Plant a Seedling of Change

In May I stumbled across this seedling at an East side garden center while picking out baskets of flowers for the back patio.  Don't know why I didn't buy it -- I was more stunned than anything that such a tomato variety existed and how ironic it was for a Realtor like me to randomly run into a such a symbolically named fruit plant like her.

The reality is it would take me about 6 weeks to KILL the overpriced baskets of flowers, and had I chosen to buy the "mortgage lifter" plant, I would be enjoying her fruits now through the end of the summer.  #FAIL.

The story of the "mortgage lifter" tomato's inception is simple.  In short, the gentleman car radiator repair man schemed to take on a supplemental project -- in a way, chose wisely to put his eggs in two different baskets instead of just one.  He crossed and created this hybrid plant, and used the profits of his labor of selling the seedlings to help pay off his $6000 mortgage back in the 40's. 

I like this story -- the creation of a small, solid and varied plan to supplement a primary job focus to help fulfil a existing obligation and beyond if desired.  Rinse and repeat.




Story of the tomato plant: http://www.localharvest.org/tomato-seed-mortgage-lifter-r-c--C9104