This whole endeavor would look very different, and much, much less wonderful (and wonderfuel) without the generous support of our circle of friends. In many cases their talents made utilizing their help seem like using an aircraft carrier to swat a fly. If we look like we know what we’re doing here, it’s because we are surrounded by the best friends any small business could hope to have. We give these artists and businesses our highest possible recommendation. We only offer the best, and we only work with the best.
These two have helped us more than words can say. They were involved in the first surveying of the property, tromping through poison ivy and wild rose thatches with string and stakes and performing the digital magic of combining satellite imagery with the property survey and translating that onto the physical terrain. They also built-out 3-star resort level WiFi on the property, and, when the days were getting shorter and the work to do getting longer, they built and hosted this site. To them we say: ありがとうございました. They’re also the reason I wear the harem pants every single day. And the reason we know that Japanese mayonnaise is the best mayonnaise for a tomato sandwich.
How do you keep track of 320 different kinds of tomatoes? There’s no app for that. But Jason built one for me. If you saw me pull out my phone to look up details after someone asked a question about a tomato, that was me accessing the database that Jason built.
My friends have all been supportive. My gradeschool friends, though, have really come through, and this guy is the undisputed champ. Packages would just show up, and inside would be things I needed, sometimes even things I didn’t know I needed, yet. The animated logo splash at the beginning of videos was his doing, too.
Without the Spaars, I’d be standing in the middle of 60 years of overgrowth. They did all of the heavy equipment work to turn a mostly abandoned couple of acres into the tomato farm. They also repaired storm damage on a moment’s notice so that I could be open the day two different newspaper articles hit print. A miraculous save.
And we also owe debts of gratitude to the group of friends who donated time and sweat and energy here: Eliot & Robin White for weeding and the building of wood solutions, David Hage for help in the fields, Brenda Harding-Hage for help in the fields, Susan Royer for help in the fields and getting the word out better than any ad agency ever could, Cathy Sweeney for help in the fields, Donna Talarico-Beerman for help in the fields and getting us into Atlas Obscura, Kevin Beerman for help in the fields, (and he wrote and performed and recorded the jingle that you will never get out of your head), Scott Thomas for as much help as any four neighbors, Matt Benensky for loaning me his Kubota, Dave Grey for a kaleidoscope of solutions and for being on the survey team, John Anfuso for the special tool without which the WiFi wouldn’t have happened, Joey Tepedino for helping in the field, Joanne and Ann who descended like angels on several occasions when we desperately needed extra hands and didn’t even have time to ask for them.