Queen Nanny

Queen Nanny of the Maroons was an Ashanti woman from west Africa in a place that is now called Ghana. Sold into slavery at a young age, Nanny learned from Maroons and Arawak indigenous people from what is now called Jamaica, and was liberated into Maroon society. She organized with other Maroons to defeat british slave traders and became a famous leader, founding Nanny town within the Blue Mountains of Jamaica and freeing nearly 1000 indigenous and african slaves. Her strategic brilliance and connection to the land and people was so powerful that the british were unable to encroach upon her territories within her lifetime. When military dominance was impossible, british invaders and slavers attempted to starve out Queen Nanny and her people by cutting off their access to food, so Nanny turned to indigenous Arawak seeds, especially the indigenous pumpkin, and through seed sovereignty, she liberated her people a second time. Hers is a story of the strength of women, the strength of african and indigenous unity in the face of colonialism, and is a story about the importance and value of the indigenous seeds of this land. It is only fitting that a pumpkin shaped tomato be named in her honor!

With velvety flesh and tart juices, the complex flavors make excellent additions to sauces or sandwiches. Descendant from ancient indigenous tomatoes from central america as well as new Haudenosaunee tomato breeding work from the northeast, Queen Nanny is both hardy like the tomatoes from before industry but much more tolerant of modern diseases. The stems and potato leaves can get thick and large, the plant topping out at around 8 feet or so before frost in my region, they are fully indeterminate, and somewhat late to produce. At least 6 seeds per packet.