The Ivan Tomato is a dream. It is the memory of a simpler time when you grew at tomato because it was your family tomato. It was a time when you would share seeds, not go to a chain hardware store to get your plants. It was a time when you learned from your family and your community how to grow the food that would sustain you over time. You were not growing for color or variegated lines. You were not growing a tomato with a cool name or one designed in a lab. You were growing the strongest of what was available in your area. Natural selection picked your tomato for you, it picked the one that survived the drought or flood and the one that produced the most good strong fruit.
The Ivan tomato did not have a name until 1984. Before that it was just the tomatoes they grew. It was the family tomato that grew in the back yard and provided them with tomatoes to can, to eat and share. It was a tomato that their parents had grown before them having been passed down over time ages. It survived the migration from Tennessee to Southern Missouri’s boot-hill to Mid-Missouri’s fertile river valley.
Over the years the best Ivan tomatoes and seeds were collected. They were saved and again the best would be selected. The strongest would survive and any struggling plants would not be used for seeds. This natural selection, by one family over so many years, resulted in a strength proven over time to withstand what ever nature tried to toss it’s way.
Yet this natural selection of the food supply is in a losing battle. It is with the end of the family’s farming ventures that the Ivan has come to a halt. It was not the weather, nature, bugs, or lack of capacity that is winning the battle. There is no one to pick the best tomatoes and ensure to plant those seeds each year. The Ivan is not alone in this process. It is one of unfathomable strains of nature around the world that are in danger, from plants to animals to our very planet. As small farms get gobbled up by large agriculture the powers of natural selection become meaningless.
We can choose to save this one plant. To ensure, that in this case, nature wins. But we can only do that together, as a team, supporting a dream. Victory gardeners will do it’s best to save the Ivan and many more plants but we need your help to make it possible. We need you today. Support us now.
Here is our Indiegogo link. http://igg.me/at/ivantomatorescueproject/x/1912433 There are many ways you can support us. You can buy our seeds and grow them yourself. You can give seeds to friends that are gardeners. You can get yourself a shirt or a apron for yourself or for friends and family. You can share our posts and pictures with others that would appreciate what we are trying to do.
Thank you for your support. Learn more at www.victorygardeners.com
We appreciate everything you do to join us in following this rainbow.