Heirloom

May 12, 2008
In a “back-to-nature” move more than a decade ago, Stark uprooted a handful of heirloom tomato seedlings from his Brooklyn brownstone and returned to Eckerton Hill, his Pennsylvanian boyhood home, to harvest two acres of multicolored oddities. From Mennonite country to New York City, using a rusted Toyota pickup, he transported his first auspicious crop of Hill Billies, Tiger Toms and Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifters to the Union Square Greenmarket, becoming the unlikely purveyor of apples to heirloom aficionados and Michelin-starred chefs. An amateur farmer with finite experience in organic farming and a rotating cast of weed-pulling hands, Stark takes on hornworms, groundhogs, cantankerous neighbors and route I-78, producing cover-worthy tomatoes for Gourmet
, Brooklyn-bound sugar snaps and chocolate habaneros for discriminating farmers' market cognoscenti. With his produce and dogged perseverance, Stark bridges the gap between New York's posh kitchens and the sun-drenched fields of the rural countryside, commenting along the way on buzzwords like organic, the effects of urban sprawl, and farming's changing landscape. His recounting of fly-by-night agricultural tactics, stomach-turning worries and relief-inducing bumper crops paints a poignant picture of a dwindling form of American life. Through his urbane relationships with the Bouleys and Bouluds and pastoral friendships with the likes of fellow berry, pea shoot and haricot vert producers, he illustrates the unlikely bond between the tomato-laden farm and the urban table.

May 15, 2008
On a whim, Stark started 3000 tomato seedlings in his New York City apartment, transplanted them to his parents' Pennsylvania yard, and then sold his crop at the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan. Then, like Keith Stewart in "It's a Long Road to a Tomato", Stark gave up his consulting career to become an organic farmer. A decade later, elite chefs regularly buy his Eckerton Hill Farm produce, his tomatoes have graced "Gourmet"'s cover, and he's been published in the "Washington Post". In this honest memoir, he glosses over his successes, exposing his insecurities and the trials he faced. With the endearing ability to laugh at himself, he recounts his impish, temperamental side in childhood battles with a retired farmer and in adult battles with chili-head customers at the Greenmarket. Stark's vivid descriptions and his real knack for character development, whether speaking of his immigrant ancestors, dubious neighbors, urban foodies, or errant groundhogs, place the reader into his rural world and into Manhattan's restaurant scene, too. His wit and self-awareness make us want to visit often. Recommended for public libraries.Bonnie Poquette, Milwaukee

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