Since 1965, a 92-year-old has been growing tomatoes from the same line of seeds.
In 1965, Sybil Gorby planted a handful of heirloom tomato seeds.
Since then, Gorby, who is now 92, has planted seeds from the same family in her garden in Tyler County, West Virginia, every spring. By the end of June, they start to bloom, and by the middle of August, they are ready to be picked and eaten. She saves some seeds every year to plant the next year.
Gorby says that these seeds and the big, tasty tomatoes they produce year after year are special in some way.
They have a sweet taste,
said Gorby, who still lives in the house she and her late husband built 60 years ago on the same 74-acre farm.
Her daughter, Sandy Marody, grew up eating them.
I don’t know what it is, but it’s like magic,
she said.
Those seeds just grow into these wonderful tomato plants.
Sometimes, the seeds grow into giant heirloom tomatoes, like one that was picked last year. Marody posted a picture of her mother holding the big fruit in an “Appalachian Americans” Facebook group.
People were very impressed by the picture of Gorby holding up the huge tomato with pride. She is even wearing a sweater in the same tomato color.
Beautiful lady and tomato looks so yummy,
one person commented.
This gives me inspiration to continue harvesting my heirloom seeds,
another wrote.
Gorby has been good at gardening since she was a teenager in Paden City, West Virginia. She was first hooked when she helped her neighbor take care of her garden. “I fell in love with it,” she said.
It gave her a lot of happiness.
Once you plant a seed, you watch for it to grow and then you start envisioning what they’re going to taste like,
she said.
Seeing a seed bloom and then blossom into edible deliciousness “gives you a feeling of pride,” she continued.
In 1963, when she and her husband Bob moved to the farm, she was excited to have her own garden. So she did, and when it was at its best, it was 40 by 40 yards and full of fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, and other plants.
We had everything in the garden,
Gorby, who worked as a nurse for 45 years and also raised her four children and took care of her large garden, said this. She grew flowers and crops like potatoes, green beans, corn, and squash.
She always had enough food and vegetables to feed the whole community,
said Marody, adding that her mother never accepted money for her produce.
She never sold it. She would give it away.
We didn’t have a lot, but boy, did I feel like we were rich,
said Marody, who grew up on the farm with her siblings and now lives in St. Clairsville, Ohio.
It was an amazing life.
Gorby became well-known in Tyler County, which has about 8,000 people because she gave away all of her fresh produce every year. She would sell fresh fruits and vegetables and also make her own sauces, soups, jams, and jellies, which she would give out all over town.
Gorby said that the only thing she likes more than eating her harvest is giving it to other people, especially her family, which includes her eight grandchildren. She likes to make sure that everyone has food.
She said that over the years, the community has been thankful for any gift from Gorby’s garden, but the heirloom tomatoes are by far the most wanted crop.
Gorby said that she can’t take all the credit for how well-known her tomatoes are. A friend named Gay Soles, who also liked to garden, gave her some tomato plants that grew juicy, tasty tomatoes a few years after she started her garden.
I decided to save the seeds at the end of the season and planted them again at my house,
Gorby said that she still doesn’t know what kind of tomatoes they are.
They grew into such large tomatoes, and everybody liked them.
Not only do they have a lot of juice,
she said,
but they have a lot of pulp, too.
Every year, she takes the seeds out of the biggest and best tomatoes with a spoon and leaves them to dry on a paper towel. She keeps the seeds to plant again next year.
Gorby has had the same routine for 58 years. When her garden was at its best in the past, the tomato plants grew so tall that her husband, who passed away 18 years ago, had to use a stepladder to pick them.
Gorby said that her favorite way to eat tomatoes is on a homemade sandwich with bacon, eggs, and tomatoes.
Just thinking about it makes me hungry,
she said.
Gorby’s garden has gotten smaller over the past few years, making it easier to take care of.
It’s a lot of work to have a large garden,
said her daughter, who also has a garden of her own.
I’m glad that she passed it on to me, and I’m able to raise a garden as well.
Most of Gorby’s plants and vegetables are now on her back porch, which makes them easier to get to. Every day, she checks on her tomato plants to water them and get rid of bugs. Gorby thinks that gardening will help her live a long, happy life.
It keeps me moving,
she said.
You use all your muscles to pull and dig. Maybe that’s why I have been so strong.
Marody grows the same heirloom tomatoes every year in her garden. The seeds came from her mother, but “hers always grow so much better than mine,” she said.
After Marody posted a picture of her mom with her huge tomato on Facebook, strangers contacted her to buy the seeds.
Everybody wanted to give me money for them, but if you give someone money for something that’s going to grow, it may not grow,
said Gorby, explaining that she is superstitious about selling anything from her garden.
Instead, Marody put handfuls of seeds in envelopes, sealed them, and sent them to people who had asked for them. Gorby wants as many people as possible to enjoy the heirloom tomatoes.
I hope that they can get the joy out of raising them that I do,
she said.
It’s wonderful.
