#mortgage lifter

This is a great small business success story. First the tomato. No ordinary tomato mind you, the Mortgage Lifter heirloom tomato. It's amazing what a few seeds and some perseverance can create. Charlie Byles paid off the mortgage to his home and bred one hell of a tomato. Self-sufficient and creative a great example of the American spirit.

Eighty years later the Beekman Boys have created a pasta sauce that uses Mortgage Lifter tomatoes grown on their farm to create a pasta sauce with a mission. (Oh, yeah, and they won a little show called The Amazing Race. Have you heard of it? Well, of course you have!) Not only have the boys invested part of their winnings into their Beekman 1802 line, but they have also purchased a building in their Main Street community where they will feature their Beekman 1802 line of products... and if you can stand it 25% of the profits from the sauce will go to help struggling family farms and hopefully pay off some mortgages in the process and there are plans to expand the line... yes, I'm swooning. 

A great win for small business and family farms. I can't wait to try the sauce! Order your's here and there is a break for ordering a case, so share!

The tomatoes have really been struggling this year, despite having nine plants in. An abundance of caterpillars, rats and two different diseases have combined to take a hefty toll. Plus two of my stakes have snapped in strong winds.

So these represent the first actual harvest. The four at the back are the appropriately named 'mortgage lifter' variety, and the two little ones at the front are 'tigerella'. The big one on the left is 575g!