2nd Annual Tomato Tasting!
September 13 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
The 2nd Annual Tomato Tasting will be Saturday, September 13th from 2pm-4pm. This year’s program is being determined but may follow the ’24 program. Here is a write up from last fall:
On September 14th, Merryspring Nature Center hosted its First Annual Tomato Tasting. Growers of a variety of tomatoes, Charlie Costello and John Fromer came up with the idea for Merryspring. It was different, exciting, and who doesn’t love tasting a delicious, new tomato?
On a warm and beautiful day, the tasting began at noon and continued until 3:00 in the afternoon. Attended by over 50 tomato lovers, there were 30 varieties of tomatoes to taste, selected from a list of over 65 varieties. They were grown by Charlie, John, and members of the Maine Heirloom Seed Working Group; Heron Breen, Donna Dryek, Neil Lash, and Amy LeBlanc. Jo Maxwell and David Joyce were a great help in prepping all the tomatoes.
The event began with talks about growing tomatoes by Heron Breen, Donna Dyrek, Amy LeBlanc, Charlie Costello and John Fromer. Topics included breeding tomatoes, favorite varieties, seed saving and general best growing practices.
Tomatoes ranged in size from tiny, pea sized Spoon tomatoes, to large ones like Marmalade, some very funny colored ones like Black Strawberry and a variety of Romas. Most of the tomatoes were heirloom varieties and as a result, people were encouraged to save the seeds from the tomatoes they liked, to grow for next year.
After the tasting, Amy LeBlanc led a demonstration on saving tomato seeds. There was also a raffle for prizes donated by Seed Savers Exchange (seedsavers.org) out of Dekorah, Iowa. We look forward to our second annual tasting win Saturday, September 13, 2025. Mark your calendar.
