Amish Paste Tomato 2015-2018

That's one big roma! As advertised in the seed catalog, the fruits for this one came in like an up-sized roma. Combine the size with a meaty texture, good production and great flavor and you've got what seems like an ideal canning tomato. We did have some splitting when hit with unexpected rain, but otherwise the fruits seem fairly resistent to some of the usual heirloom blemishes.

Black Cherry Tomato 2015-2018

Very flavorful cherry tomato. A favorite at the market and amongst the garden "help" (aka, the kids). Particularly juicy variety that seems to split easily when overwatered or hit with an unexpected rain event. Plants grow beyond our reach (6'+) when we don't prune (top) regularly.

Blacktail Mountain Watermelon 2015-2017

Another late summer crop that is just about the highlight of the season. We're still gaining the fine-tuned skills necessary to know exactly when to pick the fruits, but when we do manage to get it right the flavor is just oustanding. This is a "seed bearing" variety and they have plenty of them. Makes it easy to preserve seeds for next season, but adds an extra step to eating a slice (or half). Much like the okra it takes most of a good, warm season to get a crop, but when we do we're rewarded by 4-7 pound, round, dark green fruit with deep red flesh with outstanding flavor.

Clemson Spineless Okra 2015-2018

Hard to beat okra right off the plant! It takes most of a warm and sunny Willamette Valley summer to get a good crop, but the little pods are well worth the wait. On the small side, but great flavor if you like okra. We have yet to get any of these to market, but we're working on it.

Early Girl Tomato 2017

With a name like "Early Girl" one would assume fruit on the *early* side, and this variety did not disappoint. Using cold-frames we were able to get mature, but small, fruit by mid-July. We typically don't see any mature tomatoes until late July/early August so this one did come in at least a couple weeks early. Not bad for a cool, rainy spring. Mild flavor when compared to other heirloom varieties we grow. Good production volume with small, uniform (round) shaped fruit throughout the season.

Gardeners Sweetheart Tomato 2015-2018

A very appealing cherry tomato that's become one of our mainstays alongside the Black Cherry. The two offer a pretty good contrast of cherry tomatos, the Black is juicy with a very strong tomato flavor while the Sweetheart has a more subtle flavor and is not-so-juicy. Good production on plants that have a distinct growing pattern in our garden. The plants set fruit on long stems, or "trusses", requiring some customization to our typical trellacing approach.

Italian Heirloom Tomato 2015-2018

Large, flavorful slicer. Seems to have one good crop that comes in on the early side of all our tomato varieties. It does continue to produce throughout the season, just not with the same enthusiasm as it seems to have at the beginning. Might be our amendment schedule(?) Whatever the case, it's not unusual to get nearly 2-pound fruits out of this variety. They have the usual heirloom shape oddities, and sometimes seem to crack and blemish more than others, but the size and flavor make up for any shortcomings.

Jewel Strawberry 2015-2017

The whole family looks forward to June thanks to these little berries. They are June-bearing so we only get one crop that lasts 2 or 3 weeks, but we typically get a very healthy amount in that short period. Great flavor and good firm texture. We have sold these by the flat in the past, but we also keep a few for canning ourselves.

Ruth's Perfect Tomato 2015-2018

Medium-sized slicer that really lives up to the name when it comes to consistent fruit shape. In our garden the vast majority of the fruits adhere to the same round, ridged, shape with very few blemishes, cracks and other deformities we usually see in heirloom varieties. Going off appearance it really does seem to be "perfect". Great flavor and a solid producer.

Triple Play Sweet Corn 2015-2018

Visually appealing multi color sweet corn. Has a creamy, traditional consistentcy and flavor that seems unique among the sweet corn varieties we've tried.

Triticale Grain 2015-2017

We use this one primarily as a cover crop, but we'll occasionally go to the effort of threshing a stand in order to preserve the grains as supplemental chicken feed. As a cover crop it does really well planted in the fall. If we've developed the plot well (provided plenty of nutrients), the resulting stand looks great in the spring and is ready for processing by July.

Yellow Stuffing Tomato 2015-2018

An interesting fruit that almost looks like a mix of tomato and bell pepper. Good tomato flavor, but nearly hollow with a seed "sack" in the center making it ideal for serving stuffed with other savory culinary goodies. We have had some challenges growing this variety consistently and without unsightly blemishes. But when we do get a good crop they're always an eye-catcher at the market thanks to their bright yellow color.