Heritage vs Heirloom: Terms of Confusion

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market.  This week we have some follow-up photography and some horticultural information to cover but before we get into that something does need a clarification. At the last two Sustainable Neighbors meetings we got to discussing what the difference between a ‘Heritage’ plant and a ‘Heirloom’ plant is and the nature of ‘gmo-free’ and organic labelling on plants and food. Let me start with the latter as it is a much more simplistic explanation. When you buy food at the store and it says Organic on it, this does not necessarily mean it is GMO-free. Depending on which set of guidelines the producer is using, the food could be GMO crops that are raised under a set of organic guidelines that make no effective mention of excluding GMO plants. Likewise, if it says GMO-Free this does not inherently mean that the food you are looking at was raised under organic standards. Your best bet is to buy products with both GMO-Free and Organic on the label but make sure to scrutinize what the company making the product’s means and methods are. Only you can make those final informed decisions that can bit by bit alter larger spending practices and halt the proliferation of things you don’t want to see on the shelves at the market.

Now the terms Heritage and Heirloom when it comes to plants and seed are tricky. This fact is unfortunately intentional because less-scrupulous agribusiness knows that you may not know what the terms mean and they know they can charge more for stuff with that term on it. Typically, an Heirloom variety originates from open-pollinated plants that have been around for a while. The amount of time needed to declare a plant variety Heirloom is the subject of debate, but I tend to stick the limitation that the variety would had have to originated at least a hundred years ago (1919-ish) or older. The term Heirloom only refers to the originating date of the variety and its genetic heritage, but not it’s growing standard. The term Heirloom does not at all guarantee that the plants or seed were grown organically; so, you should check those labels to make sure. A famous example of an heirloom variety is ‘Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter’ tomato, which is often shortened to ‘Mortgage Lifter’. This tomato was bred around 1922, and was bred by William Estler of Barboursville in West Virginia. He had no actual horticultural training and got the nickname Radiator Charlie because he worked on early automobiles. His breed of tomato allowed him to buy out his own mortgage during the Great Depression. The Variety would also save many small nursery businesses from bankruptcy as the plant was prolific and highly saleable. Indirectly the tomato may have saved many from malnutrition and starvation.

Abelmoschus esculentus 'Red Burgundy' - Red burgundy Okra

Gossypium hirsutum 'Mississippi Brown' Cotton

The same cotton boll as above (clockwise from lower left) separated into, lint, Locule (3), Barb/bract (center top) and, seeds (lower right darker brown things). Missippi brown is also a heritage variety. [Pre-1860. Once grown by slaves, this seed came from a plantation near Natchez, Mississippi via seed saver John Coykendall.]

The term Heritage in terms of plants is at its simplest merely denoting a variety is very old, often pre-1900’s. More often then not Heritage varieties have some history and culture attached to them which means they have a story to tell which can be compelling or shed light on a period of time that some want to forget. A good example of heritage varieties is Nankeen Cotton, Red Burgundy Okra, Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad tomato. All three varieties are considered African-American Heritage plants because they had a meaningful historical place during slavery.  During slavery, in all but South Carolina slaves were allowed to grow some of their own food, there was a catch though. The varieties of plants they grew due to color were considered unfit for use by the plantation and possibly unfit for human consumption. Remember, slaves were not considered full people at the time, the math on that changes from source to source but it’s usually 3/5^th of a person. So, the colored lint cottons were cultivated by slaves for their own use in clothing and Red Burgundy okra was cultivated by them for food along with the precursor for Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad Tomato…except in South Carolina. Nankeen cotton also played a role in the Civil war via a nankeen cotton shirt with a specific set of braids indicating to confederate forces where the Union troops were moving. Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad as we know it today got its name because it was carried to the north by runaway slaves on the actual underground railroad and it became tied to abolition as a result. With all that said, the reason those three varieties of plant are Heritage varieties is because they are all directly and indirectly tied to part of American history that some would happily white wash or have us forget. They all pre-date 1900, their place in history can be absolutely verified which solidifies their status as Heritage varieties.

 

Storm Damage, this was after some cleanup.

 

Anolis carolinensis - Green Anole Lizard

The critter cam strikes again, Green Anoles are a native lizard that eats a lot of bugs, although this one was more brown than green, these reptiles may or may not be able to alter their skin color to blend in. I've seen them in shades of yellow, brown, green and black, these differences may be due to pigment absorbed from insect's camouflage when they eat them.

Hyla cinera - Green Tree Frog

The same green tree frog as before, it apparently takes refuge in my spare recycling container during the day.

 Talk about adaptation to urban environments, this is one of several green tree frogs that live on the property, but this one is always near the driveway and tends to hangout in the fig bushes at night especially when it's rainy. I suspect it's taken to hiding in the recycling can because insects go in there and birds definitely cannot get in there.

 

Eupatorium coelestinum - Hardy Ageratum

I have this plant in numerous sections of the garden and it may still be in bloom for the tour, it is a native and the sky blue blooms late in summer if not in early fall are a sign of cool days to come. It can be weedy so  if you grow this treat it like a mint except without the heavy water requirements.

Helenium sp. - Sneezeweed

 Sneezeweed is a common late summer 'weed' that appears in dry sandy soils near roadsides and brightens a drab area with it's cheery yellow blooms that resemble Chamomile. You will find cultivated versions of it in nurseries where it's been bred to have blooms in a side range of reds oranges and of course yellows.

Lilium formosanum - Formosa Lily

Remember these? No? Well at the market this year I took a risk and offered a limited number of these lilies for sale and got a lukewarm response. The left overs were planted in the crescent bed and all of them bloomed, there is no telling what these little beauties will do next year, but I'm looking forward to it.

Before we move on to the bit where I talk about what I have available at the market and what garden goodies you can snag for your self at the market I would like to take a moment to talk about the Fall Garden Tour. This year I decided to return to an old tradition where I run a late garden tour in October so that those who missed the spring one get a second chance to see where the magic happens.  The fall tour is on October 20^th, 2019, between 2 and 5 pm and you can RSVP at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/events/265074204/

Yup that's my table at the market all right.

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

Plants & Stuff Available Now:

Vegetables:

Collards, Green Glaze: 3” - $3.00

Mustard, Japanese Red Giant: 3” - $3.00

Kale, Scotch Blue Curled: 3” - $3.00

Herbs:

Rue, Marbled 3” - $3.00

Sage, Common 3”: - $3.00

Santolina, Etruscan: 5” - $6.00

Santolina, Etruscan: 3” - $3.00

Flowers:

Coneflower, Pow Wow White: 3” – $3.00

Coneflower ‘Green Twister’: 3” – $3.00

Coral Bells, ‘Marvelous Marble’ 4.5” - $5.00

Salvia, New Dimension Blue: 5” - $6.00

Houseplants & Annuals:

Polka-Dot Plants: 6” - $5.00

Coming Soon:

Sparkling Blue Kale

Dinosaur Kale

Cilantro/Coriander

Swiss Chard

These days I am generally at Leclair’s General Store once a week, for the weekly Sustainable Neighbors meeting at 5:30pm through 7:00 pm. If you have questions then I will be there to answer your questions. Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to sign up for anything or join anything, you can come on in ask for us and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

                        This brings to a close the nineteenth LITFM post of the year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 4^th of October. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.