Seed Keeper: Happy Cat Organics

By Margaret Gilmour

Tim Mountz of Happy Cat Organics in Kennett Square doesn’t just dream of the perfect tomato, he creates it. In fact, he was so smitten over the heirloom tomatoes Zapotec and Black Krim, that he bred the two and came up with his own variety: The Black Ruffle.

Tim has been collecting seeds and saving them for almost 18 years. He’s intrigued by the characteristics of each piece of fruit or vegetable he grows organically, of course, but he’s almost even more taken by the history behind the seeds he chooses to keep company with.

By collecting and keeping heirlooms seeds, Tim and his wife Amy Bloom—comrade and co-partner at Happy Cat—are preserving memories and slices of sweetness from an era almost lost due to large-scale farming practices. Each seed they’ve stockpiled comes with its own memoir, in colors and flavors you have to witness to believe.

Take his description of the Black Krim, for example: Dark purple flesh on the shoulder and reddish on the blossom end. The beauty of the fruit is amazing a slice of this tomato looks like a photo sent back by the Hubble telescope. The black Krim, tomatoes, hails from Russia. The Island of Krim is an island on the black sea.
 Flavor- the most amazing taste from salty to savory, a true burgundy like fusion of flavors.

I thought I was mad for tomatoes. Tim, I discovered, is passionately devoted to them, doting over every seed and seedling in his possession. Once they are ripe and ready though, he won’t hesitate to sink his teeth right in to sample his prized work. And who can blame him? I’d love to experience the Black Krim he describes.

Continuing our seed week and celebration of planting time, I was able to catch up with Tim during this busy spring season.

Here’s a clip from our multitude of conversations:

When/why did you start saving seeds?

In the 1993 my grandfather was killed in a car accident. He was raised on a farm in Lancaster so he had a giant garden. I had a big garden, but not like his. People in the area said he did not have a green thumb, but a green arm. After he died a large jar of beans came my way, so I started growing them.

By 1997 when I got William Woys Weavers Heirloom Vegetable Gardening book, I had worked for Tim Stark (author of, Heirloom –Notes from an accidental tomato farmer), and things began falling into place. William told me that one of my grandfather’s beans was traded from Native Americans to the Germans when they first came to America, and another was so rare I may be the only person in the world with a true line. I was hooked.

William and I became friends and I worked for him for a year. I would leave his house with all kinds of crazy things, each with it’s own amazing story that William would go on and on about. I started saving everything I could get my hands on.

What seeds (varieties) did you use to start your collection?

Beans, but man, I love tomatoes. I have 200 in my collection and I love every one of them. I also have a collection of hot pepper and radishes and greens and melon…

How many varieties do you have today?

Our seed business is based around 30 varieties, but I have 800 or so in my collection.

I have lots of friends that get to travel more than I do, so I teach them how to look for the seeds I would look for. People also give me stuff all the time. I love it.

Can you give tell me who developed two (delicious) Chester County tomatoes?

London Grove Tomato:

The London Grove Tomato I have came from Jim Plyler of Natural Landscapes Nursery. It has been in the London Grove Quaker Committee for about 100 years. It is also locally called Rabbit’s Foot

And the Brandywine Tomato:

The Brandywine tomato was introduced in the mid 1880s by a Philadelphia seed company. It is said that the company sent seeds to a Quaker farmer, who trailed the seed for the company. After growing it, he loved it and said he would name the tomato for the creek that ran past his Quaker village: The Brandywine. Part of my farm overlooks that same stream.

Why should we consider buying heirloom seeds?

The history and the stories are a big part of it, but we are losing so many genetic links to our past, as our cultures erode and fade from the face of the earth. These gems are replaced by fast food and plastic storage bins.

What makes Chester County a good seed-saving region?

Southeastern Pa., in general, was traditionally a seed-growing region. From colonial times right up to present day, From Burpee to Happy Cat the tradition continues. Our growing season is over 180 days; our soils are deep and derived from limestone. As we say in Pa. German, “it makes good.” We are really lucky we can grow so much stuff here

Buy Happy Cat heirloom seeds online at: happycatorganics.com

Or purchase them at:

Kimberton Whole Foods

Local Harvest

Reading Terminal Market

Almanac Market

Head House Square

You can also adopt their seedlings at the Kennett Square Farmers’ Market and the new farmers’ market Tim and Amy organized at Winterthur, opening Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in late May (at Winterthur’s second gate).

Photography: Beans and seedlings by Tim Mountz.