an heirloom...

...tomato

i wondered what makes a tomato an heirloom - versus just your ordinary grocery store variety - this is what i found:

an heirloom is generally considered to be a variety that has been passed down - through several generations of a family because of it's valued characteristics

as if that's not confusing enough - at least to me - i also read there are 4 - yup, 4 - categories of heirlooms:

commercial heirlooms
family heirlooms
created heirlooms, and
mystery heirlooms

it goes on and on and on - with all sorts of clever names (brandywine, flamme orange, green zebra) and varieties, too - suffice it to say - very interesting and i learned more than my little head imagined it was going to find when setting out - oh, oh - and people... i believe in all the wandering around i did - i found that my speciman here is named a cherokee purple - one of the first of the "black" color group of tomatoes - how cool is that? popular for its flavor - instead of its unusual color - whereas i picked it up because of the color - just goes to show - what makes for...

a

happy day.....