Newsletter #6, 2023

We’ve had a wonderful season. The tomatoes have been producing—and continue to produce—absolutely amazingly. Beautifully plump and colorful clusters of up to 7 tomatoes, and still not a trace of frost! So much has changed over the years—our store, our farm, the breadth of our selection—but one thing has remained the same: our love for tomatoes, nature, and working the land. This season’s list of changes is very long, and we encourage everyone to study it carefully. The weather outside is surprisingly good for this time of year, and this is quite a long read—we suggest brewing a good, aromatic cup of coffee or tea with ginger and lemon and settling in to read this newsletter. Despite the Ministry of Agriculture’s campaign aimed at destroying our farm, we’re still here. The WIORiN inspection has been going on for just under two years now. It’s so motivating and helps us in our hard—everyday—work. All this support from the Ministry helps us so much and gives us wings! We wouldn’t wish this on anyone... The most important changes taking place this year are:

1. New varieties in our lineup

This year, we’re keeping it very modest—our main goal for this season was to implement internal procedures to ensure the proper preservation of the varieties we currently maintain, rather than increasing their number. It’s not a great feat to maintain a few hundred varieties; the real challenge is ensuring their varietal purity and quality. That is precisely why we have only a few new additions this year—we are laying the foundation for further development—and our primary goal—to bring back a large number of varieties that were unavailable in the past few seasons—has been 100% achieved. Full list of new varieties for the 2024 season:

2024 Catalog

2. Calendar

In other words, what and when—the tomato schedule for the coming year:

3. Lectures – “The Tomato: From Seed to Seed”

To fulfill our farm’s educational mission, we’ve launched a series of lectures on tomato cultivation. These sessions have been very well-received. Thanks to them, we finally have the opportunity to meet with you in person. During the lecture titled “The Tomato—From Seed to Seed,” we share practical knowledge on topics such as preparing a suitable growing site, growing your own seedlings, caring for plants at every stage of growth, harvesting and storing the fruit, and we conclude with collecting and storing seeds. The lecture lasts 60 to 90 minutes and is followed—time permitting—by a panel discussion. Importantly, such meetings also help promote the idea of traditional varieties and raise awareness of the legal issues that—due to active measures taken by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development — are destroying genetic diversity and leading to market monopolization by large multinational corporations and seed importers. If you’d like to organize this type of lecture for your gardeners, association members, or any other group interested in traditional varieties —call (502-957-490) or email sklep@pomidorlandia.pl to arrange the agenda and date. The most recent meeting took place in Maruzek (Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship), where, at the invitation of the Warmian-Masurian branch of the Polish Allotment Gardeners’ Association, we participated in a training session for instructors of the Community Instructor Service.

The next—open-to-the-public—lecture will take place as early as next weekend (October 7, at 1:00 p.m.) in Warsaw at the Allotment Gardener’s House on the corner of Jerozolimskie Avenue and Śmigłowca Street:

Upcoming Lecture

4th Contest for the Largest Tomato of the 2023 Season

This year is truly a record-breaking one—not only for us—the fruits you’ve submitted, but also the sheer number of entries—are a record in and of themselves. The main idea behind the contest isn’t a ruthless battle for first place, but the opportunity to leave your mark on the history of our farm, our store, and each of the varieties—and as long as this idea endures, the event will continue to have meaning. This year, we received 51 entries, which is a record in itself. The results, along with the list of winners, are available at this link:

2023 Biggest Tomato Contest

5. Changes in the Association

This is one of the most significant changes and an initiative that will be discussed many times in the coming months. As some of you may know, in order to establish a dialogue with the Ministry of Agriculture on issues related to the legal challenges facing traditional varieties, we have established the “Association for the Protection of Traditional Tomato Varieties.” The goal of the upcoming changes will be to open registration to new members, so as to strengthen our position in negotiations and consolidate the gardening community and anyone interested in rectifying the current—flawed—legal situation.

6. Ban on Seed Sales—A Follow-Up

This issue has electrified and outraged the entire community of traditional variety enthusiasts. We have collected nearly 1,500 signatures for our petition (which you can still sign at this address). We are now waiting for the results of the October elections before submitting the petition, as submitting it now would risk losing the signatures after the October elections.

To be clear—the ban is still in effect—this year, more entities have been penalized, so the Ministry of Agriculture is managing the matter efficiently, and the crackdown is in full swing.

7. No printed receipts included with orders

This is a minor change. A revision of internal procedures has necessitated the discontinuation of printed invoices delivered with orders. From now on, invoices will be sent as an attachment to the order confirmation email. Only so-called “packing lists” will be included with shipments.