Ugly Tomatoes

While some readers have become subscribers to this blog for the updates on the Virginia legislature, others miss the "juicier," well, chick-lit kind of content. Eventually I'd like the 'zine aspect of this blog to be a balance of both. Here, however, is a juicy and flavorful winter treat for local readers:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-person-ugly-tomatoes-strategy-small-business-185200720.html

As most of us know, some varieties of "ugly" tomatoes, like Pink Centers, have been bred for flavor while supermarket tomatoes were bred for looks (and firmness).

This is a strategic principle to keep in mind as, and if, we ever organize a store with the theme of "Hand Made in the U.S.A."

While Victoria Cooley was photographing all those knitted items that were the main topic of the blog yesterday, an observer offered a pertinent comment. Hand knitters usually think the point of knitting something by hand is to produce something that looks different from the bland, generic-looking, standard-shaped knitwear in the shops...but the observer, who was wearing a bland, generic, probably machine-knitted, bulky blue-grey cardigan, pointed to her own sweater and said, "This is the kind of sweater I wear. Very plain looks suit me."

Usually men are the ones making that comment on the Greensleeves Knitting display, but it's a valid comment. Clothes or other items don't have to scream that they're hand-made in the U.S.A. Those who want to make plain, generic, quick'n'easy pieces to display can go ahead and make some of those too. It's the principle of supporting American enterprise that counts.

If you scroll through the knitwear posts, and even more if you look at the actual display--what's on here is only about a quarter of what's on the display--you'll notice that there's quite a mix of looks and prices. There are some beautiful, arty, pricey, all-natural pieces, and there are some cheap, easy-care, all-synthetic pieces. Many proprietors of wool shops and authors of knitting books will say that hand knits need to be "upscale." Knitting "upscale" pieces is fun, but many actual owners and wearers of Greensleeves Knitting products say that their hand knits need to be "downscale," cheap, and easy to machine-launder.

We looked at that Yellow Sands Cardigan and thought, "Who on earth would wear that?" The sweater is a reasonable fit for me, but on me it's a strong contender for the title of "World's Ugliest Sweater." I sat with this display at the Traders Village Mall last winter, and two shoppers liked it, tried it on, and would have worn it home if it had been their size. And on one of them I thought the colors didn't look bad. It takes all kinds to make a world.

I think incandescent light bulbs are ugly things that cast ugly light, too, but you have to have them if you want just enough cheap heat to keep your water line from freezing...and if the people of Winchester start manufacturing them, we'll sell them.

Edible fungi in the genus Morchella are obscenely ugly. I've eaten them when they were smothered in  cornmeal batter, and liked them, but I wouldn't try to eat anything while looking at them. But they're a delicious, nutritious food. They grow in our part of the world. If we sell produce at all, we'll sell them.

Pretty things can be good, too...but sometimes good things aren't pretty. Something to keep in mind.