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Sunday, Aug. 24, 2003 - 10:00 p.m.

What the Hell is that? It�s the largest tomato variety I have ever come across, that�s what it is!

First off, let me remind you about how big a human being I am.

I am large, ok? So the tomato in my hand is very large, too.

I have accepted that fact, and it is important to the short story I am writing here tonight.

The tomato in my hand is commonly known as the �big-assed Polish tomato� here in Mohall.

I used to grow this fruit back in the �90�s. I saved seeds from one of my larger ones every summer so I could start a few more every spring.

I have to admit, I got lazy somewhere around 1995. �R� from work brought me seeds every winter from a friend of his (who ran a small greenhouse).

Why bother saving a few seeds when you have a reliable source, right? I have enough other things to worry about, garden wise, to think about a single tomato variety, right?

Wrong.

The source for the free seeds went away. Actually, he had brain cancer, and he burned his records in a weird fit of anger due to his condition. �R� tried to decipher what was left of his notes, but couldn�t find what the mystery tomato was.

I have tried several times in the past 7 years to find seeds for this tomato. People have given me seeds, telling me that they were from this heirloom.

They were wrong. Big tomatoes, but nothing like the old ones. And always beefsteak varieties, not like these huge, paste-type fruits.

I have bought packs of seeds from several sources, all to no avail. The tomatoes that grew were big, yes. But hey weren�t the massive Polish paste tomato. I had given up on ever getting this variety for my garden every again.

Until Friday, that is.

I was getting an overdue haircut, and while talking to Peg, she mentioned that her neighbor had shown her one of his tomato plants. He was proud of the huge fruit it was producing, and knew that she also grew a garden, so he thought he would brag a little.

As soon as she saw the fruit, she knew it was the huge tomato that we had grown in the past (I had given her a plant or two through the years, so she knew them when she saw them). She asked him for a tomato, but he didn�t have any of them ripe at the time.

She told me she would keep on him, and let me know if he was nice enough to give her one. She even told him I would probably give him a plant or two, if he gave me some seeds.

She called me today. He had given her one of his �smaller� tomatoes, so she could give it to me.

Which she did.

This one might weigh in at 8 � 10 ounces. Big, but not as large as they can grow (I have seen fruit as large as 2 pounds from this variety). Plenty big enough to get a few seeds for next year, though.

The odd thing about this variety is how few seeds a fruit this big will yield. If I get 10 seeds from this large fruit, I will be doing well.

Those seeds will be carefully dried, and then added to my bag of seeds in the �fridge.

Then, if things go well, I will get 5 or 6 of the seeds to germinate, giving us just enough bedding plants to start this whole process all over again.

I will promise you this- I won�t take having a supply of these unique tomato sees for granted again in the future�..

Antique - Futuristic


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