modest way! His love of gardening began as a child when he helped his grandfather and mother in their one-acre vegetable garden. His father and grandmother tended to other chores on their general farm. Thane remembers leading the horse that cultivated the garden and remembers picking the tomatoes (Bonny Best, Marglobe, etc.) that the family would can and use for juice. Born in 1921 just a few miles from his present home in Whitewater, WI, Thane and his younger brother had an incredibly rich childhood in terms of family and memories. His grandfather was a great storyteller and every night thane listened to marvelous tales of hunting and fishing and ultimately, the discussions about Africa which culminated in two trips to Kenya. He and his grandfather had a book written by Teddy Roosevelt in 1909which described his trips to Africa to obtain animals for the New York and Chicago museums and this furthered Thane’s determination to visit that continent.

Following Thane’s graduation from high school he went into the carpentry/construction business for 25 years. During this time he and his wife raised two boys. The boys had a private zoo with lions, bears, snakes, monkeys and heaven knows what else! Thane says he was bitten only once, by a semi-tame fox to which he was giving a bowl of food. After leaving carpentry he gardened and raised fowl … in no small way. He had about 600 fowl he would load into a truck and do a “show string,” going to State and County fairs to compete for prize money. At the peak of this enterprise he had 140 different kinds of large fowl, 120 kinds of banties and about 30 kinds of pigeons!!! He and his wife, a teacher, also traveled extensively. Their first trip was to Guatemala, then to England (twice), France and the Continent, Africa (Kenya) and Egypt. Naturally I had to ask him how much local tomato seed he picked up on those trips but he said just a few, from England. Tragically, his wife was killed in an auto accident about five years ago. He has since remarried, to an old high school “sweetheart”, whose husband died many years ago. Their recent travels have been to Kenya and Tanzania, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales (Thane says he’s 95% English with a touch of Scottish and Norwegian), and most recently to Costa Rica.

Thane joined SSE one year before Diane and Kent moved to Iowa and has attended every one of the Campouts at Decorah since 1984. Although he grows many different kinds of vegetables, those of us in SSE know him mainly for his tomato offerings although he says he’s currently checking out the germination on about 200 kind s of corn, 450 kinds of beans and “lots” of peas. I told him about a 14’ high corn I grew this year for an historical garden I did for the local Shaker Heritage Society and how impressed I was with the height. He countered that he remembered a variety of Central American corn that he once grew that was so tall he had to use a ladder to accomplish pollination. Over the years he built up a huge tomato collection. He did a lot of trading with Gary Staley, Fax Stinnett (Off the Vine Vol. I, #1) and Don Branscomb and had contacts in France, Australia and Germany. When I asked him why he settled on tomatoes he said it was because of the low rate of cross-pollination. He used to grow out about 300 varieties each year but now does about 100, and grows one plant of each kind in cages made from concrete reinforcing wire; the plants are spaced 4’ in all directions. I was a bit taken aback when he said he didn’t fertilize, but then he said he does add aged chicken manure to his already rich, black topsoil which was once a lake bed in prehistoric times. He sprayed one year, once, for early blight and that was it for the chemicals. He says he’s never grown a variety that he didn’t get seed from the fruit. Knowing the possible “critter” damage and disease that inevitably appears, that’s a good track record.

His transplants for the field are grown in 14 oz. Styrofoam cups and he plants with a bulb planter … works great. If his transplants get leggy he always digs a deeper hole because he feels that layering them on their sides in a trench doesn’t give you a vigorous plant. He does have a greenhouse and cold frames where he gardens them off. Favorites that he mentioned included Amish Paste, Persimmon, Nepal, Cabot, Green Grape and Georgia Streak. Noticing that he hadn’t included any pinks, I asked him, but we got off on another subject before completing the list. He gives away a lot of his tomatoes but only if he picks them first; it seems like folks don’t want to do their own picking. He chuckled when I asked him why he didn’t write more about his tomatoes in the SSE Annual and he answered that he didn’t have the time. I protested that I got frustrated seeing only 4” listed after one of his tomatoes to which he responded that at lest I knew how big it was. He says he doesn’t list days to maturity because it can vary from year to year and with this I will agree with him completely. He and his wife will continue staying on the farm. When he’s not growing vegetables he continues with his woodworking by making toys and clocks and he raises various kinds of chickens. For the past 8 years he has been a Horticultural Aide with the Cooperative Extension in the summer, working two days per week, where he says he gets the questions no one else can handle. He completed the Master Gardener Program several years ago. I could tell that he really enjoys this part time position.

Next time you read a WIEAT listing in the SSE Annual perhaps you’ll now think of Thane as the complex, interesting person who does very little in moderation. And we hope Thane and his wife will continue their travels and that he will continue to participate in the activities of SSE, an organization he thinks has done a fine job in fostering the preservation of heirloom varieties.

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Sadly, Thane Harley Earle died on June 15, 2010 in Wisconsin. His obituary is here. I recall getting to meet Thane on my first visit to Decorah for the SSE campout in the late 1980s. To me, he is a seed saving legend, right up there with Fax Stinnett and Ben Quisenberry - folks who played such a significant role in getting the SSE off the ground and helping its incredible relevance.

The next post will begin the posting of the entirety of Volume 2. Things are moving right along - I hope you are enjoying these articles.