In My Own Words … An Update to Recent Events …
I started this tomato journey nearly 56 years ago. I started breeding tomatoes close to 20 years ago. I did so because my friend Blane told me to. I did so because he believed in me and thought that I have the curiosity and tenacity to make some cool stuff. He believed in me enough that he regularly gave me space in his makeshift winter grow area … which I believe was a converted gazebo at his home in Mississippi. From those early F1 creations came his positive regard for my work and the integrity to send me EVERY seed grown in that space. Not some of the seeds. All of the seeds. It would have been easy for him to keep some, grow them out and in turn market things he found as either his own creations or “off types”. Integrity kept him from entertaining that devil on his shoulder.
Once Blane, Marsha and I were fairly certain that we had something not only stable, but also delicious to release, he volunteered to host sales on his Galactic Magic seed sales site. Before it gets lost in the conversation, yes, I did mention Marsha. She was absolutely integral in the stabilization of the initial RS line. She shared in the growouts and all that fun at her home in Florida. Though she championed a different line of the original siblings, what is now called RS: Marsha’s Beefsteak, she too had the integrity to send me every seed, respect the work and in turn, I gave her that sibling she preferred. Once Blane and I started seed sales, he sent me every dollar, save whatever he took for himself as he was the one doing the heavy lift. Once we released RS: Penny Lane, he decided to send proceeds to the American Cancer Society in honor of my wife who continues to fight breast cancer. He sent every penny earned. Integrity.
I have NEVER once identified myself in any way as “perfect” or above making mistakes. To the best of my ability I have always tried to support others, offer advice, correct misinformation, defend my creations and in general be kind. Treating others the same way I would want to be treated. I have NEVER thought at any point in this that I was going to become rich and famous. I NEVER really even thought anything I had created was worth buying and/or making money off of. I simply wanted to have fun doing something that I found fun.
I am not myopic. I know that people will buy my stuff, grow it, trade it etc. For a while I tried to keep people honest, and reached out to them when I saw seeds for “Prime” available for sale etc. I also quickly saw that it was a losing battle. Once seeds made their way to eastern Europe, Russia etc they became more widely available and it was clear that … I had lost control. To that same end, it also seemed to become a game of being the first to identify an off type, name it and rush it to sale just to make a buck! Who knows what these off types are. Are they a new F1? Are they truly an Off-type worthy of stabilization? Since it is relatively clear that no one has done that stabilization work, I would trust none of them. Spend your money at your own risk.
Creating a new variety is not easy. I wish it were as simple as finding something new and affixing some sort of creative name to it. From initial fertilization to the date it reaches a vendor, it is about 7 years and in all honesty, prob close to 800 plants, just from that original cross. The first year is the easiest where you literally just need one fruit and its seeds to move forward. After that its hundreds of plants that first year inorder to get all the combinations and realize if there is even anything worth carrying forward. After making your selections that year, it is largely the same number of plants to make sure you capture all those traits in year two and then in the years that follow it may be fewer plants but you are still growing every year to make sure everything is stable. Years of growing. Years of note taking. Years of stress. Fun. However, it is not easy.
About 5 years ago, Blane decided to shutter his Galactic Magic shop. It took a lot for me to decide that opening my own shop was the way to go. With the help of some friends and a bit of courage, I decided to open the Etsy Shop Artisanoftomatoes. Every listing on there has ALWAYS read something like this, (Spelling and GUM mistakes and all lol). Please take note of the very last line. For the sake of this post, I will make it bold, but it is not bold in individual listings. This is the listing for SkyeBlu:
“In an effort to try and capture RSP on a multifloral plant in something easier to eat in a salad or while working in the garden, I endeavored to cross Rebel Alliance to RSP. Capturing the Multifloral was a bit of a challenge but this has come true to type the last couple of years. Fruit are pear shaped with quite the range of antho intensity on the shoulders. Coloration gives a nod to prime but the flavors are pretty similar and in the words of my best critic, my daughter, its sweet! She ended up eating just about every scrap from the deseeding as well as most of the fruit I harvested and brought in the house.
I take the time to hand label and fill each and every seed packet. As a result, I take a few short cuts and label things like this variety as "SkyeBlu". The correct and complete name for this variety is SkyeBlu. Notice the spelling of Skye and Blu and the lack of a space inbetween the two. As I have made clear, if this variety does not show up for you, please do not save and distribute seeds under a new name. Anything other than the correct named variety is false and only breeds confusion in our hobby. Seed stock is limited. Limited to 5-8 seeds per pack. Germination has not been tested and is not guarenteed. Please do not grow and/or repack and/or rename these creations for resale.”
Last week, I saw a message from a friend where someone had written a very nice review of SkyeBlu and posted it to Facebook. They had even gotten the name correct in the review! However, in the the review they posted one of my pictures without a citation. They did later, upon learning about potentially mis-representing the image, credit me for the picture. I learned early on in my professional career that citations are important. I had fellow growers (both Gixx and Bill Jeffers lol) not only correct me on the spelling of a variety but also hammer home the importance of integrity. If you are known as someone who cannot be trusted to label things correctly, or cite other peoples work correctly, no one will want to work with you.
Though I could overlook the lack of correct citations, I could not overlook the following comment, “It is one of Russ Crowe’s new releases (he is the breeder of RSP and Alliance). I’m afraid I can’t reveal my source, but wait until autumn and they will be on my website” To say that I was irritated is a bit of an understatement. This winter I made it a point to make sure that as long as seed supplies lasted, I would get seeds to anyone who asked. Even when Etsy tried to charge far too much money for shipping, all it took was a simple email/message and we were able to work something out. Though the source was later revealed, this aspect was NOT my frustration.
My frustration was audaciousness to brag that they were going to have seeds for this variety available, either for sale or trade, in the fall! First of all, given what it says in the listing, how do they think it is OK to offer it? Second, in a world where all we really have is our integrity, how does anyone justify this as being OK? Sure, you gave me credit for creating it, but rather than direct them to my site, you offer it for trade or sale yourself? What about this makes me want to continue to create and offer things for sale? Sure, I know that this is going to happen. Respectfully, I would love to have exclusive control at least for the first couple of years. The reality, I recognize that is no longer possible. However, this, “It’s now mine…” feeling/attitude has left quite the sour taste in my mouth.
As I said, it is more than giving credit. It is about integrity. I am electing to NOT post names and/or pictures from the original post because i am not trying to out or slander anyone. I am simply trying to illustrate the reasons behind taking myself and any future creations a bit more private. Sure the income (which is not as much as someone might think) has been appreciated. I live in northern Vermont and it is freaking cold here in the winter! I use the funds to heat my house. It is not about the money. It is never about the money. I am sorry that this is the end. I had “plans”
In the end, I need my daughter to know and see that my integrity and love remain. I think stepping away from hosting an Etsy shop and selling seeds is the right thing to do. I need to not become bitter. I need to know that through it all, love and integrity remains. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and my creations. I will never forget the day my father “googled” me, and immediately called me marveling at all he had found and how proud he was. I had told him how popular “Prime” was but until he saw its global impact for himself, he had no clue. I want my father to continue being proud of my integrity not just because I am his son, but for how I have comported myself and supported others.
