Selling Great-tasting Heirlooms

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JOHNNY'S SELECTED SEEDS
Rural Route 1 Box 2580
Foss Hill Road
Albion, Maine 04910
207-437-4301 www.johnnyseeds.com

BOUNTIFUL GARDENS 18001 Shafer Ranch Road Willits, California 95490
707-459-6410 www.bountifulgardens.org

SAND HILL PRESERVATION CENTER
1878 230th St.
Calamus, Iowa 52729
319-246-2299

R.H. SHUMWAY'S
PO Box 1 Graniteville, South Carolina 29829
803-663-9771
www.rhshumway.com

SEEDS OF CHANGE
PO Box 15700
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87506
800-9573337
www.seedsofchange.com

NATIVE SEEDS/SEARCH
526 N. Fourth Ave.
Tucson, Arizona 85705
520-622-5561 www.nativeseeds.org

REDWOOD CITY SEED CO.
PO Box 361
Redwood City, California
94064
650-325-7333

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE SEED EXCHANGE
PO Box 460
Mineral, Virginia 23117
540-894-9480

Last year GSHSS started a special tomato-tasting in Hoboken designed to bring growers and chefs together. "It was just a trial run," Cavanaugh points out. "We brought some of our growers and had some restaurant people there. It was very successful, so we're going to do it again on a larger scale." Working with the Hoboken restaurant association. which will bring the chefs, GSHSS will bring the tomatoes for a tasting. "Basically, this brings our farmers together with the ritzy restaurants. If the chefs like what they taste, we'll say, 'Here's the farmer who grew it. You guys get together and work out a deal. GSHSS will provide the seed, at no cost to the farmer, to assure he can supply your needs."' An interesting sidelight to this event is that it's co-sponsored by the Hoboker Museum.

"This was just the beginning," Cavanaugh says. "Next year we're going to have a day for salad greens, in the spring. And when we have the tomato-tasting in the fall, we'll introduce other heirloom vegetables, like peppers, as well."

As he notes, if this works in Hoboken, it can work anywhere. He envisions working with his growers in southern New Jersey to develop the same sort of system for the Philadelphia market. "If it works here, than any other organization in the country can pick up on it and do the same thing," he concludes.

GSHSS has already spawned similar groups in other states. Using the New Jersey group as a model, heirloom seed societies have started in Oklahoma, New York and Rhode Island, and other states have expressed interest. (Contact Cavanaugh for details - see address below .) "This isn't to imply that we are a New Jersey organization only," Cavanaugh quickly points out. "We have members across the country, and in several foreign countries." But he recognizes that it is much more efficient to have a local organization on-scene when acting to bring growers and customers together.

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