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Toe Knee · August 20, 2007

Thanks for the nice words Jerry and Earl. Yep, we are addicted to CHOPTAG, and now thanks to Jerry's prodding, Tomatoville, too. THe event was a BLAST!

"As far as the Cherokee Sausage ...The one in the picture is a small one. He had some twice that big. I’ll let him weigh in with the rest of the details."

We'll have to work on Markus to get registered and weigh in himself, but we have some bragging rights, since Cherokee Sausage is our grand child...

We got Cherokee Purple from various sources over the years, Totally Tomatoes, Seed Savers, Seeds of change, etc. but Sausage, we got in about '93 from a prize winning display at the KY state Fair. Ruth Last name ? from Louisville) was cleaning out her display on the last day and graciously gave us some tomatoes. We have always selected for largest in our seed saving tomatoes, and it seems they have gotten bigger over the years. THe first years they were 4-5" X 1.5-2", but in a good non-drought year, they produce 6-7" X 3-4" fruits. Our friends Steve and Caroline think they deserve a new name, but the jury is still out on that.

Mark has grown our plants for years, and has this one pretty stabilized after three years. THe biggest ones he brought show the blocky characteristics of our giant Sausage at its best. This was the first time we saw it, and it was like a prodigal grandchild had come home and done Good!

So Exciting! I hope it stays stable, because it it tasty like the Cherokee Purple, but big and meaty like our Sausage.

So great to be welcomed by youse guys. I told a friend today we probably have 20 or so new varieties of the best of the best, since choptaggers wouldn't bring anything they didn't like. Cant wait til MArch.

By the way, some day soon I'll post some harsh lessons we learned about seedsaving from newly aquired varieties without proper pre-planting sterilization and careful greenhouse observation. This spring we destroyed about 6000 plants rather than sell them with bacterial spot. I wrote an article and local papers and extension newsletters with help from the head plant pathologist at UK, Kenny Seebold, who helped guide us through the nightmare. Where would be the bestv place for that?

Thanks again for the wartm welcome and all the COOL varieties!!!

The Atwoodites ( Tony and Amy Powell)

August 20, 2007	#18
Toe Knee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Northern Kentucky Posts: 22	Thanks for the nice words Jerry and Earl. Yep, we are addicted to CHOPTAG, and now thanks to Jerry's prodding, Tomatoville, too. THe event was a BLAST! "As far as the Cherokee Sausage ...The one in the picture is a small one. He had some twice that big. I’ll let him weigh in with the rest of the details." We'll have to work on Markus to get registered and weigh in himself, but we have some bragging rights, since Cherokee Sausage is our grand child... We got Cherokee Purple from various sources over the years, Totally Tomatoes, Seed Savers, Seeds of change, etc. but Sausage, we got in about '93 from a prize winning display at the KY state Fair. Ruth Last name ? from Louisville) was cleaning out her display on the last day and graciously gave us some tomatoes. We have always selected for largest in our seed saving tomatoes, and it seems they have gotten bigger over the years. THe first years they were 4-5" X 1.5-2", but in a good non-drought year, they produce 6-7" X 3-4" fruits. Our friends Steve and Caroline think they deserve a new name, but the jury is still out on that. Mark has grown our plants for years, and has this one pretty stabilized after three years. THe biggest ones he brought show the blocky characteristics of our giant Sausage at its best. This was the first time we saw it, and it was like a prodigal grandchild had come home and done Good! So Exciting! I hope it stays stable, because it it tasty like the Cherokee Purple, but big and meaty like our Sausage. So great to be welcomed by youse guys. I told a friend today we probably have 20 or so new varieties of the best of the best, since choptaggers wouldn't bring anything they didn't like. Cant wait til MArch. By the way, some day soon I'll post some harsh lessons we learned about seedsaving from newly aquired varieties without proper pre-planting sterilization and careful greenhouse observation. This spring we destroyed about 6000 plants rather than sell them with bacterial spot. I wrote an article and local papers and extension newsletters with help from the head plant pathologist at UK, Kenny Seebold, who helped guide us through the nightmare. Where would be the bestv place for that? Thanks again for the wartm welcome and all the COOL varieties!!! The Atwoodites ( Tony and Amy Powell)