Heirloom variety of tomato named for Bluffton resident Anna Lee Ault
By MARK MILLER
“Why would you want to put this in the paper?” Anna Lee Ault asked and then laughed.
“How many people do you know have had a tomato named after them?” her visitor replied.
“Well,” she said, “I think it’s funny more than anything but I guess it is a little unique.”
Ault has been growing tomatoes for “at least 50 years,” she said. A friend once shared some tomatoes she had grown.
“Her name was Martha Linn,” Ault continued. “She lived over on 600 (East), taught art at the college in Marion. Our boys mowed her yard. She had these large tomatoes and I got some seeds off her one year. Her mother got this seed from her mother. She called it ‘Alaskan something.’ So I’ve always called them ‘Alaskan Linns.’”
Over the years, the family would enjoy the tasty, meaty variety and carefully preserve some seeds from each crop. The tomatoes proved popular with their friends and neighbors; seeds were freely shared.
Anna Lee and her husband Charles have always had a large garden to help feed their family of five sons, growing anything from the tomatoes to corn and kohlrabi on their southeast Harrison Township property. She often bought seeds from a particular company — the Heirloom Seed Project in Lancaster, Pa. Some friends encouraged her to send them some of her seeds to see what they thought, believing them to be better than any other tomatoes they’d grown.
“So I did that, maybe four or five years ago,” she continued,” didn’t hear a word.” Until a hand-written note arrived in early February.
“Dear Anna Lee,
“Several years ago you mailed some of your favorite tomato seeds to us. We grew them and found them to be delicious as you mentioned. They also performed well in hot and wet weather. We have now added them to our seed catalog.
“Thank you again for sharing your excellent tomato. We will continue to grow and preserve it.”
The note was signed by Joanne Dirks.
“This does not happen very often any more,” Dirks told The News-Banner from her office in Lancaster, “primarily I think because it is unusual that people are passing seeds down from one generation to the next.”
Dirks, who is the coordinator for the Heirloom Seed Project, still has the original note from Ault, dated September 2018. When they do receive seeds, a multi-year trial is begun, which includes classifying the seeds and charting their performance.
“Mrs. Ault sent us only a few seeds,” Dirks said, “which is common, so that first year we only had a few plants to work with.” If the product is noteworthy, a large plot is grown the second year, which gives them a chance to test the tomatoes’ consistency.
“Actually, the first year’s trial, we had some really bad weather,” Dirks continued. “But her tomato did really, really well, so we were anxious to give it the second full trial.”
Like many things, COVID issues delayed their normal timetable. “We normally would not have taken this long,” she said.
The project, she explained, is “primarily a volunteer program,” so that the volunteers end up being the judges of how seeds perform.
“One of our long-time volunteers noted that these were the best tomatoes she’d ever tasted,” she shared.
Included with the note from Dirks were a couple packets of the seeds of their new variety: the “Anna Lee Ault Tomato.” A visit to the company’s website — www.landisvalleymuseum.org — will find her namesake as their top suggestion of tomato seeds. It is described as “Red, beefsteak type tomato, 8 oz. to 16 oz. Great flavor, firm and meaty; good weather tolerance and a steady producer.” The envelope mistakenly identifies her as a resident of Bristol, Ind., although Bluffton gets proper credit on the website.
The organization Ault chose to send her seeds to proves to be an interesting story of its own. Begun by two brothers in the late 1800s, the museum and seed project is now owned by the state of Pennsylvania and operated by the state’s historical and museum commission. While they are primarily focused on the German and agricultural history of southeastern Pennsylvania, they welcome submissions from all over the country. Dirks said she has come to particularly enjoy her interactions with the Ault family.
“Anna Lee sent me back a thank-you note after she got my note,” Dirks said. “She told me that ‘you’ve made a 95-year-old lady very happy!’ She sounds like she’s still pretty energetic. One of her sons, Scott, also called me and wanted to order enough seed packets so they would have one for each of her grandchildren. It’s been fun.”
While Anna Lee will turn 95 in late February, she continues to mow their yard, till the garden and grow not just her tomatoes, but sweet corn, popcorn, lima beans, green beans, peas, carrots, kohlrabi and leeks.
“Oh, leek soup,” Charles added, “that’s good stuff.”
Anna Lee continues to can and freeze her produce — some of the sweet corn is also dried in a dryer handed down “from Grandma Schlaugenhauf,” she added.
Of their five sons, only Steve, the oldest, still lives nearby. Stan lives in California, Scott in Ohio, Stacey in Michigan and Stewart in Iowa. She believes they all have at least tried to grow their own tomatoes from her seeds at one time or another, although Stan didn’t have much luck in California.
“Apparently, it’s too hot or too dry out there,” Charles added. “One time I sent some to a friend out there and he had the same problem.”
Sometime in March, Anna Lee will start some tomato plants inside and then carefully move them into the garden, but that date varies.
“Whenever it gets warm,” she said, “and sometime even before.” If it gets too cold in early spring, she will line the plants with “water walls” to protect them. She has observed that they take a bit longer to mature than other varieties she has tried.
“When they get red, I pick ‘em,” she explained, laughing at the more technical questions about her garden.
“I really don’t know that much about tomatoes,” she said, chuckling. “I just know these taste better than any others we’ve had.”
miller@news-banner.com
