Quote:
Originally Posted by tomatoaddict
Why PM instead of discussing it here?
Well to start with, I didn't know if people felt comfortable explaining the problems with it publicly. Didn't want to start an argument thread.
Carolyn if you and Craig say it's ridiculous I accept that at face value. Just being the curious person I am, I like details. Is WWW the same person that came out with Goose Creek?
I just like knowing WHY I think something is ridiculous. My other thought is, since Jere Gettle is hawking this seed doesn't this reflect badly on him?
So, would you say the seed he is selling as TTBB is actually just BB?
Wasn't trying to get your BP up Carolyn, just wanted to know my stuff.  |
My BP isn't up so relax on that account.
Goose Creek has been hawked by Jimmy Williams, not WWW.
And yes, I think offering those seeds reflects negatively on Jere Gettle, but he has had a long term relationship with WWW for many years, and if you know Jere, he likes to say that everyone is his friend and so there you go.
When Jere asked me to contribute to his Heirloom magazine I said I wouldn't as long as WWW was going to continue to contribute articles to it. He has, and I won't participate.
Going thru the blurb posted and pointing out all the difficulties is really not sufficient b'c you have to know WWW and how he's changed thru the years.
Jere, if you're reading here at Tville, which I know you do from time to time, and want to know what else is wrong with that tomato description beyond the fact that Feejee is pink not brown, please feel free to contact me.
I have absoulutely no idea what the supposed TRUE BLACK Brandywine is that's being offered.
Feejee is pink, Brandywine is pink; you don't get a self described black from a cross of two pinks.
And when it comes to challenging someone online in a detailed manner about what he's said and done in the past, and currently, I feel acutely uncomfotable about doing that for ALL bones of contention although I've given a few examples below without dissecting the spurious history posted above by Jennifer from the Baker Creek site.
A few things to keep in mind.
First, his initial book on Heirloom veggies was embraced by many until the experts in various areas, especially the Cucurbits, started speaking up a bit and pointing out quite a bit of wrong information.
Will asked Craig and I to contribute to the Tomato Chapter, we did, our names are sprinkled throughout and there are numerous errors in that chapter; he never asked us to proof what he'd written. For instance, he says White Queen is a Livingston variety and folks who emulate him then said the same thing and so that wrong info has been perpetuated at several places.
It is not a Livingston variety at all. Go to Victory Seeds where Mike has outlined and described ALL of the Livingston varieties. White Queen was actually introduced by the Earl May Seed Co. That's just one example.
A couple of years ago he was a featured speaker at SSE and his talk was reproduced in the Harvest Edition. His comments about Brandywine and some others were just plain wrong.
He has changed names of varieties in the Yearbook. He has IDed and introduced varieties just from looking at old colored plates. One can't do that. No documentation. Think Red Fig, for instance.
The button pusher for many of us is Shah, which he resurrected from the dead, as he has done for some other varieties as well. Craig has the old seed catalog where Shah was described. It is not what Will says it is; far from it. And yet you'll also see Shah described as alive and well at several places. It is extinct. What he calls Shah is probably White Potato Leaf.
He was originally recognized as a Food Historian, and a good one, but seems to have lost his way in the meantime.
And I'm not alone in feeling that way.
And yes I've met him. Many years ago we used to interact quite a bit.