Unlock Now Heirloom: Notes From An Accidental Tomato Farmer Crafted By Tim Stark Available As Digital Version

was not my favorite, I was hoping for more information about the tomatoes themselves, What I got was disjointed stories and a lot that had nothing to do with tomatoes, Alright. Quick read. I fell for the pretty cover, but the book itself was uninteresting and did not have a cohesive story.
Im not sure how Tim Stark did all of the hard work of tomato farming and still managed to sound like and utter East coast snob, name dropping and waxing endlessly about really uninteresting trips into New York City.
I suppose I was expecting all the time spent with Amish and Mennonite families to humble him a bit.
In fact the only parts of the book that I enjoyed were when he detailed the farm and the time spent in the Amish/Mennonite community.
So meh, some was good, But a good deal was written for an audience that was not Midwestern farm country America, Like any book of essays, some of these are strong and more interesting than others, Personally, I could have done without the essays on groundhogs but generally enjoyed hearing about the market amp runs into the city and the fields, themselves.
This book is a series of essays mostly about tomato farming, I lost interest at the point he discusses the Amish/Mennonite version of baseball the farm is in Pennsylvania Dutch country.
It includes an essay published in Gourmet magazine about a woodchuck that keeps raiding his garden, which apparently caused some controversy.
I had to laugh because my grandmother made my Dad shoot anything that threatened her garden, including beavers, possums, and snakes.


The author supplies very fancy restaurants in NYC and the stories about the chefs and their vegetable requirements were interesting.


I also recently bought Amy Goldman's Heirloom Tomato book, which was more what I was looking for.
It includes photos of all the varieties, info on growing habits and history, Amiable, enjoyable because it is set near where I live, but descends into rambling by the end, possibly because it's a collection of essays ad not a cohesive book.
I liked Heirloom a lot because I buypercent organic food so I'm impressed with the dedication and hard work it takes to bring produce to a Greenmarket.


Along with Heirloom, I recommend It's a Long Road to a Tomato by Keith Stewart: also a veteran of the Union Square Greenmarket.


The book I'm set to read now is From Farm to Fork by Emeril Lagasse,

I wholeheartedly embrace the locavore's eating plan and I also embrace buying any kind of organic food even it's not always locally grown.


You have to admire a guy who goes from growing tomatoes from his apartment in Brooklyn to setting off for a farm and making it work.


Tim Stark's labor of love and for money and his memoir Heirloom are as rich as the soil, as evergreen as the seasons.


What's not to love about a tale of hard work and devotion to a healthful lifestyle

Heirloom planted in me the seed to buy organic food.
The book deserves an attentive read, I wanted the subtitle to be "The Story of an Accidental Tomato Farmer," with a greater focus on Tim Stark and his farming journey, but it was actually "Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer," which was more accurate.
The first couple of chapters are strongly connected, but succeeding chapters meander all over, This is a book of essays on a range of subjects that tie in to Tim's farming on some level.
When the last chapter became Tim's homage to other NYC Greenmarket farmers, he really lost my interest way out in the Pacific Northwest.
Maybe his farmer friends were thrilled to be complimented in print, but it wasn't very useful info for a wide reading audience.
Overall, there are some interesting stories just be ready for the essay format, not one cohesive tale, I skipped around reading bits and pieces, And though I liked how Stark became a farmer in a rather haphazard fashion, I couldn't stomach parts like where he needlessly drowns a groundhog after catching it in a humane trap.
Put the book down after that one, I know farm life can be harsh, but I guess I've maxed out on reading books on city slicker turned farmer.
. . for now. I did not finish the book, This is almost unheard of for me to not stick with a book, Not sure what went wrong because it had all the signs of a book I would like food, cultural and family history, a small business makes good plot.
But I never felt pulled in or engaged, Finally I put it down and just stopped, Tim Stark is a crazy person, I think, But he has a beautiful writing style, and I have nothing but respect for the type of passionate madness that makes someone scratch out a living growing amazing tomatoes.
The book is both touching and humorous,

Stark seems to choose his words with the same kind of intuition that lets him pick a ripe

tomato at its ideal moment.
His writing has a rich fullness that had me reading some passages out loud to myself in appreciation.
This book will make you salivate if you have even the slightest appreciation for a really beautiful fresh fruit or vegetable.
It reads a bit more like a collection of essays than a book written in one chunk, and a couple of the sections have appeared in other venues, but everything flows very nicely without necessarily being chronological or carefully segued.
This was great! Not just another book about getting back to the land, but a fantastic family story with history woven in, including a detailed examination of the historic origins of religious sects in the PA area "what is the difference between Amish and Mennonites" explained! Enjoyable, informative and important reading for anyone interested in sustainability, locavorism, or, you know, the future of us and the planet.
Also superblywritten Stark refers to himself as a writer/farmer and then suggests farmer/writer might be more appropriate, but he is skilled in the craft of storytelling, for sure.
my friend tim wrote this book, . . its amazing! if you've ever visited me, or even not, you've heard me talk about his tomatoes, . . its not just about farming, this is an amazing book, I found this generally interesting, though I think the author is better suited to being a farmer than a writer.
Not that he's a terrible writer, just not the best, in my opinion, Being passingly familiar with some of the chefs he mentions, I was suitaby impressed, though a little put off by the name dropping.
I found his adventures within his own farm more interesting than his bragging about the chefs who rely on him for produce.
Some of the back history was a little dry to me, but I can see it being appleaing with those who have a general interest in history.
It did make me very interested in exploring seed catalogs when we eventually find a place to live with enough room for a garden.
I'd love to try an orange eggplant, This book stirs my famished peasant heart!


"When the sun is burning holes through the afternoon, the tomato plants soak up light until they are limp with molten exhaustion.
At night, all that suffering transfers to the fruit, turning the tomatoes every shade of the sun offwhite, pale yellow, dusky purple, blazing orange red.
Come morning all those colors are hanging from the plants like gifts from some summertime Santa, By midday, the brightness and the weight of all the humidity leave you standing there, shadowless, the bare fact of yourself.
You can either leave the field, as most would, or you can join the activity orbiting the two sources of magnetism: the tomatoes, softening as fast as you can pick them, and the jubilant sun.
I am always amazed at how the crew will stay out there until the last of the fruit is picked.
" Tim Stark.