Growing up, my father often said, “Some things are too expensive to sell, you can only give them away.” Such words can make little sense to a young person but with maturity, the wisdom sets in. Artists have an inherent appreciation for this truth.
I call myself a gardener—certainly not a farmer—and I harbor deep respect for those who tend the soil without harmful chemicals and pesticides.
Beginning in May, with great help from several friends, we tilled, planted, weeded, trellised, and eventually, from late July to September, picked tomatoes at Loesch Farm. We then hauled them to One World KitchenShare—many hundreds of pounds over the course of those 10 weeks—where we washed, sorted, and halved them onto sheet pans for a slow, overnight roast in low ovens, after which they were packed and frozen.
My friends worked cheap—tomatoes, pizza and sometimes beer was the wage—coin of the realm in the midst of a pandemic. But it got us out of the house, sweating and laughing and communing with nature and each other on those Sundays which will not to be forgotten.
We ended up with nearly 100 pounds of richly flavored, deeply crimson, organic, home-dried tomatoes. My thought all along was that we would sell them as a pizza topping at Lennie’s this fall and winter.
After we roasted our last batch about a month ago I started to contemplate what sort of cost I had into these tomatoes—Sunday hours spent picking and roasting, the cost of the plants, twine, soil amendments. Then of course was my and my friend’s time, that even though unpaid in money still should be valued. What could I even charge for these tomatoes to create a return on such cost—this the classic ROI calculation for the business person. I realized that there was no price people would be willing to pay that would provide a return on that effort. And those long ago words from my father came into my head, “Some things are too precious to sell, you have to give them away.”
So then, these tomatoes will be our gift to you during this fall and winter at Lennie’s—as long as they last. Just ask for them on your pizza—they’ll be yours as a gift, and as a prayer that all of us pass the coming months with beauty, health and grace.
🙏❤️🍅🌎
Credit goes to Floyd Rosenbaum, Jamie Scholl, Brandy Wright, Josh Strodtman, Cliff Cox, Dwight Worker, Eddie Relick, Dnyan Yewatkar, Nick Gao, and Nana Zheng, and of course...Howard Mease.
- Jeff Mease, Co-Founder One World Enterprises
