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What makes a memorable meal? For starters, a great chef with great recipes and a creative touch. And there is ambiance, of course, and good friends. But some would say that the ingredients are one of the most important. The fresher, the better. That's why the Three Tomatoes Trattorias and the newly- created Nika restaurant in Burlington strive to buy and use as many local ingredients as possible. Co-owner Robert Meyers and I recently visited Longwind Farm in Thetford, Vermont, to see the new greenhouse that owner and head grower Dave Chapman has had built to produce their wonderful tomatoes ten months of the year- and that are used at Three Tomatoes and Nika.
 
Dave Chapman is a self-made and self-taught man. With nothing more than a high school diploma, Dave has built a tomato business that not only supplies the Upper Valley, but delivers tomatoes to Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and even a few to New Jersey. He grew up on a dairy farm but had no plans to be a farmer. He did some construction and logging when he was young. But then in the early eighties he started growing mixed vegetables on an acre of ground in Thetford, using a team of oxen that he trained himself.
Dave liked growing things. He initially sold his produce at a roadside stand, and at the Norwich Farmers Market. By 1984 he had decided to specialize in tomatoes and built a couple of hoop houses to extend the season. In 1996 he built his first glass greenhouse which covered over an acre of land. He found that growing under glass is more efficient and grows a better crop than growing under plastic. The new greenhouse replaced three older plastic greenhouse and added 20,000 square feet of growing space - bringing the total area under glass to two and a quarter acres.
Always conscious of the environment, Dave Chapman decided to grow organic tomatoes and to become a certified organic grower, which he did the very first year that organic certification was available, back in 1984. Growing organically means that his farm uses no pesticides to kill insects, molds or even rodents.
The new greenhouse is a marvel for anyone who is energy-conscious. It has computers that control the levels of humidity and sunshine - as much as possible in Vermont. It has sun shades that automatically extend out to keep the greenhouse from getting too hot, and vents and fans and louvers that can introduce outside air. The computers also decide how much water to distribute in the drip tape system to the roots (which are growing in the soil).
  
This being Vermont, a hot water heating system fired by propane-fired boiler is needed to keep the house from getting too cold at night, or on cold winter days. The heat pipes also serve as rails down the rows so that carts can roll along the rows for workers.
There are no shadows in the new greenhouse, even on a sunny day. The glass is textured on one side so that the sun's rays are bounce around. This helps to provide an even amount of the sun's energy to almost every leaf.
The tomato vines are attached by clips to wires that allow them to grow up to 30 feet long. That's right. Tomatoes, even some of those that you grow in your garden, want to keep growing taller and taller. (There are also 'determinate' tomatoes that reach a certain height, stop growing and produce their crop all at once, and then die). But the tomatoes that are grown at Longwind Farm are hybrids that keep on growing and growing ... and growing. The Longwind Farm tomatoes are not a variety that is suitable for growing outdoors. And Big Boys or Brandywines would not be happy indoors.
The growers at Longwind Farm actually grow two kinds of tomatoes: one that produces a rootstock that produces very vigorous, productive vines - but that taste terrible. The other is less vigorous, but delicious. So the growers have to grow them so that they are the same size - their stems the same diameter - at the same time. Then, with the precision of surgeons, they cut them off and graft them together. This is done when they are about 3 to 4 weeks old.This is no small feat- they have 20,000 tomato plants producing tomatoes for Three Tomatoes and all the rest of us who love a good tomato - even in winter.
As an organic farm, Longwind depends to a large degree on compost as the prime source of plant/soil nourishment. Instead of "feeding" the plants with soluble chemical fertilizers, they make their own compost on site and nourish the soil. Outside are long windrows (piles) of compost made from cow manure and barn scrapings. They age the compost for about two years. Soil is key for a good tasting tomato, and these tomatoes get the best there is.
Many of the workers at Longwind have been working for Dave Chapman for many years. Some work by the hour, some by the piece. Top workers can make up to $30 an hour, Dave told me. But he said, "they are like professional athletes or dancers. They are really good at what they do."
As a gardener who grows tomatoes, I was fascinated to see how a farm can produce good tomatoes in huge quantities. What struck me most was that these are organic tomatoes grown indoors 10 months of the year in a harsh climate - and they are disease free and mostly free of blemishes. And not only that, they taste great! So stop into your local Three Tomatoes or Nika and enjoy them in salads, pizzas and pasta dishes. It's still a long time before our garden tomatoes will be ready.
Visit Henry's Web site to see his gardening column and learn about his books. That's www.Gardening-Guy.com.
His newest book is a fantasy adventure for children, Wobar and the Quest for the Magic Calumet.
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