Amishland corrections plus advice for finding heirloom

[AGangi]

I am new- just found this forum. I found it when I was googling for more info on seeds I bought, some from amishland, and google results gave me some threads here about that source. If I list the seeds I got from her, can folks here tell me if they are correctly named or what they should be called if they aren't?

I have plenty of space so I'll probably grow them all out to see which I just happen to like. But I was specifically looking for heirlooms from eastern Europe... my grandmother grew up on a farm in Belarus and i was hoping to surprise her with flavours that would remind her of those days. I see now, from info on this forum, that the Orange-1 is probably something she never tasted! :-( Well I am sure I will enjoy it, but it wasn't what I had hoped for. Any recommendations on what tomatoes she would probably remember and where to get them (not just tomatoes, other fruits and veggies too. I can post my whole seed list if wanted, but it is very long)?

Thanks much! Here are the seeds from Amishland I want to check the names on:

Amish Paste
Chervena Chushka
Efemer Red Ukrainian Tomato
Emerald Apple
Giant Lemon Ukrainian
Golden Queen
Kibits
Belarus Orange (Shoudl be Orange-1?)
Purple Italian Marconi Bean
Rotonda Bianca Sfumata DiRosa Eggplant
Sugary Pudovichok (is this Sakharnyi Pudovichok?)
Sandul Moldovan
Schimmeig Striped Hollow Tomato

[fortyonenorth]

Welcome to Tomatoville - I think you'll find much useful information here.

If you haven't already, your best bet is to visit Tatiana's Tomatobase: http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Main_Page. Tatiana lists many Eastern European tomatoes.

To find some which are specifically from Belarus, I would recommend entering "Andrey" in the search bar (at Tania's site) and you'll find tomatoes that originated with Andrey Baranovsky from Minsk, Belarus. Andrey's a member here, too, so hopefully he'll see this thread and chime in with recommendations for Belarusian heirlooms.

Good luck!

[carolyn137]

I don't know quite how to say this, but I wouldn't rely on what Lisa lists as the names of some of the varieties she lists. When Andrey first wanted to get involved in distributing some of his seeds in the US he did so at Amishland, and wishes he didn't, for several reasons.

Before I forget, Welcome, I usually see new folks posting in the Town Hall Forum so almost forgot you said you were new here.

For many years Andrey has been sending me varieties from Eastern Europe as has Reinhard Kraft from Germany and Andrey's envelope with the newest varieties came on Friday.

There aren't all that many heirloom varieties from Belrus but I highly suggtest Orange Minsk which Andrey found at a Farmers market and named. And there are some other ones he's sent me but I'm sure you'll find the, at Tania's site as well.

As 41 n suggested I also highly suggest that you go to Tania's website and look at the different ways you can search for varieties by country as well as by other means.

And yes, Belarus Orange is Orange-1.

Another major problem is that sometimes varieties are listed in more than one language at different sites. For instance Serdste Buivola ( Russian Language) is the same as Bawole Cerce ( Polish language). And if youclick on Malachite Box at Tanias site you'll see the real name in Russian, which I know I have to look up b'c it's hard to spell in Russian. Same with Emerald Apple.

I think rather than asking folks to respond to long lists maybe you could do some sleuthing yourself , just a gentle suggestion and when you come up with the ones that really do appeal to you, then start a thread in the general Disussion Forum and ask folks there for feedback and I think you're far more likely to get feedback than here in the Seed and Plant source forum which is for sources for same and feedback on same in a gneral sense.

Golden Queen for instance. released by the Livingston Seed Co in 1882, a nice med gold when ripe and also Golden Queen (USDA) which more closely shows what it should be like as described by Livingston in his book.

Do I think it's the best gold one around? Nope there are others like Aunt Gerties Gold that I like far better and many others.

Do my suggestions have merit with you? I don't want to put you off at all, but I think it's difficult for folks to respond to long lists, particularly in this Forum, the GEneral Discussion Forum would be far better, and there are Forums for the non-tomato other veggies you mention that are lower down on the Home page. .

I can speak to Sandul Moldovan since that's a variety I introduced, seeds from the Sandul family who immigrated to the US and it's an excellent variety. Same for Gogosha, from the Tarnipal region of the Ukraine, seed to me from a former student.

I too have an interest in European family varieties and many of them I've been offering in my annual seed offers here at Tville, the 2011 one just closed.

So welcome again, there are some great folks here as well as lots of info in back threads and the search feature here at the top is excellent.

[feldon30]

Any resemblance of the variety names and histories at Amishland Seeds to reality are purely coincidental and unintentional.

[mdvpc]

Welcome to the Forum, pls post often!

[RinTinTin]

Unfortunately, some seed vendors like to put their own names on varieties for a variety of reasons. Probably the most common reason being to make it appear that they are the sole source of that variety. Speculating on another possible reason is that for a particular variety, their seeds are no longer breeding true, so they abandon the original name, and create their own.

Good luck on your search...your grandmother will be pleasantly surprised!
And, YES, do check out Tatania's site...search for "Belarus", and you should come up with a good list.

Атрымлівайце асалоду памідоры

[AGangi]

Ah sorry, carolyn I just jumped right in having a question and didn't think to browse the boards and introduce myself.... I'll get to that next! (after I nap, its 4 am, eeek!)

Originally Posted by carolyn137

.I think rather than asking folks to respond to long lists maybe you could do some sleuthing yourself , just a gentle suggestion and when you come up with the ones that really do appeal to you, then start a thread in the general Disussion Forum and ask folks there for feedback and I think you're far more likely to get feedback than here in the Seed and Plant source forum which is for sources for same and feedback on same in a gneral sense.

Okay. Yeah, the ones I listed I already bought. I was just putting together a database for myself of when to plant things, how tall they'd be, when they'd be ripe etc- just to help me in garden planning. So I was googling for more complete info on varieties, and that's how I ended up here.

I hoped some folks just happened to have personal experience with some of the specific varieties listed from lisa's site.

If not, I think at this point, I have all the info I can find out, as incomplete as it is. I will have to grow them out and see what results. Then compare the results to the descriptions and if i can't match them up, ask here.

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I can speak to Sandul Moldovan since that's a variety I introduced, seeds from the Sandul family who immigrated to the US and it's an excellent variety...

Oh neat! thanks for introducing it. I look forward to trying it.

[AGangi]

Originally Posted by fortyonenorth

Welcome to Tomatoville - I think you'll find much useful information here.
If you haven't already, your best bet is to visit Tatiana's Tomatobase: http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Main_Page. Tatiana lists many Eastern European tomatoes.
To find some which are specifically from Belarus, I would recommend entering "Andrey" in the search bar (at Tania's site) and you'll find tomatoes that originated with Andrey Baranovsky from Minsk, Belarus. Andrey's a member here, too, so hopefully he'll see this thread and chime in with recommendations for Belarusian heirlooms.
Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestion..... I did stumble on tatiana's site while googling for info on the seeds I bought, but I haven't had time to explore it. I'll definitely go look at it more in depth. thanks

[Andrey_BY]

Hi AGangi and welcome to our Tomatoville!

By the way what region of Belarus are your Grannie from?
I have a plenty tomato varieties from Eastern Europe and of course from my Belarus, but there is no so many from them of heirloom origin. It is not do typical for us to grow heirloom varieties, but we don't like hybrids and prefer old and new OP varieties from local commercial and amateur sources.

Carolyn, I'm glad my envelope with seeds finally found its way to you. They had returned it to me right after New Year for some reason and I've sent it out to you again in January.

[AGangi]

Hi Andrey, thank you for replying.

She lived on a farm near Grodno ( Гро́дна ). She was displaced during WWII.

I'd really like to find old heirlooms that she might have tasted. (heirlooms introduced before WWII). Tomatoes of course. But other vegetables and fruits I would like also.

[habitat_gardener]

I grew Tobolsk last year, a great-tasting large orange tomato. It's "said to be" a 100-year-old heirloom from Siberia.
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Tobolsk

My grandparents came from Belarus around the 19-teens, and I was wondering what tomatoes they may have eaten. So I asked here a year or two ago, and there was an interesting discussion.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ssian+peasants

[Andrey_BY]

Sorry for my late reply.

Grodno (or Hrodno) has been a part of different countries during last 10 centuries - The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russian Empire, Poland, Soviet Union and now Belarus.

And it was mentioned in this old discussion there was no a major tradition to grow heirloom tomatoes here at this land in 19-20th centuries. People grow mostly imported varieties. Or we just have no info about old local varieties grown here.

http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grodno

[AGangi]

that's ok Andrey; and thanks. Yes it was Poland when she lived there.

It is strange for us here to imagine how different farming was approached back then in that area.

Actually, this gives me a new idea.... Is it known (what countries; catalogues etc) they tended to import seeds from? Perhaps it would be more accurate for me to then look for commercial heirlooms from those sources.

[Jeannine Anne]

Hi, I am very reluctant to be negative to a company but have to be honest in my opinion of Amishland.

I sent an order off earlier this year, payed by Paypal.

I received an e mail a few days later saying she was running late by 10 days.

Then a few days later I received an e mail questioning my address, " it looked funny"

I replied it was correct. I thought at the time this was odd as I had typed the address in on her site but having paid by Paypal it was ther same on there as a confirmed address.

I heard bothing for another three weeks.

One seed ordered was a Haitian tomato which was to be part of a basket of gardening things for a family member who lost everything in the earthquake last year and had come to live in Canada

I emailed Amishland asking about my order. I got a reply stating it was on hold due to a funny address. My address was shown on the e mail as correct. Normal address, nothing funny about it, number, street name, city, province, zip and country.

I answered stating I had confirmed the address some time before and she was showing it correctly, also Paypal had it. I also told her why I had ordered the seeds and the date for the 65th birthday was coming up and there was to be a big celebration.The seeds were part of a basket to start a new life here.

She replied, apologised, said about illness and being the only person for many seeds and she would send them the next day.She also said she remembered getting the reply from me confirming the address some weeks before.

The birthday was last Saturday, the seeds have never arrived.

The order was placed in lots of time to get here in Canada,even allowing for busy times etc.

I sent an e mail after the date saying they had not arrived and that I was very unhappy about.

I received a reply stating among other things that she would no longer ship to Canada and I was her last Canadaian order!!

Overall a very poor encounter with Amishland. I seemed to get one excuse after another for delays, funny address,overwork, too may orders, her health, confusion with two e mail addresses she has, the Canadain mail and Canadians orders in general. and it seemed the final message was to make me feel guilty about her no longer servicing Canada..

I would be very obliged if anyone has any seeds from Haiti that I can buy or trade as I would still like to finish the basket and hand it over. Amishland was the only place I have seen them for sale.

I absolutely hate to be negative about anyone but this was over the top.

XX Jeannine

[ireilly]

Quite a story! My lone comment would be - if you don't want to ship to Canada, then don't take people's money and agree to do so.

I've never ordered from her nor do I have an axe to grind,but I suggest you look at this Garden Watchdog page, especially the section dated January 11, 2010, and examine it for parallels to your own experience.

It's a great site to post your own impressions and people do check it too.

http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/2622/

Walter