15 years ago! September! at Ocracoke Island on vacation - sitting at the beach overlook with Buddy and Mocha

Here we are - embarking on the third volume. There are probably a bit over 20 articles to repost from Volume three (numbers 1-3) - then just single Volume 4 (number 1), with a handful of articles - that is when we called it quits. Yet we are about to slip into September - it looks like the OTV republish will wrap up at the end of the year. I hope those of you reading these has enjoyed them as much as I have.

Here is another of Carolyn’s introductory columns. They are always fun! There will be more fun articles in this issue - Carolyn mentions Bill Ellis (who sent me one of my favorite tomatoes, Polish), and Andrew Smith, a superb tomato historian.

___________________

C and C’s Corner

Carolyn Male

We would appreciate it if you would read this column first because I introduce to you our articles and their authors. Also, please remember that the masthead on page two of each issue tells you how to contact Craig and me and states the current subscription and back issue costs.

If your mailing label has 31 (Volume 3, #1) after your name it’s time to renew your subscription to Off The Vine, we hope you’ll stay with us. I also circle in red the 31 and write below y our name in red that this is your last issue as I have done since our first issue. Renewal notices will not be sent out so after you’ve read this issue please send your renewal, clearly marking it as a renewal, before the next issue is published (October/November ’96). Subscription prices for three issues is $7 for US residents, $8 (US) for Canadian and Mexican residents and $9 (US) for all other foreign addresses. If our non-US subscribers send checks, please be sure they are based on a US account or I will have to return them to you. Canadian postal money orders in US funds are just fine for our Canadian readers. If there is an error on your address label please let me know.

Since we have many new subscribers since the last issue I’d like to explain a bit about us and Off The Vine. We would like to publish one issue in February/March, so you can order our F2 etc seeds, one issue in May/June and one issue in October/November. But we do not have a rigorous publishing schedule. Craig and I both have “day” jobs and publish Off The Vine because of our passionate interest in heirloom tomatoes. Craig has a PhD in chemistry and works at GlaxoWellcome, a pharmaceutical company in Raleigh, NC, while I have a PhD in microbiology and am a college teacher in Albany, NY. Neither of us has professional training in publishing. We’ve learned a lot in the past two years and are still learning. We both want Off The Vine to be informal and fun, and interactive. So if you can handle a somewhat erratic publishing schedule and are comfortable with an informal style, we’re happy to have you with us!

We have two guest authors in this issue. Dr. Bill Ellis has written an article on tomato folklore which I know you’ll enjoy. Bill is an associate professor of English and American Studies at Penn State University, Hazleton Campus. He is widely published on contemporary folklore and has led workshops on seed saving at meetings at the American Folklore Society and the Middle Atlantic Folklore Association. He has been a member of the Seed Savers Exchange since 1983 and has added several varieties of tomatoes to the SSE network, including Polish, Dr. Neal, and African Beefsteak.

Andy Smith, our second guest author, is writing his second article for us. In Volume 1, #2, he wrote an article about tomato history which derived from his book entitled “The Tomato in America; Early History, Culture and Cookery”. This excellent book can be ordered from the University of South Carolina Press at 1-800-758-2500. The ISBN number is 1-57003-000-6 and the cost is $24.95 plus $3.50 for shipping. He has completed a new book about ketchup called “Pure Ketchup: A History of America’s National Condiment”, which will be published by the Univ. of South Carolina Press in September. His article in this issue stems from research he’s doing on the sequel to his history book which is tentatively titled “The Profitable Tomato: History, Culture and Cookery. Time-wise it picks up where the first book stopped and will cover the time period of roughly 1860-1920. It should be available late next year and of course I’ll give you the details when they become available. When we decided that Andy would write about Alexander Livingston for this issue, I put him in contact with Jim Huber, an Off The Vine subscriber and SSE member who has a strong interest in all matters relating to the Livingston Seed Company. Andy recently visited Reynoldsburg, OH, and has described that visit in his article. He tentatively plans to speak at the Tomato Festival held there each September.

Craig and I have each written articles about our 1996 summer growouts, as we do each year. Craig interviewed Rob Johnston of Johnny’s Selected Seeds and I wrote an article which introduced our OTV disease project.

Now for a few updates from our last issue. Jeff Dawson, former Garden Director at Fetzer Vineyards, wrote an article about marketing heirloom tomatoes. Due to a recent corporate decision to deemphasize and scale down the gardens, as well as to eliminate the test kitchen, Jeff has made a move to Kendall-Jackson Winery in Santa Rosa, CA, where he is now Garden Director. His challenge is to create new gardens at Kendall-Jackson but he will still be maintaining his five acre plot in Sonoma. It sounds like a wonderful opportunity and we wish him “blossoming” success!

I also wrote about Tom Wagner, hybridizer of Green Grape and others, and solicited input on support for his activities. I’d like to thank those folks who responded and I’m happy to report that Tom appears to now have substantial backing to further his efforts. As promised, he sent me 22 of his new varieties for trial; it was too late in the season to share with Craig so I have them growing in my zone 5 area to see how they do and I will report back to you in the fall issue.

And I can’t thank Pat Millard enough for processing your requests for the F2, F3, etc seeds which were offered in the February issue. Each week he emailed a summary so I knew who requested what. Upon review of those lists it looks like we even had some non-OTV members requesting seeds. That’s interesting! Forty six folks made requests, 156 packets were sent out with a total of 1195 seeds. I am in awe of the precision of his data. I’m the person who this year misplaced two of the three copies of the Tomato Growers Supply catalog sent to me by Linda Sapp (she knows me too well), one copy of Johnny’s Selected Seeds, one copy of Harris Seeds, and one copy each of Pine Tree and Shepherd Seeds. You’d never understand. I file by pile and then the piles merge and create an avalanche; it isn’t a pretty picture. The most requested seeds, in order, were OTV Brandywine, the White Queen cross, the Yellow Oxheart cross and the Purple Perfect X Purple Price cross. Craig would like to know about his Sungold and Cherokee Purple crosses and I really want to know if OTV Brandywine at the F5 stage is stabilized. If so, Craig and I will introduce it in the 1997 SSE yearbook. And I’d like to know what the White Queen did for you. A postcard will do. Same for Dr. John Navazio for the 12 of you who requested his varieties.

Chuck Wyatt emailed me a marvelous comment from someone on the Compuserve Garden Forum. The person was complaining about having trouble growing tomatoes and wanted to know where he could get “that heirloom brand” he’s heard so much about. So what am I doing growing out 200 varieties of tomatoes when I could be growing out “the heirloom brand”! Knowing several folks who participate on the Compuserve Gardening Forum I’m sure they gently set him straight on the heirloom brand request. And speaking of email that brings me to the Internet and that brings me to the Web. Neither Craig nor I have the time to do any serious public relations work for Off The Vine so we’ve decided to do a web page. Hopefully in a month or so if you type in Off The Vine in any of the major search engines you’ll find us. If any of you have ideas for connecting URLs please email them to me. Thanks in advance!

Late last fall I received a phone call from a Steven Shepherd in CA who said he was writing a book about tomatoes, but it wasn’t really about tomatoes, and wanted to confirm that we were still publishing Off The Vine so he could include it in the references. After I hung up I sat there trying to figure out what kind of book he was writing that used the tomato patch in the front yard as the focus for integration and interaction with his neighbors. I didn’t “get it”. And uncorrected proof of his book arrived a few weeks ago and now I’ve “got it”., and it is wonderful! In reading the book I feel I am part of the neighborhood and now I understand how the tomatoes are the focus. Steven is not an expert on tomatoes, he doesn’t try to be, but there are some good tidbits in there about tomatoes (his father is a plant pathologist). When I called him to congratulate him on such a wise and good book about good people, I told him I wouldn’t grow one of those varieties he grew! We laughed! Please read it, it will make you feel good about life…and tomatoes. It’s called “In Praise of Tomatoes: A Year in the Life of a Home Tomato Grower”, by Steven L. Shepherd. The ISBN Number is 0-06-017484-6, the probably publication date is July 1996, and the probable price is $20, and the publisher is Harper Collins.

Let’s try a question and answer column. I think it would be fun and informative. You ask the questions, Craig and I will provide the answers, if we can, or ask the appropriate folks for the answers. As our regular readers know, we don’t want to get involved with tomato culture of specific diseases because there are so many fine publications that do that. Other than those exceptions, fire away! Please send your questions to me, and Craig and I will select a few for the next issue of Off The Vine. And again I’m asking for your input in terms of contributing long or short articles about heirloom tomatoes and related issues. We’ve wanted Off The Vine to be interactive from day one. We need your perspectives. Recently I received a letter from Kathleen McClellend who said that she was no longer publishing “The Historical Gardener” because she couldn’t get enough quality articles in a timely manner. It was a wonderful publication and I’m so sorry to see it go. But we share her dilemma. Don’t be shy; some of you write very well. Curtis S. in Texas may be able to tell us how he identifies killer bees from non-killer bees….how about it Curtis? And I can think of several more of you who have written interesting material in letters when you send in your renewals. Let me know what you’re thinking of writing about first and Craig and I will decide if it is something that fits in with our philosophy.

Lastly, I’d like to again thank Jeff Fleming for doing the address labels for us. Just when I thought I had a handle on our “old way” of doing them he’s come up with a new version which I think is a terrific improvement. Give me a year or so and I’ll eventually figure out this one also! Folks, I am not a computer guru; I do the basic stuff and pray nothing bad happens to my computer at home. Computer problems at work are usually easily and quickly solved by a group of gurus.

Craig and I hope you’ll have a wonderful, productive growing season and we’ll report back in October/November.

____________________

Another characteristic, fun read. So many names from the past - so many memories.