Beekman Heirloom Garden whatever

[lumierefrere]

Admittedly I live an isolated life, writing writing writing. I got an email from Williams-Sonoma about these guys I never heard of but have a tv show with their heirloom garden and "mercantile" store where someone's ancestor (cachet!) sold Landreth seeds. Ok. Interesting. So I went to the site expecting actual heirlooms, maybe names I don't even recognize, but they word it very carefully. They sell seeds of tomatoes they *like*. I may be, could well be, mistaken but I don't consider some on their list heirlooms.
http://shop.beekman1802.com/BEEKMAN-...CTION-2026.htm
How is the black cherry "still very rare" if you can get it practically everywhere?
And I'd like to know who calls Brandywine "the one true tomato". If it's Carolyn, okay, I believe her. But if it's Martha Stewart, not so much.
I just thought it was all pretty amusing on a really cold morning.

Barb

[mdvpc]

Barb

Yet another round of bs from someone who needs to join Tomatoville to learn!

[lumierefrere]

I don't know. They seem to have the deluding the public part down pat.

"Oh gee, Buffie! The rare Black Cherry! Let's have Chauncey grow those for us this season and astound our friends!"

[OneoftheEarls]

YELLOW PEAR - Tiny and sweet pearshaped tomatoes, cultivated since the 1600's.

YELLOW PEAR - Tiny and sweet pearshaped tomatoes, spat out since the 1600's...ewwwww, so many better yellows out there...lol

[carolyn137]

And I'd like to know who calls Brandywine "the one true tomato". If it's Carolyn, okay, I believe her. But if it's Martha Stewart, not so much.

*****

All you have to do is to look at the 2011 Public SSE catalog/website to see that Red Brandywine was said to be the original "true" Brandywine, NOT, and I won't cite the source on that one or the other errors in the tomato section of the SSE 2011 catalog.

The Red Brandywine NOT b'c no ones knows when the other two heirloom Brandywines came into existence; the yellow and the pink. All that's known about Red Brandywine is the information that Steve Miller at the Landis Museum got after he was sent seeds for same by Tom Hauch who first made the variety commercially available and Steve was able to trace it back to Chester Co, PA where it first appeared in 1865, was said to be named after the Brandywine River and was Amish in origin. it's the only Brandywine known to be Amish in origin altho claims for the other two have been made but no documentation at all.

So when did the yellow and the pink first appear? Lots of dicussion but no clear answers. Gotta love it.

[carolyn137]

BRANDYWINE TOMATO - The 'original' heirloom tomato that sparked the heirloom craze. From an original strain

*****

THe aobve form the descriptions at that site.

Ohhh, so they have the original strain? Must be the Sudduth/Quisenberry which is available to anyone who wants it and has been so since it was listed in the SSE YEarbook starting back in, well, I'd have to look that up.

I went to the Home page and found out that if I was ever near Sharon Springs, NY I could drop in at their mercantile Store. Well, I'm not that far from Sharon Springs which is along the main route 20 from one end of NYS to the other and I used to drive that old rt 20, I think it was, before even the Thruway was built when I was driving back and forth to college near Ithaca.

Sharon Springs used to have a great diner and lots of tourist traps b'c the springs themselves drew many clients, especially from the NY City area, there for the baths, etc. decades ago.

[lumierefrere]

Sharon Springs? With the baths? In other words, someplace where you can't drink the water.

For people outside NY State, a hundred + years ago this whole area used to be full of resorts/spas for rich city folks who somehow choked down the sulfurous waters. (Don't tell me about it, I can't drink my water. It's got "swamp gas" in it.) Most of the time people around here get their drinking water from the pipe Danny, the dairy farmer, has stuck in his hillside in order to help us out.

I'm glad you enjoyed the site, Carolyn.

Barb

[tjg911]

sharon springs, what a cool little village. i happened to drive thru this place one day a long time ago and was very impressed with an old hotel/spa that looked like it had been abandoned a good 25 or 30 years ago and this was in the early 90's. iirc it was on a state road 1 lane each direction, going thru the town and was definitely not off on back roads. i often wonder about that place and if it is still standing? i would like to drive back to see and often think about doing it but it is a very long ride from here to get there, i'm guessing almost 3 hours 1 way! anyone know what i am referring to? it was set up on a little hill set back maybe 300' from the road.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by tjg911

sharon springs, what a cool little village. i happened to drive thru this place one day a long time ago and was very impressed with an old hotel/spa that looked like it had been abandoned a good 25 or 30 years ago and this was in the early 90's. iirc it was on a state road 1 lane each direction, going thru the town and was definitely not off on back roads. i often wonder about that place and if it is still standing? i would like to drive back to see and often think about doing it but it is a very long ride from here to get there, i'm guessing almost 3 hours 1 way! anyone know what i am referring to? it was set up on a little hill set back maybe 300' from the road.

Tom, rt 20 was/is a two lane road and well I remember it and yes, it did go right thru the little village of Sharon Springs. I remember the diner and also a huge faux tepee where this and that were sold .

If you ever decide to drive there again you can darn well come up the Thruway from CT, cut over to the Northway and get off at the Saratoga Springs exit ( yes, stinky water and baths there still and newly renovated with NYS money) and I'm about one hr East of there on the Vt border.

Or you can do it on the return trip.

[fortyonenorth]

I can offer a redeeming point of view. This is not an endorsement for Beekman's (as I have not ordered from them) but is based on my experience with another, similar outfit.

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s I was a ravenous gardener - not veggies, but ornamentals. Career and family intervened and I pretty much gave up gardening, with the exception of a few pots here and there.

Fast forward about ten years...I was flipping through one of these glossy catalogs. I saw a collection of three or four heirloom tomato plants offered for about $30. I didn't even like (fresh) tomatoes at the time, but my wife did, and I figured it would be fun to try them. They came and I potted them up - the only one I remember was Black Cherry. We got about ten cherries off that plant the first year - all the other plants died. I never again ordered from that same company, but the experience sparked an interest that has grown exponentially over the last several years and provides immeasurable enjoyment.

I don't see places like Beekman's being a year-in-year-out resource for anyone, but they do serve a purpose. They reach a very wide and diverse audience. And, if they can inspire a handful of folks to dig deeper (pardon the pun) and learn more about heirloom tomatoes or whatever, I think that's a good thing.