As I noted in my last blog entry, Sue and I loved everything about our recent trip to Decorah. Now I will focus on the Saturday, September 1 Seed Savers Exchange Tomato Tasting. Having been part of the local Tomatopalooza events for the past ten years, it is interesting to ponder the differences and similarities between the two events. I will talk more about that a bit later on....

There certainly were some choices for the attendees, with workshops by the SSE staff on tomato seed saving, my two workshops (one on the wide variety of tomato colors and flavors, and one on some histories of selected tomatoes), a salsa contest, and the tomato tasting itself. The event was free to the public and was very well attended - the tomato tasting line was very long throughout the afternoon, and I would guess 500 or more people attended. Both the salsa and tomato tasting were set up to have two lines of people moving through, which was quite efficient and reduced the wait time significantly. Roughly 20 salsas and 70 tomato varieties were included, and pencils and score sheets were provided and collected at the end of the lines, to be tallied later in the day.

The tomatoes were displayed uncut in an unmatched assortment of labeled attractive baskets. The center aisle between the long lines of tomato containing tables was manned by an army of local volunteers who served as the tomato cutters. The tomatoes were continuously cut into small pieces, and tasters chased them around the plates with toothpicks. The line moved fairly quickly, but it was clear that most of the attendees treated this tasting task very seriously, working feverishly to write down their impressions on the score sheet after each bite.

Sue and I managed to taste every variety. I used a form of short-hand to keep us moving along; "+" for a noteworthy variety, "~" for something that was middling at best, and "-" for a tomato that fell toward the bottom of the tasting. In general, we found some new favorites, confirmed some old favorites, and were surprised to find some familiar varieties were just not showing very well.

The tomatoes we liked best were Brandywine, Cardinal, Cherokee Purple, White Currant (which is actually Coyote), Dester, Egg Yolk, German Pink, Ingleheart Yellow German Cocktail, Italian Heirloom, Dwarf Beryl Beauty, John Baer, Lemon Drop, Mexico Midget, Halladay's Mortgage Lifter, Purple Calabash, Sioux, Tiny Tim Yellow, and Trophy. The surprises for Sue and I were Egg Yolk, Ingleheart Yellow, Italian Heirloom (one of the top three for us, and winner of the tasting overall), John Baer, Lemon Drop, Sioux and Tiny Tim Yellow. I was also very happy to see how good one of our new Dwarf varieties, Dwarf Beryl Beauty, tasted!

Those we found to be second tier in quality were Amish Paste, Almetia, Auld Sold, Black Sea Man, Carry On-Carry On, Emmy, Gold Medal, German Purple, Great White, Green Zebra, Heirloom Kentucky Pink, Hugh's, Kentucky Heirloom Viva, Jaune Flamme, Large Red Cherry, Peach Blow Sutton, Red Zebra, Rose, Nebraska Wedding, and Southern Night.   Having grown some of these in the past, it was clear that Great White, Hugh's and Jaune Flamme, in particular, were not showing very well. And Southern Night was not really Southern Night, but an unknown pink beefsteak variety, likely either from stray seed, a cross or a mix up.

And the tomatoes that really didn't show well at all were Baranski Plum, Black Krim, Pearly Pink Cherry, Droplet, Giles Mullis Plum, Hillbillly Potato Leaf, Hungarian Heart, Lenny and Gracie's Kentucky Heirloom, Little Fleeta, Mamie Brown's Pink, Marizol Purple, Pink Peach, Pink Plum, Plum, Warren Sames Plum, Potato Leaf White, Soldacki, Sugar Beefsteak Potato Leaf, Sweet Pea Currant, Velvet Red, White Beauty, White Potato Leaf, White Tomesol, and Peron. Note that many of these were plum or paste types, and that is not surprising - the fresh flavor is often lacking, and these types are best used for cooking. Black Krim was clearly not at its best, because I've tasted them much better. The same goes for Soldacki and Peron. Also, many white varieties were included, and the tasting confirmed my view that, for the most part, white varieties tend to be lacking in flavor. For my taste buds, White Tomesol was the best of the bunch, though, again, from my experience, Great White can be a very, very good tasting tomato.

Below are some pictures from the tomato tasting. It was truly a fascinating experience!
   

It has taken Sue and I a few days to reflect upon our recent visit to Decorah, Iowa. The highlight of the trip was the Saturday Tomato Tasting at the Seed Savers Exchange Heritage Farm. But it is possible that the time we spent there on either side of the tasting is what we will remember most. In a way, it redefined "peace" for us....being able to spend hours and hours watching "cow TV" (more on that later, I promise!), feeling the gentle, refreshing breezes, and hearing nature all around us.

Shannon, at SSE, asked if we would like to stay in an old, lovingly restored cabin a few miles from Heritage Farm. "Sure", we said, and it was the best decision possible. The cabin (the history of which I must find out) is likely 1800's vintage. There is one main downstairs living room, which contained an old, wind up Victrola that actually worked. Off of that room was a tiny bathroom, tiny kitchen (both more than adequate), and stairs from the kitchen leading up to two bedrooms. But the best part was the back deck, with two comfy wooden rockers. And those rockers looked out on a lovely, large pasture surrounded by a ridge of tall trees. The pasture was endlessly entertaining and changing, inhabited by at least 40 Angus cattle, most of which were black, but sprinkled with a few red, white, and tan, with a few showing white faces. Hence Cow TV!  One more thing that is most important - we were perfectly happy with no phone service, internet, TV, radio.  It was heaven!

The deck was a perfect place to rock, watch the leftward or rightward movement of the cattle (often they would come up to the fence separating the property), read, do crosswords or sudoku, knit....or just close your eyes and listen. We heard all sorts of birds, including Pileated Woodpeckers, and saw a few Bald Eagles fly along the distant ridge tree line. Now and then skittish deer would appear, jump the fence and run through the field, white tails flashing. In the evening at dusk, at least 40 bats would emerge from a hole at the base of the cabin chimney and set off on their insect feast. As we continued to sit, the stars would start to show (we were facing south, so Scorpio and its red star Antares was very prominent), and a nearly full moon rose and illuminated the field in front of us. Sometimes in the evening and once in the morning we would see mists form or lift. 

As the sun moved across the sky, Sue and I would shift our chairs, often relocating down to the lawn under spreading hardwood trees. And always, it was bird calls, or mooing, or the breeze...no sound of cars, or trucks, or airplanes. Each night we would climb those rather risky stairs up to the loft and settle in to a peaceful night of lovely dreams. 

Sure, we did some biking, some hiking, had wonderful times at a Barn Dance thrown by John Torgrimson, the SSE director, and a lovely dinner at the home of Tom and Beth Wahlberg (Tom runs the SSE commercial seed operation). We spent time in Decorah, a thriving, lovely little town with a superb Co-Op, ice cream store (the Sugar Bowl), quilt and yarn shops....more on that later. But it wouldn't have been as special if not for the cabin....and Cow TV.

Our deep thanks to the Seed Savers Exchange, John and Pat, Tom and Beth, Shannon, Grant, Jim, and everyone else that made us feel so welcomed!