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In 2023, Chris Smith reached out to Teressa Smith (no relation) of Terranova Farms, knowing that Terressa stewards thousands of tomato varieties in Mocksville, North Carolina. Chris asked for recommendations on varieties that she thought would do well in Western North Carolina and she sent 32 options in the mail! Utopian Seed Project grew out all the varieties in an informal screening trial in 2023. They were planted without irrigation in pretty rough new ground. Definitely not the ideal tomato growing conditions. All the tomatoes were ranked for taste and for health at the end of the season. Cherokee Purple Cherry and Maglia Rosa were two stand out varieties that still looked vigorous and healthy at the end of the season and had impressed many palettes with their bursts of sweet delicious flavor.
Another testimony to this variety’s ability to thrive in the southeast east is it was a top pick at the University of Florida's variety trials. The trials were exploring superior flavor characteristics and described Maglia Rosa as a pink mottled cherry type tomato developed by breeder Fred Hempel of Artisan Seeds in Sunol, Calif. Its parents are Black Cherry and Speckled Roman, which come together to form a unique cherry tomato with pink, mottled oblong fruits and sweet acidic flavor. Best harvested when fruits are light pink. Plants are compact and would work well in containers.
Shelby Mandonado, Water's Edge Farmstead, Asheville, NC
Shelby Mandonado (Johnson) is a farmer and forager with a passion for deeply collaborative models of community engagement based around our shared love of the land. With deep family roots in Atlanta, Georgia and Asheville, North Carolina, Shelby is dedicated to uplifting and preserving the unique culture of the South. Shelby’s experiences as a farmer have imparted to her an understanding and honor of the intimate webs that hold all of us – whether we be human, fungi, plant, insect, animal, or otherwise – together. Believing that the only future we can guarantee is the one we mutually create, Shelby is dedicated to supporting her community in meaningful ways through the lens of regenerative agriculture.
