TJ and the Tomatoes by Jodi Lea Stewart

Cherokee purple heirloom tomatoes

It's Spring! Time to think about  . . . Tomatoes! How we love them. How we need them.

Need them?

Sure. I’ll prove it.

Forget all the antioxidant lycopene, the vitamins C and K, the potassium and folate packed inside these little guys . . . 

and just try to imagine a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, or Aunt Bella's best lasagna, without a delicious, red sauce *gravy, as many Italians call it*. 

Envision simply ordering pizza with a white Alfredo sauce or a cheese sauce forever.

Scary, isn't it?

Red sauce = tomatoes.

Salsa = tomatoes.

Ketchup = tomatoes.

Must I go on?

Yes, I must go on, because . . . think of it . . . nothing but tomatoes can make our green salads both juicy AND beautiful.

Since we admit we need them, what about the asphalt-tasting tomatoes we buy at the store?

First of all, don’t blame the tomatoes. They’re innocent. Tomatoes grown for commercial purposes can’t luxuriate at the Riviera in the sunshine until they are red and ready. They are harvested from the vine while still green, gassed with ethylene – which turns them pukey-pink inside – and shipped off to stores to wind up in your sauces, soups, and salads. 

They look sick and have no taste because they ARE sick.

Did Thomas Jefferson (TJ) have to tolerate crappy tasteless tomatoes?

Thomas Jefferson was indisputably the most enthusiastic gardener-president we’ve ever had in the White House. He kept a garden calendar from 1767 to 1824, and he never failed to plant his delicious tomatoes. They appeared often in the Jefferson family recipes, even though tomatoes were not widely popular at the time.

Jefferson loved tomatoes.  And he should have.

They were delicious, different “creatures” in those days.

Even most home-garden grown tomatoes and organic crops aren’t as good as the ones Thomas Jefferson produced. Why? Because TJ grew them before genetic modification. Genetic modification makes generic seeds and grocery-store vegetables:

1)      more resistant to pesticides and weed killers,

2)      easier to ship,

3)      slower to rot,

4)      tasteless . . . and of dubious nutritional value.

Fortunately, we aren't stuck with these cardboard versions of formerly delicious vegetables.

What are Heirloom Vegetables?

I found out about heirloom gardening from my mother, who found out about heirloom seeds from her sister. They had a farmer dad, you know, and it’s in their blood to know about things growing out of dirt.

Heirloom seeds are carefully harvested from strains going back thousands of years. Some descend from seeds sewn into clothes by immigrants coming to America, or from Thomas Jefferson's own garden. 

According to Jack Penman in Getting Back to America’s Roots, since these seeds evolved before the age of industrial agriculture, they often grow better under eco-friendly practices. Did you get that? They’re naturally hardy and disease resistant without chemicals.

Lucky Tiger Heirloom Tomatoes

Jere Gettle, owner of Baker Creed Heirloom Seeds, sends out two million heirloom seed packets a year and says that number is rising at about thirty percent annually. 

Who knew?

Added bonus: You can buy enough seeds to grow a crop for three years for less than ten dollars. Plus, you won’t have to reorder if you save your seeds. 

So, choosing pasty, yucky tomatoes or full-bodied delicious ones related to the ones from Thomas Jefferson's own garden is now a matter of choice.

Heirloom Vegetables in Public Display Gardens

Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona

There are several places to see public gardens growing heirloom vegetables and flowers. Places like Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona; Bernhard Museum Complex in Auburn, California; and Garfield Farm and Inn Museum in LaFox, Illinois, to name a few. 

Check them out! See some. Grow some! 

*****

What about you?  

Do you ever worry about the gases they use to "ripen" our fruits and vegetables? What about hybrids and genetic modification . . . scary or not scary? I'll say this, I've learned that none of us is getting out of this world alive. Therefore, our quality of life while we're here should be pretty important. Upping the quality of the food we eat may be part of seeking that higher ground.

I always love to hear from you!

*****

http://jodileastewart.com/

Jodi Lea Stewart was born in Texas to an "Okie" mom and a Texan dad. Her younger years were spent in Texas and Oklahoma; hence, she knows all about biscuits and gravy, blackberry picking, chiggers, and snipe hunting. At the age of eight, she moved to a vast cattle ranch in the White Mountains of Arizona. As a teen, she left her studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson to move to San Francisco, where she learned about peace, love, and exactly what she DIDN'T want to do with her life. Since then, Jodi graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Business Management, raised three children, worked as an electro-mechanical drafter, penned humor columns for a college periodical, wrote regional western articles, and served as managing editor of a Fortune 500 corporate newsletter. 

She is the author of a contemporary trilogy set in the Navajo Nation featuring a Navajo protagonist, as well as two historical novels. Her most recent novels are Blackberry Road and The Accidental Road. She currently resides in Arizona with her husband, her delightful 90+-year-old mother, a crazy Standard poodle named Jazz, two rescue cats, and numerous gigantic, bossy houseplants.

1956 . . .

THE ACCIDENTAL ROAD

– Historical Fiction

It’s 1956, and teenager Kat and her mother escape an abusive situation only to stumble into the epicenter of crime peddlers invading Arizona and Nevada in the 1950s. Kat is a serious girl who buries herself in novels and movies and tries to be as inconspicuous as possible. Fading into the background is impossible, however, with a beautiful social butterfly of a mother who just happens to resemble Marilyn Monroe. It’s embarrassing, and the unwanted attention her mother garners could be the downfall of their plan to take Route 66 to the freedom of a new life.

Print and eBook available on Amazon.

1934 . . . 

BLACKBERRY ROAD

– Historical Fiction

Trouble sneaks in one Oklahoma afternoon in 1934 like an oily twister. A beloved neighbor is murdered, and a single piece of evidence sends the sheriff to arrest a black man that a sharecropper’s daughter knows is innocent. Hauntingly terrifying sounds seeping from the woods lead Biddy into even deeper mysteries and despair and finally into the shocking truths of that fateful summer.

Audible, Print, and eBook available on Amazon, etc.