Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

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Pokemato
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Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#1

Post: # 37119Unread post Pokemato
Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:29 pm

I hope I'm putting this in the right place, but my apologies if I should have placed this post somewhere else.

I wanted to share this because I know others who value heirloom seeds see the history and story of that variety as an integral part of that value and want to preserve it along with the variety itself.

It is strange how the Universe works sometimes. Yesterday I was lucky enough to receive my first ever mailer from the MMMM. To say I was excited would be an understatement, as only other members of this forum could understand. I practically ran on giddy legs to the kitchen to open my packet and behold the glory of all those little seed packets spilling forth onto my counter. It was a moment :) I eagerly read through the names of the varieties, joined by my daughter, who also got caught up on the excitement. Afterward and later that evening I took my packets into another room and sat down and entered each variety into a spreadsheet. There were so many varieties! As I was going through them, the name of one variety spoke to me, for what reason I can't say. The variety was Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow. Yellow tomatoes have never been my favorite, but I love tomatoes, so of course, I enjoy them....so it must have been something else about the name that made me pause. For whatever reason, I stopped and searched the name on Google. One hit came up, a Facebook post from a seed swap in my home state. The Facebook group was: Appalachian Seed Swap Pikeville KY. I read the post and I was so glad I had the opportunity to know the history of this tomato with roots in the same state as my own :) This morning, I felt compelled to leave a comment on that post because I thought the poster might be a member of this group and be the reason I received the seed, but he might not be and therefore might want to know that Aunt Eula's seeds are making the rounds. I found I couldn't leave a comment, so despite it being something I would not normally do, I sent a message to a complete stranger on Facebook. I told him just that, while we don't know each other, I thought he'd like to know that I had participated in my very first seed swap and I'd received seed for his Aunt's tomato and that given my packet came from the New England area and there are members of this group all over the world, he was making good on his promise to make his Aunt Eula famous :) To my utter shock, he responded almost immediately. He told me that my message had brought tears to his eyes, that he was checking out of a hotel and sitting in a parking lot in his truck trying to pull himself together enough to drive....it made him that emotional. I was so glad I took the chance to reach out to him. What are the odds that out of more than 200 varieties, the name of that one would speak to me, that it have roots in my own state, and that I'd find that post and connect with the man who named the variety in honor of an aunt who had been a loving steward of this variety. I asked him if I could post the history of the variety here and he was touched that I'd do so. I apologize for this long post, but hopefully some of you will appreciate the story.

This was his Facebook post:
Paul J Douglas
Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Tomato - Aunt Eula had many titles in her long life of 99 years, including Caregiver, Rosie the Riveter and School Teacher . I didn't get to know her like I would have liked to , but it was said that everything she gave to a person was from her heart, so it was a great gift to receive seeds of the beautiful, golden tomato seeds that her family had grown for so many year on an old handkerchief that she gave to her niece to bring to me, I told her I would try to make her famous so I'm trying to multiply the seeds to share around the country and world.
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Aunt Eula.jpg
rockhouse yellow.jpg
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Whwoz
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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#2

Post: # 37121Unread post Whwoz
Wed Dec 30, 2020 1:15 pm

Love the story and a beautiful looking tomato too.

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Pokemato
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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#3

Post: # 37126Unread post Pokemato
Wed Dec 30, 2020 2:29 pm

In case others are interested in growing out this variety and Aunt Eula's legacy, can the member who shared the seed to the MMMM please stand up :) and let everyone know if they have more they would share or if they know of a source? I've had one person send me a PM asking and I'm happy to share what I received, but I think I have only 3 to 5 seeds from the MMMM. THANK YOU!

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goodloe
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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#4

Post: # 37133Unread post goodloe
Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:29 pm

What a cool story!! Now you have to step up and help carry that variety forward, so save a lot of seeds in 2021!!
I have 2 seasons: Tomato and pepper season, and BAMA Football season!

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Pokemato
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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#5

Post: # 37137Unread post Pokemato
Wed Dec 30, 2020 5:10 pm

goodloe wrote: Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:29 pm What a cool story!! Now you have to step up and help carry that variety forward, so save a lot of seeds in 2021!!
I feel like I've been handed something sacred and I'm terrified this novice gardener will fail at the task, but I do intend to try or to put the seeds in teh hands of someone more experienced than myself :) They came from the MMMM, so someone in this group might already be growing out the variety, I don't know.

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Tormato
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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#6

Post: # 37139Unread post Tormato
Wed Dec 30, 2020 5:21 pm

Don't sweat it, 50 or more people will be getting Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow. It's no accident that it made it into the swap, when I heard the story behind it.

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MissS
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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#7

Post: # 37147Unread post MissS
Wed Dec 30, 2020 6:35 pm

What a great story! So nice that you could make this man happy.
~ Patti ~

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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#8

Post: # 37219Unread post Gabby1
Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:47 pm

I was fortunate enough to be chosen to be a steward of this beautiful seed to share.Paul is a wonderful friend of mine. We share a love of seed saving, seed swapping, and old Appalachian varieties. Aunt Eula’s Rockhouse Yellow is a delicious, well balanced, hardy, and quite productive tomato. It is Regular Leaf. DTM would probably be around 80 days give or take. I will be more than happy to share as many seeds as I can. Please send me a PM. I will post some pictures this evening or tomorrow of the plant and fruit. I need to figure out how to post from my IPad.
Best Regards and A Happy and Healthy New Year.

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MissS
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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#9

Post: # 37255Unread post MissS
Thu Dec 31, 2020 7:59 pm

Gabby1 wrote: Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:47 pm I was fortunate enough to be chosen to be a steward of this beautiful seed to share.Paul is a wonderful friend of mine. We share a love of seed saving, seed swapping, and old Appalachian varieties. Aunt Eula’s Rockhouse Yellow is a delicious, well balanced, hardy, and quite productive tomato. It is Regular Leaf. DTM would probably be around 80 days give or take. I will be more than happy to share as many seeds as I can. Please send me a PM. I will post some pictures this evening or tomorrow of the plant and fruit. I need to figure out how to post from my IPad.
Best Regards and A Happy and Healthy New Year.
You might wish to post this generous offer in our Seed Offer forum which you can find here: viewforum.php?f=16
~ Patti ~

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Pokemato
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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#10

Post: # 39141Unread post Pokemato
Fri Jan 22, 2021 6:36 pm

Gabby1 wrote: Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:47 pm I was fortunate enough to be chosen to be a steward of this beautiful seed to share.Paul is a wonderful friend of mine. We share a love of seed saving, seed swapping, and old Appalachian varieties. Aunt Eula’s Rockhouse Yellow is a delicious, well balanced, hardy, and quite productive tomato. It is Regular Leaf. DTM would probably be around 80 days give or take. I will be more than happy to share as many seeds as I can. Please send me a PM. I will post some pictures this evening or tomorrow of the plant and fruit. I need to figure out how to post from my IPad.
Best Regards and A Happy and Healthy New Year.
Hello! I don't know how I missed your reply to my post, but I did and sorry it has taken me so long to see it! It was a pleasure to 'talk' to Paul and to learn the history of this variety! He was really curious as to how the seeds ended up in this swap and I couldn't tell him, so you'll have to tell him that you and [mention]Tormato[/mention] are helping him spread the legacy :) When I asked Paul, he told me that in an effort to get the variety out there, he had very few seeds and none to share further, so thank you for your generous offer to share your seeds! I know [mention]bjbebs[/mention] jbebs was hoping to get some, but [mention]Tormato[/mention] may have already sent them to him in the swap. I'd LOVE to see some more photos of the tomato! Thank you for the info on the variety, too!

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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#11

Post: # 39195Unread post Gabby1
Sat Jan 23, 2021 1:45 pm

Hello, just wanted to share some of my pictures of Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow, and if anybody needs more seeds, just message me.
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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#12

Post: # 39203Unread post Amateurinawe
Sat Jan 23, 2021 2:39 pm

I have some from the mmmm and they are on my grow list for this year (lucky dart, don't think so, just loved the story so doing my bit.)
The behaviour of light means you observe me as i was then, and not as I am now.
I cannot change history, so I do hope i gave you a good impression of myself

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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#13

Post: # 39287Unread post Tormato
Sun Jan 24, 2021 2:16 pm

I'll be growing it for its history, and for its green shoulders.

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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#14

Post: # 39915Unread post HL2601
Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:06 pm

Thank you for sharing this terrific story! Now I want to make space for it too!

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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#15

Post: # 41417Unread post Happygardener23
Fri Feb 19, 2021 3:42 pm

I'll be growing this tomato this season as well (thanks to the MMMM). I am curious to see how it compares to Kentucky Heirloom (In Amy Goldman's book, although I struggle to find pictures online) or Old Kentucky Heirloom. It looks visually similar to both and I wonder if one of those was the tomato that Aunt Eula was growing, especially given the history and the geography.

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Re: Aunt Eula's Rockhouse Yellow Interesting Story and History of the Variety

#16

Post: # 41438Unread post Nan6b
Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:53 pm

I also received these in the MMMM. Not this year, but soon in some coming year. We need to get this to an online seed store so they can distribute it widely.
A fine-looking tomato, according to those pics!

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