Meet John Parry, aka "Tomato Man," of Cochranville. He was the unnamed subject of my last post - and he's a character, for sure. Leaving blight aside, he grows 350 heirloom tomato plants on four acres in a part of  Chester County that still looks like it used to - farm country. John has "a real job" as an appliance repair guy, but tomatoes are his true love. He grows black, red, pink and yellow Brandywines, Pineapple, White Queen, Hillbilly and a nameless Vietnamese tomato whose seeds someone gave him. He does all this by himself, selling his tomatoes and some other crops to restaurants. John also does tomato tastings. He romps through his rows of tomatoes grazing at will, plucking mostly cherry tomatoes off the vine. It's quite intoxicating. Each tomato he picked was tastier than the one before, with Sun Gold - of course - coming out on top. This is John explaining things to Inquirer photographer Tom Gralish. I was chagrined to learn that the Amish farmers across the street spray heavy doses of pesticides on their crops, which then waft across to John's fields. Even more distressing ... though the scene was oh so bucolic, the bearded Amish farmer at the reins of a plow pulled by two horses was growing tobacco! It's a very lucrative crop, according to a couple of extension agents I spoke to last week. Anyway, John is selling heirloom tomatoes as fast as he can grow them. More power to him. Story to come this Friday.