Certified Organic Tomato Plants

Here is a listing of the certified organic tomato plants that we are growing to sell for the 2016 season.  These varieties were selected from several different seed companies to provide a good selection of the determinate (or bush type) organic varieties. The descriptions and photographys below come from the seed catalogs.
Please note that we also grow many varieties of indeterminate tomatoes for our own use and we would be willing to plant addition seeds from our supply if customers are looking for an indeterminate variety. Please contact us as soon as possible to see if we have seeds for your favorites.
If you are interested in reserving tomato plants, please call us at 814-274-8004 or send an email to metzgerfarm@gmail.com to place your orders. Quantities are limited and by reserving your plants now, you are offered a better selection.
I will also be listing the sweet and hot peppers in a separate blog post.

Photo From
Seed Savers Exchange

Silvery Fir Tree Tomato
Traditional Russian variety with distinctive carrot-like silvery-gray foliage on compact 24” p;lants Heavy crops of round, slightly flattened 3”-3 1/2” red fruit. Does well in hanging baskets or on patios. Determinate. 60 days from transplant.
$4.00 per plant in 3-inch peat pot.

Photo From High Mowing
Organic Seeds

Roma VF Paste
Productive plum tomato with great disease resistance! Vigorous and strong, producing heavy yields of picture-perfect, thick-walled fruits with deep red color and mild flavor. Open pollinated. 65 days from transplant
$3.75 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From High
Mowing Organic Seeds

Iron Lady F1 Hybrid

Fight the blight with this disease-resistant red slicer! Impressive resistance to late blight, early blight, septoria and more. Fine-textured fruit is both dense and juicy with good tomato flavor. Determinate. 75 days from transplant.

$4.25 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From Southern
Exposure Organic Seeds

Mountain Princess

Perfectly round fruits with crowd-pleasing mild sweet flavor. Very productive and early, great for short, cool seasons. A customer favorite for containers. Grown for generations in the Monongahela National Forest region of West Virginia. Determinate. 68 days from transplant.

$4 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From Southern
Exposure Organic Seeds

Rutgers Tomato

Hearty tomato flavor and meaty texture. Bright red fruit with a small seed cavity and good color throughout. Good for slicing or canning. Resists cracking. Open pollinated. Determinate. 75 days from transplant.

$4 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From Johnny's
Selected Seeds

Gold Nugget Cherry Tomato

An early prolific golden cherry tomato. Deep yellow color. Compact plants with concentrated early set.  Determinate. 56 days from transplant.

$3.75 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From Johnny's
Selected Seeds

Oregon Spring Tomato

Medium sized, early cold tolerant. First early harvest for cool northern locations. Compact plants bearing 6-7 oz. fruit.  Determinate. 60 days from transplant.

$3.75 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From High Mowing
Organic Seeds

Heinz 1350 VF

A productive garden variety with concentrated fruit set and an excellent processing tomato for canning or cooking. Widely 

adapted and good for salad use too. Round 4 - 6” fruits. Determinate. 75 days from transplant. 

$4.00 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Certified Organic Plants Available

Building on the success of growing our own organic plant starts for several years, we are offering certified organic tomato and pepper seedlings for sale this spring.

Silvery Fir Tree is one of the varieties available

To grow organic plants, we begin by choosing only USDA Certified Organic seeds. We will be growing for sale varieties with a relatively short growing season, which helps to ensure home gardening success in our climate.
We selected tomatoes that have a determinate habit, also called "bush" tomatoes. These tomatoes grow to a more compact height than the indeterminate tomatoes that need a trellis or staking system. Most of the tomato varieties we're offering for sale are ones that we have grown for years.
For peppers, we're offering a sweet green bell pepper, as well as three different hot peppers.
We start the seedlings in a organic seed starting mixture in seedling flats. When the plants develop leaves, they are transplanted into three-inch square peat pots with a compost-based potting soil. We have found that using a seed starting mix allows for better development of strong root systems.
Our plants are grown in our heated greenhouse under lights.

Cost for individual plants will range from $3.75 to $4.25, depending upon the seed costs. We will be developing a list of available certified organic plant starts and suggest that you reserve your plants in advance by either calling the farm (814-274-8004) or via email at metzgerfarm@gmail.com.

Parsnips

The Fedco Seed catalog quotes Gene Logsdon who suggested that humans have much to learn from parsnips about how to achieve long life.

"First cultivate an independent ornery reliability that will draw admiration from everyone. Second develop a distinctive personality as parsnips do, with a taste appreciated only by the discerning minority, not the herd-like majority, and third, don't try to look too pretty in public."

There is lots of folklore about parsnips in our Crandall Hill community. Much of it comes from the guy considered the consummate parsnip grower in these parts, Steven Snyder. Steven could be depended upon to arrive on the doorstep with a mess of parsnips just as soon as he could work the ground in the spring. "Get them in the pot as soon as you can," he advised ... and he was right. There is little that matches a dish of braised parsnips dripping in butter for a taste treat.
Steven also offered advice about parsnip seed, noting that one should be sure to use fresh seed every year. That advice is echoed in the Fedco catalog:

"Seed is short lived; if you are planning to use old seed, germ test in paper towels before sowing."

Steven's son, Paul, grows great parsnips in his garden patch every year and is generous to share with us in the years we haven't been successful in their cultivation. However, this spring, we're headed to our own garden patch to harvest this early spring treat.... and the pot will already be warming!

Tracking Costs

The winds are howling around the corners of the house this sunny late winter afternoon. Dark clouds are chasing each other across the sky. I'm closeted away in my office with a cup of Woman of Power tea from our friends at Bear Mountain Herbs. Weather this winter has followed a pattern of unseasonable warmth followed by cold spells. The truly frigid weather with temperatures below zero was short-lived. Except for a week or so of ice and snow, it's been an open winter.
Seeds have begun to arrive, awaiting entry into the software we use (Agsquared) for farm management. New to us is a cost-tracking feature which I am anxious to try -- mostly due to a workshop I attended at the Farming For The Future Conference (PASA) earlier this month.
 Presenter Richard Wiswall walked the group (probably numbering close to 100) through calculations to determine the cost of production for organic eggs. Needless to say, I was shocked at what the actual production costs were.

Attending that workshop opened my eyes to the fact that this farm needs to be run like a business. We can't afford to look at pricing like we have in the past where prices were determined by checking a couple of websites and then a quick trip through the supermarket.
Both Arthur and I take great pride in the work that we are doing here on the farm.  It's not unusual for us to put in 12 hour-plus days, often in the hot sun, cold winds and rain. We must get enough money for our products to make it worthwhile to continue to do this.
By taking a look at the actual production costs, we might find we have been overcharging for some vegetables and we also might discover that we have been selling food at prices that don't cover the costs of production.
And what do you get for your money? Fresh (mostly picked the day of sale), certified organic (your proof that we are following the high standards of the USDA), vegetables and fruits. We select our varieties based on the growing conditions here in northcentral Pennsylvania. Plus we grow many, many varieties to help keep diversity in the food chain.

Farmers' Market 2014

You can buy cheap produce anywhere. We grow for those who care about what they put in their bodies. And remember, for those on limited incomes, we participate in the Farmers Market Nutrition Program that provides coupons for Senior Citizens and WIC participants to purchase from farmers or farmers markets.

Farming For The Future

A young woman with a tablet computer approached me in the busy hallway at the Penn Stater Conference Center where I was spending the day at the 25th PASA Conference on Friday. Would I participate in a survey? I answered the requisite questions about my age, how many acres I farm and how I learned about the conference. I had to stop to think when she asked me how many conferences I had attended.

I remembered hearing Ben Hewitt telling me (among other things) that I need to remember that the the way you spend your time is the way you spend your life. His talk pointed me in the direction of his entertaining blog and his book "The Town That Food Saved."At the time, he was at work on his latest book, "Adventures in Parenting Off The Beaten Path, Unschooling and Reconnecting With The Natural World."

Daphne Miller, M.D. introduced fascinating new thinking about the relationship between the health of our soil and the health of our bodies.

"We are not simply nourished by the soil, we are of the soil! So, starting from that premise, it stands to reason that we should care for our bodies in the same way that a mindful farmer cares for the soil. And, of course, we should treat our farms and soil as if they are an extension of our body."

Last year, Frances Moore Lappe spoke about her work with the Small Planet Institute and the 10 Myths of World Hunger. (I was familiar with her as the author of "Diet For A Small Planet," my introduction to a plant-based diet and the concept of complementary protein sources.)

Wes Jackson of The Land Institute was the keynote speaker for my first PASA conference. His talk about the Farm Bill was eye-opening to this beginning farmer.

The Land Institute is a "science-based research organization that promotes an alternative to current destructive agricultural practices. Our work is dedicated to advancing perennial grain crops and polyculture farming solutions."

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the PASA Farming For The Future Conference. In addition to the keynote speakers, the conference offers workshops, roundtable discussions and a trade show offering a variety of farming-related products (this is where I always pick up my Organic Mechanics seed starting mix).

Keynote speaker was Richard Alley whose engaging talk provided us with a look at how climate change is already affecting life on our planet. He says that there shouldn't be a serious role for politics in climate science -- science is science.

"We must have a dialogue about the things that really matter. Wisest paths forward, how hard do we work to reduce CO2 emissions, how hard do we work to prepare for the changes that are coming. Those sorts of questions are very big. They’re very important. And having them is a path to getting us towards a brighter future."

What's 'Hot'?

Vitamin-Packed Chard

Have you seen the January edition of "Better Homes and Gardens?" This venerable old magazine was always on the coffee table when I was growing up and I have been a subscriber for years. Except for a few years when they editors went far afield, recipes are dependably good. This month "winter greens" are featured. How about some Toasted Couscous and Chard Salad? Sounds divine!

As our customers already know, we grow great Swiss Chard. It's one of the first vegetables available in the late spring and, if the farmer plants successively, harvest continues well into October. We have several Farmers' Market customers who come to our table specifically to snap up the tasty greens each week.

Swiss Chard is just the latest in the string of vegetables that become "hot" and turn up in recipes on the Food Channel, magazines and in the blogosphere. Along with the chard, the magazine also featured other hardy greens – kale, chicories, collards and spinach – all of which thrive in our cooler climate.

Shall we grow some for you?

 

Winters Past

Wanda Gooch Metzger in the mid 1950s.
A typical winter on the farm.

The farmer lady in the picture photo above has weathered the big northeast blizzard of 2016 from her home in the capital region of Pennsylvania. She kept us updated throughout the storm by telephone and email. But, of course, she's no stranger to snow as this photo attests.

Arthur Metzger Jr. and Carol Metzger (now Wilkerson)
in front of the farmhouse on Dingman Run Road

The little boy in this picture recently enjoyed sled riding with his grandchildren on a recent visit to their home in northeast Washington (state).

(These and other vintage Metzger Heritage Farm pictures are published on the Our Farming Heritage page on this blog.)