A.P. Whaley Seed Co.

fortyonenorth · February 21, 2012

Maybe this is old news: I stumbled upon the website for A.P. Whaley Seed Co. From their listings (and the name, of course) I'm assuming this is Aaron Whaley of SSE heritage. It looks like their focus is seed in commercial quantities (they're lined up to distribute 1/4 oz + quantities of Artisan's tomatoes), culinary beans, White Park Cattle and some other stuff. They're based out of Mt. Horab, Wisconsin on, by the looks of it, a beautiful farm.

Interestingly, I didn't see even a hint of the SSE relationship.

https://awhaley.com/

**carolyn137** · February 21, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by fortyonenorth

Maybe this is old news: I stumbled upon the website for A.P. Whaley Seed Co. From their listings (and the name, of course) I'm assuming this is Aaron Whaley of SSE heritage. It looks like their focus is seed in commercial quantities (they're lined up to distribute 1/4 oz + quantities of Artisan's tomatoes), culinary beans, White Park Cattle and some other stuff. They're based out of Mt. Horab, Wisconsin on, by the looks of it, a beautiful farm.

Interestingly, I didn't see even a hint of the SSE relationship.

https://awhaley.com/

Looks like Aaron to me b'c he's the one who changed the last name to Whaley from Whealy.

I wouldn't expect to see an SSE relationship b'c when he left SSE that was that.

I didn't read the whole site but you noted White Park Cattle, and Aaron's father Kent remarried to the woman who first bankrolled the purchase of those cattle, but now my memory gets a bit hazy, but I thought they lived in Michigan.

Yes, new to me and I bet the same for quite a few others as well. But it was known that he no longer wanted to be in any admin position at SSE and wanted to be a farmer, and it looks like he's done that so I say good for him.

**nctomatoman** · February 21, 2012

Artisan Tomatoes. Good grief....and I note that Pink Tiger and Sunrise Tiger sound very much like what I grew last year as Maglia Rose and Blush....

There must quite a love of soap operas out there, because it appears that quite a lot of soap opera drama has infiltrated the gardening/seed company/heirloom world!

Again....good grief....

fortyonenorth · February 21, 2012

Good eye, Craig. Artisan is Fred Hempel's company. Fred posts here and was the breeder of both Blush and Maglia Rosa.

**carolyn137** · February 21, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by fortyonenorth

Good eye, Craig. Artisan is Fred Hempel's company. Fred posts here and was the breeder of both Blush and Maglia Rosa.

Craig, if you look at Fred Hempels blog here at Tville you'll see that he and Frogsleap ( Mark) are together in forming Artisan and Fred has invited others to contact him if they're interested in joining in, but I do think Fred and Mark will be very careful in who they let contribute and I think that's good.

Fred has also has another thread where he's announced when his new varieties will be available.

salix · February 21, 2012

And if you check the 'News' section of A. Whaley's site, you will see that he/they are working with Fred Hempel to distribute the new varieties in December.

Fred Hempel · February 21, 2012

LOL!! Craig, I am in awe of how many tomatoes you and Carolyn keep track of, and recall in a moment's notice.

Pink Tiger fruits are very similar to Maglia Rosa -- but it is a vine, and has stripes that are a bit more pronounced. If you like the bushy aspect of Maglia Rosa (as many gardeners do), no need to get Pink Tiger. As a grower myself, though, I stopped growing Maglia Rosa 2 years ago because the Maglia Rosa bushes were hotbeds of fungal disease and insect pests in our fields.

Sunrise Tiger is similar to Blush (and the product of a cross where Blush was one parent), but it has much deeper marbling.

Aaron is the wholesale distributor of our new "tiger" varieties, which will be available later this year, and some of the usual suspects (preferred retail tomato-seed sellers at Tomatoville) are evaluating the lines this summer. I assume some will adopt them and will buy seeds from Aaron for next year. We will also be selling seed packets at the "Artisan Seeds" website (not yet up), and we will also be selling packets for three "Bumble Bee" varieties that are described at Aaron's site (Sunrise Bumble Bee is my avatar)

We will be the only sellers of seeds for the Bumble Bee series initially, but Plug Connection will be selling plugs, Log House Plants will be selling plants, and both Log House Plants and Garden Life will be selling grafted plants next year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

Artisan Tomatoes. Good grief....and I note that Pink Tiger and Sunrise Tiger sound very much like what I grew last year as Maglia Rose and Blush....

There must quite a love of soap operas out there, because it appears that quite a lot of soap opera drama has infiltrated the gardening/seed company/heirloom world!

Again....good grief....

**carolyn137** · February 21, 2012

LOL!! Craig, I am in awe of how many tomatoes you and Carolyn keep track of, and recall in a moment's notice.

.......says Fred

Fred, it's good to remember that I started growing heirloom tomatoes and some hybrids when I first moved back home to upstate NY from Denver in about 1983. At that time the place to get the heirlooms was Glecklers, now back in business with Adam running it as well as Seeds Blum, long out of business, but a great catalog when they were in business. At the time I didn't even know that SSE existed, but when I did, I think in 1989, I joined and was off to the races and was growing hundreds of plants and varieties each season.

Now do I remember all of the about 3,000 varieties grown to date, with no Excel spreadsheets and can't find all my data books from way back then, they got lost moving from there to here, etc., I remember the good ones, that I can tell you.

In the past few years several folks have asked me to look for seeds of varieties that have kind of gone south, if you know what I mean, and since I've not discarded one seed saved since about 1990, I always surprise myself when I run across a variety that I'd totally forgotten about.

IN these times it seems that lots of folks want the newest and latest, and there's a thread here about that, but I'm telling you that there lots of varieties that I think have been totally overlooked b'c they aren't the newest and latest. No, I'm not going to go back through all my seed vials and list them now.

I met Craig as a fellow SSE member in I think 1989 and we've remained best friends for all of these years. Together we co-published an international newsletter on heirloom tomatoes for quite a few years, it was called Off The Vine. We interviewed lots of interesting people, I remember Craig interviewing Dr.__________, see I can't always remember everything ASAP, who was at that time head of the UCDavis project there on the wild species and was one of the first who brought back many of the tomato species from the highlands of Chile and Peru.

Craig is quite a few years younger than I am and he has an almost photographic memory that I am in awe of.

So there you go. and I am so looking forward to your newest and latest as well.

**nctomatoman** · February 21, 2012

That's good to know, Fred - thanks for the clarification. My main concern is in keeping names straight and avoiding synonyms.....more later (off to walk the dogs)

Granite26 · February 21, 2012

I appreciate smart marketing and building hype but really????

"Bulk seed (1/4 ounce packets and larger) for the BUMBLE BEE SERIES

will be available for international sales beginning December 1, 2012 and then domestically on December 1, 2014."

edit: I see packets should be available earlier from Artisan but still cant believe a product is posted on awhaley.com that will not be available until 12/2014

Fred Hempel · February 21, 2012

The Bumble Bees are available everywhere but N. Am. next year.

SuperNaturals has an exclusive contract to release them in N. Am.

If AP Whaley wasn't selling them internationally, they wouldn't have information about their delayed release in N. America on the site.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Granite26

I appreciate smart marketing and building hype but really????

"Bulk seed (1/4 ounce packets and larger) for the BUMBLE BEE SERIES

will be available for international sales beginning December 1, 2012 and then domestically on December 1, 2014."

edit: I see packets should be available earlier from Artisan but still cant believe a product is posted on awhaley.com that will not be available until 12/2014

Fred Hempel · February 21, 2012

I completely agree about keeping names, and avoiding synonyms.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

That's good to know, Fred - thanks for the clarification. My main concern is in keeping names straight and avoiding synonyms.....more later (off to walk the dogs)

retiree · February 21, 2012

Carolyn, that would be Dr.Charles Rick, Off The Vine Vol, 1 Number 2 .

**carolyn137** · February 21, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by retiree

Carolyn, that would be Dr.Charles Rick, Off The Vine Vol, 1 Number 2 .

Absolutely correct Neil. What would I do without you when it comes to remembering what I can't remember.

And I know Craig was surprised to find that Dr. Rick didn't know anything about heirloom tomatoes and as I recall Craig sent him some some seeds for same.

frogsleap farm · February 21, 2012

Charlie Rick was my Genetics 101 professor at UCD and was the one that got me interested in plant breeding. I'm thrilled with all of the folks here at Tville and online generally that are interested in making crosses and doing tomato breeding. It is the inspiration for Artisan Seeds - a venue for buying seed tied directly to small scale breeders or more commonly a collaboration of breeders. There will be a royalty paid to breeders based on seed sales - not a new concept, but one not usually available to non-professionals. We are certainly pleased to have Aaron as a partner.

February 21, 2012	#1
fortyonenorth Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NW Indiana Posts: 1,150	A.P. Whaley Seed Co. Maybe this is old news: I stumbled upon the website for A.P. Whaley Seed Co. From their listings (and the name, of course) I'm assuming this is Aaron Whaley of SSE heritage. It looks like their focus is seed in commercial quantities (they're lined up to distribute 1/4 oz + quantities of Artisan's tomatoes), culinary beans, White Park Cattle and some other stuff. They're based out of Mt. Horab, Wisconsin on, by the looks of it, a beautiful farm. Interestingly, I didn't see even a hint of the SSE relationship. https://awhaley.com/

February 21, 2012	#3
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	Very interesting indeed.... Artisan Tomatoes. Good grief....and I note that Pink Tiger and Sunrise Tiger sound very much like what I grew last year as Maglia Rose and Blush.... There must quite a love of soap operas out there, because it appears that quite a lot of soap opera drama has infiltrated the gardening/seed company/heirloom world! Again....good grief.... __________________ Craig

February 21, 2012	#8
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	LOL!! Craig, I am in awe of how many tomatoes you and Carolyn keep track of, and recall in a moment's notice. .......says Fred Fred, it's good to remember that I started growing heirloom tomatoes and some hybrids when I first moved back home to upstate NY from Denver in about 1983. At that time the place to get the heirlooms was Glecklers, now back in business with Adam running it as well as Seeds Blum, long out of business, but a great catalog when they were in business. At the time I didn't even know that SSE existed, but when I did, I think in 1989, I joined and was off to the races and was growing hundreds of plants and varieties each season. Now do I remember all of the about 3,000 varieties grown to date, with no Excel spreadsheets and can't find all my data books from way back then, they got lost moving from there to here, etc., I remember the good ones, that I can tell you. In the past few years several folks have asked me to look for seeds of varieties that have kind of gone south, if you know what I mean, and since I've not discarded one seed saved since about 1990, I always surprise myself when I run across a variety that I'd totally forgotten about. IN these times it seems that lots of folks want the newest and latest, and there's a thread here about that, but I'm telling you that there lots of varieties that I think have been totally overlooked b'c they aren't the newest and latest. No, I'm not going to go back through all my seed vials and list them now. I met Craig as a fellow SSE member in I think 1989 and we've remained best friends for all of these years. Together we co-published an international newsletter on heirloom tomatoes for quite a few years, it was called Off The Vine. We interviewed lots of interesting people, I remember Craig interviewing Dr.__________, see I can't always remember everything ASAP, who was at that time head of the UCDavis project there on the wild species and was one of the first who brought back many of the tomato species from the highlands of Chile and Peru. Craig is quite a few years younger than I am and he has an almost photographic memory that I am in awe of. So there you go. and I am so looking forward to your newest and latest as well. __________________ Carolyn

February 21, 2012	#9
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	That's good to know, Fred - thanks for the clarification. My main concern is in keeping names straight and avoiding synonyms.....more later (off to walk the dogs) __________________ Craig

February 21, 2012	#10
Granite26 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Western WI Posts: 359	I appreciate smart marketing and building hype but really???? "Bulk seed (1/4 ounce packets and larger) for the BUMBLE BEE SERIES will be available for international sales beginning December 1, 2012 and then domestically on December 1, 2014." edit: I see packets should be available earlier from Artisan but still cant believe a product is posted on awhaley.com that will not be available until 12/2014 Last edited by Granite26; February 21, 2012 at 03:16 PM. Reason: packets available earlier

February 21, 2012	#6
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	And if you check the 'News' section of A. Whaley's site, you will see that he/they are working with Fred Hempel to distribute the new varieties in December.

February 21, 2012	#13
retiree Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 404	Carolyn, that would be Dr.Charles Rick, Off The Vine Vol, 1 Number 2 .

February 21, 2012	#15
frogsleap farm Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Minnesota Posts: 568	Charlie Rick was my Genetics 101 professor at UCD and was the one that got me interested in plant breeding. I'm thrilled with all of the folks here at Tville and online generally that are interested in making crosses and doing tomato breeding. It is the inspiration for Artisan Seeds - a venue for buying seed tied directly to small scale breeders or more commonly a collaboration of breeders. There will be a royalty paid to breeders based on seed sales - not a new concept, but one not usually available to non-professionals. We are certainly pleased to have Aaron as a partner.