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Epicurean Kentuckian: Jake Willis ponders big green tomato 2010-06-30 - Photo by Ed Waggener. 40 New Concord RD, Columbia, KY Jake Willis, the Dean of Adair County tomato growers, is wondering just what this one is. It was in the Australian variety section of his garden, and has a few characteristic of that favorite, but shares the size of a Beefsteak tomato. Willis has been in the tomato business for 50 years now. This year's crop is one of his best. He has tomatoes of all sizes from green fryers to plate covering beefsteaks. The best time to shop, he says, is in the cool of the morning, right after they have chosen the very best of the day. The garden is in the center of Downtown Garlin, at the intersection of KY 206/Liberty RD, with New Concord RD. "When we put up the sign, 'Homegrown Tomatoes,' the first time this year" he said, "cars lined up here at the shed, out onto the road." Jake Willis will be 84 years young on July 12, 2010. The photo above was taken Monday evening, June 29, 2010. Critic's note: If you buy, get ready for real Kentucky tomato flavor. These are good. Eaten out of the bag, washed and with a little sea salt sprinkled after each bite when eaten like an apple, at room temperature, they are intensely flavorful, good enough to make one swear off ever eating a cardboard tomato from Florida again. -Ed Waggener. According to Jake Willis' Tomato Growing Colleague, A.L. Sinclair, the Sixth Plant in Jake's Tomato patch is the precise Western Entrance to Burton Ridge. See August 25, 2007 CM photo, PeeWee, out of hiding, at 6th tomato plant, Jake Willis garden documenting the landmark. Photo has links to the geographical question of the ages, still unsettled, about the physical boundaries of the storied land called "Burton Ridge." Or are there no physical boundaries: Is Burton Ridge as much a state of mind, carried in the hearts of all those embodying the attributes of one so blessed to call Burton Ridge home, as it is a defined place? Permalink | Comments?

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