Eagle Fork Big Red Heirloom Tomatoes
DID YOU KNOW, that Clay County is the birthplace of an heirloom tomato?
Are you looking for a large wonderful tasting tomato? Give the Eagle Fork Big Red Tomato a try. These tomatoes have been grown by Jack Anderson, a life long resident on Eagle Fork in Shooting Creek for over 50 years.
Jack is now in his early 80’s. Somewhere in his 20’s, Jack took some Bear Meat to mountain man, Larch Garrett. When Jack was leaving, Larch gave him a tomato plant. Jack took it home grew it and harvested the seed. He has been growing Eagle Fork Big Reds since he received that first plant.
Jack has been very generous giving seeds or plants to his gardening friends. Clay Dotson, the former president of Young Harris College, was a recipient and grew and loved the Eagle Fork Big Reds. He asked Jack if he could submit the tomato for certification from the Heirloom Tomato Seed from Sustainable Mountain Agricultural Center in Berea Kentucky. To Jack’s delight it was certified in 2010 and Jack had the honor of naming the variety.
Last year Jack took his biggest most beautiful tomato to Ingles to weigh. He had a 3 3/4 pound beauty.
Jack makes the most amazing Tomato Juice out of his Eagle Fork Big Reds. You won’t taste anything better!
This is your opportunity to grow a Clay County Original!
—Dena Westbrooks
Dena shares a flyer with the text above on it with folks who are interested in buying an Eagle Fork Big Red tomato plant from her.
This is the first year we’ve grown the tomato. We liked it a lot. The tomatoes get really big, so do the plants! The taste is great and the tomato is really meaty without many seeds.
Dena sells the plants in early summer at the farmer’s market on the square in Hayesville, NC. The market is held every Thursday from 9 till 1.
Last night’s video: Matt Thinks We’ll Be Holograms Someday || Anniversary We Will Always Remember.
Tipper
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I don’t know if the heirlooms we get at our favorite roadside stand in upstate South Carolina are Eagle Forks, but they are delicious! This summer’s BLTs have been the most delectable ever because of the juicy, meaty tomatoes. Come winter, I can manage until the next tomato season on the memory alone!
I have been collecting heirloom tomato seeds for years, switching up the varieties I grow each year. I would love some of these tomato seeds as well. My pink Brandywines really showed out good this year. My biggest surprise, though, was the little spoon tomatoes. First time in planting those and I got so many, it was crazy! Please let us know if this lady sells any of her seed so I can add those to my collection.
In Florida we are just starting our fall tomatoes. Seedling are just broken the ground. I have found over the years that in Florida heirloom tomato’s seem to do better in the fall. So should seeds for this variety become available it would be nice to see how they grow here.
Love to read about heirloom anything. And we once lived in Berea, KY and I know of the Sustainable Agriculture Center. I am curious about tomato genetics to that gives rise to so many varieties. I think both apples and beans do the same. Can’t know in advance what the seeds will produce, just have to try and see. Those Eagle Fork Big Reds sure look good. I’ll end by sharing two words I heard this morning used in a tribute to Dolly Parton; “country class”. I know some people might think they don’t belong together. But if they do, it might suggest they don’t have it. To me they speak volumes and I think BP&A is one good example.
That sounds like a delicious tomato that would be big enough to make a sandwich with one thick slice…Yum! I picked three ripe tomatoes from our porch garden yesterday. I was so excited. We are growing an heirloom tomato called Brandywine. There is one about to ripen on this plant that will cover a large slice of homemade bread. I can’t wait to try it. Nothing tastes as good from the garden to me as a fresh tomato!
Is the only place to get them there in NC? Would be interesting to try some here in AL.
On a different subject…the Sociology teacher here at my school is doing a unit on southern/Appalachian culture. I connected her with CA on YouTube and she is incorporating some of your posts, especially the vocabulary challenges, into her lessons. You are reaching some Juniors and Seniors in north Alabama.
That is so nice Robert! Thank you!! I’m not sure about the tomatoes. Hopefully Dena will chime in and tell us 🙂
My daddy used to grow huge tomatoes. I don’t remember the names of them but they were juicy, tasty, and one slice would more than cover your sandwich. I used to go out to the garden in the summer with a salt shaker and pull off the stem one of the delicious beauties and eat one. The warmth of the sun was still there and the juices rolled down my face. Mama canned them and cooked up delicious sauces and recipes with them. If I could get to Hayesville, I would certainly pick up some of these plants for my own garden. It’s been years since I ate a really good tomato. By the way, daddy’s family is from Berea, KY. I still have a lot of family living there.
Tipper,
So happy you got some Eagle Forks!! I’m busy watching two or three I have on the vines that I will save for seeds.
This has been a good canning year so far. I’ve finished salsa, taco sauce, pasta sauce and green beans. Jarring up my pickled corn as we speak. So enjoy your recipes and your commitment to keeping Appalachian ways alive.
Those are beautiful! They look so good I’d want to take a big bite out of one right now if I had some. Iam thankful for our three little plants that made it, but we have had four tomatoes so far, and they are small. I am telling myself that even if I had tended them better, we had so much rain that they might not have done much better. Something came and ate most of the things I had planted for fall, and I think I may just be done this year. It has suddenly become extremely hot again here and I don’t feel like replanting and all of it. I don’t want to be a downer, it has been a good year! I am growing someone who is far more precious than a fall garden and we are so blessed. ❤️ Praying for everyone. Norman, I like your prayer for all in need. That is beautiful!
I was awoken by a heavy early morning storm. I know the garden will appreciate the rain.
Wow, those tomatoes are beautiful! I’d love to try one. It is such a satisfying feeling to hold a home grown tomato in hand that weighs a pound or more. That photo is making me want a tomato sandwhich!
I’ll leave you all with a Wendell Berry quote. One of my favorite authors who has left a legacy. He passed away Monday at 92 years old.
“You mustn’t wish for another life. You mustn’t want to be somebody else. What you must do is this:
“Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks.”
I am not all the way capable of so much, but those are the right instructions.”
-Wendell Berry