Carolina Weatherall

Tomatoes: fruit or vegetable? While the classification of tomatoes may be debated, local farmers Christie Anderson and Pat McVeigh dove into the history and heirlooms of the plant, its different varieties and the significance of seed saving in a lecture titled “Beyond Bounty: Cultivating the Human Experience Through Heirloom Tomatoes” held in Druckenmiller Hall last night.

The Mt. Giles Famous Tomato Company, based in Androscoggin County, was founded by Anderson and McVeigh in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic after Anderson expressed interest in growing a variety of plants—including tomatoes. Anderson noted that the company largely specializes in seed saving, which is essential to growing heirloom tomatoes as well as preserving the open-pollination process.

Anderson then explained the differences between open-pollinated tomatoes and hybrid tomatoes. Open-pollinated tomatoes have a “stable” genotype, which means they grow into a tomato with a predictable color, taste and size. While hybrid tomatoes are bred for specific traits and tend to be more resistant to diseases, McVeigh believes open-pollination and seed saving reaps its own set of benefits.

“It is so important for people to be involved in seed saving, and even if you can only save one or two of these varieties, it’s so important to do so because they can be lost—if the Acme [tomato] can disappear, any one [type of tomato] can disappear,” McVeigh said. “That genetic diversity, that genetic material is gone forever.”

Harvesting and growing tomatoes in Maine presents its own set of challenges, including diseases, pests and an inadequate climate. McVeigh credits a successful growing season to giving the tomatoes enough space and long contact with the soil, as well as personal passion for the growth process.

“You haven’t grown tomatoes unless you’ve lost a crop to disease.… Failure is part of the process. We’ve all failed miserably, right? But it’s when you get that one that works that makes it all worth it, and that’s when you decide whether you love it or not,” McVeigh said.

Throughout the lecture, Anderson and McVeigh emphasized the importance of seed saving by showing the many heirloom tomatoes they have grown in Maine, ranging from Golden Queen and Reistomate to Kosovo tomatoes. Some heirloom tomatoes—like the Moyamensing tomato—were grown in state penitentiaries around the country.

“I always think about that scene in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ where [the prisoners are] up on the roof and they’re tarring the roof.… I think about that when I think about these varieties [of tomatoes], because these were tomatoes that were grown on the prison farms by the prisoners,” McVeigh said. “Usually, these conditions were very difficult. The gardens were diseased.… In fact, sometimes these gardens were used to test whether or not another variety was disease resistant. That’s how bad [the conditions] were.”

Many varieties of tomatoes have interesting origins and stories linked to the history of various countries, like the Piennolo del Vesuvio that can grow in rugged, volcanic conditions along Mount Vesuvius. The large Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter tomato was grown by a mechanic trying to make ends meet during the Great Depression.

The Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad tomato stems from an enslaved man that took tomato seeds from Kentucky to the John Rankin House in Ohio when traveling along the Underground Railroad. According to Anderson and McVeigh, the Rankin House also has some close ties to Maine.

“[The man] had the seeds sown into his pants when he was seeking freedom, so they ended up in Ohio,” Anderson said.

“[Anderson and I] found out that Harriet Beecher Stowe actually visited the [Rankin House], and she used that home and some of the stories that she heard as a basis for ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’” McVeigh said.

Bowdoin Organic Garden (BOG) Supervisor Lisa Beneman credits Finn Torres ’25 for spearheading the event after meeting Anderson at the Common Ground Fair a few years ago.

“In the winter, we don’t have as many events and hands-on things happening in the [BOG]. So it’s a really nice time of year to bring people in to share more knowledge and build some of the excitement and fan base for the garden. I love any opportunity for more of the Bowdoin community to learn about all the parts of gardening and learning about seed saving and heirloom varieties,” Beneman said.

Audience member and BOG officer Claire Wyman ’25 said she was interested in learning about open-pollination and what it entails.

“I’ve definitely been interested in investigating how saving seeds works, and why it’s so important, so I was very excited to get Christie’s perspective as well,” Wyman said.