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2009 Top Ten

1.CHEROKEE PURPLE: The Best of the Best. Absolutely magnificent flavor!!! . The flavor is a perfect blend of rich sweet/tartness that rivals Brandywine. Marches to the beat of a different drum when it comes to color. It ripens to the color of a deep hematoma bruise, a deep dark smoky, brownish/reddish/purple with green shoulders and dark brick red flesh. Round to oblate, 8 to 16 ounces plus. Hardy, pest and disease tolerant plants with excellent production. The skin, however, tends to crack. Heavy autumn production right up to a killing frost. Our number one seller by three to one over any other tomato. Introduced through the Seed Savers Exchange in 1991 by Craig LeHoullier, a tomato seed collector from Raleigh, NC. A Mr. J.D. Green of eastern Tennessee sent Craig the seed, saying that it had been in his family for over 100 years and they had received them from the Cherokee Nation of that area.

2. CARBON: Surprise! Over the last two seasons of growing I have had more success with this tomato than I have our ever so loved Cherokee Purple. Among the darkest of the “black” tomatoes with rich and sweet flavors like the Cherokee Purple. In addition, it has been a heavier producer for me and never cracks. Consistent 8-16 ounce fruits. When I asked Dad before his passing what tomatoes he wished for me to work on the Carbon was 1st on his list. He was becoming a believer in it by our 4th season of growing it. I believe it is worthy of the #1 Position in our Top 10 list! Try it and tell us what you think.

3. ROYAL HILLBILLY: In 2005 & 2006, this was the best tasting tomato in my patch! And was the best producer to boot! Introduced by me in 1997. From a selection of a tomato named “Hillbilly” given to me by Ruth Marcum of Collinsville, Oklahoma, which she received from her brother Ralph Miller of Ohio. Ruth’s seeds grew out three different tomatoes. Through selection I have established one to a tomato with a color of deep, deep pink, with a purplish or violet tinge, hence the “Royal” tag. I can’t quite describe its exquisite flavor-very complex blend of sweet and tartness, snappy yet smooth. Grows an abundance of one pounders. Bill Pulley, my good friend who lives in Oklahoma City, says It Is his favorite. It has also received great reviews from my Seed Saver Exchange friends in all parts of the country.

4.THE YELLOW 1884 PINKHEART: (No Acid and early set) By the number of plants they have purchased over the past four seasons, gardeners have voted this one into a high position in our “Top Ten”. It was developed by my Dad from a chance cross between “The 1884 Tomato” and an unknown yellow. We have been selecting seed for 10 years and have almost stabilized it to produce a light yellow skinned tomato with pink on the blossom end and pink striations in the meat and sometimes a pink splotch right in the middle of the meat. It has a creamy smooth, sweet flavor. Prolific, and I mean prolific production, one of the best producing tomatoes of all that I grow. Early on the tomatoes are up to one pound and oblate in shape.

5.SIOUX: This is the original Sioux. The most popular tomato in Oklahoma, back in the 1950’s. Released in 1944 by the Agricultural Research Station of the University of Nebraska from a cross between Allred & Stokesdale. Very, very heat tolerant! Good pest and disease tolerance. Best of all it is a heavy, heavy producer of globular, red, somewhat acidic “Old-Fashioned” flavored tomatoes. My Grandma Merrell canned many a quart of this one! My Aunt Virginia loved its flavor and with salt shaker in hand would eat them by the plate full. When Dad re-introduced it in 1996, it was no longer commercially available in seed or plant form anywhere in the United States or Canada.

6.CREOLE : Produces 8-12 oz. round red tomatoes. Slightly acidic flavor and very juicy. Developed by Louisiana State

University for warm humid climates. Good production and resistant to fusarium and blossom end rot. Is very hard to find seed for this one, can’t find it in the catalogs. It has been a consistent heavy producer for us with no cracking.

7.GRANDMA SUZY’S BEEFSTEAK: If you want a big old fashioned beefsteak type of tomato, this one is it!!! Large, up to 2 lbs, juicy, with an excellent tangy flavor. Excellent production on disease resistant vines. Al Cockrell of Sapulpa, OK. gave Dad the seeds and we have grown it since 1999. Al’s Grandma Suzy has raised it for years from seeds that were originally brought over to this country from Germany by family friends.

8.SOJOURNER: Big golden orange/yellow beefsteak average 1-2lbs fruit. The most productive orange tomato that I have grown yet-very juicy and meaty, too. Originally from South America. We have had our eye on this one for the past 3 seasons. It has performed so well that I had to put it in the top 10.

9.RADIATOR CHARLIE’S/MORTGAGE LIFTER: In 1997, after 4 years of growing this one, Dad got an exceptional crop. The last two fall seasons it my plants have been loaded down with tons of fruit. Large, 1 lb. plus, oblate beefsteak type with exceptional sweet/tart flavor. In the 1930s, it was developed by M.C. “Radiator Charlie” Byles of Logan West Virginia. Charlie owned a radiator repair shop, thus his nickname. He cross-bred 4 large beefsteak type tomatoes (one was German Johnson but we don’t know the names of the others.), over a period of 6 years until he stabilized his “Radiator Charlie Tomato”. Over the next 6 years he sold plants at $1.00 a piece (in the early 1940’s!) and profited $6,000 to pay off his mortgage - hence the second part of the name, “Mortgage Lifter.” Charlie’s nephew taped the story from Radiator Charlie himself and sold the exclusive rights to the name “Radiator Charlie” to Jeff McCormack of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Company.

10.BLACK CHERRY: We fell in love with this one the first time we tasted it!!! I think you will too. A complex rich, sweet flavor is just

absolutely luscious. Plants are loaded with perfectly round cherry tomatoes with the color and taste of the Cherokee Purple.

Spring 2009

Open for Early Birds

April 11-14th 2009

Official Opening Day:

April 15th-May 2009

Fall 2009

We are now closed til 2010

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