HEATH — How did the Mortgage-Lifter tomato get its name?
“Because it gives you the most value,” says Susan Wood, who was slicing up samples of heirloom tomatoes Sunday at the 99th annual Heath Fair. “They’re very abundant and you can use them for raw slices and in cooking. They’re ‘mortgage lifters’ because they save you money for other things — like paying your rent,” she jokes.
They were certainly big — but no bigger than the Marigold or Germain Johnstons or the Pink Wonder tomatoes also on display inside the Agricultural Tent. “There’s nothing on this table that isn’t tasty,” Wood said of the two dozen heirloom tomato varieties, provided by Lyonsville Farm of Colrain.
The Be Orange tomato, the color of sunrise, was sweet and not very acidic, yet large and very meaty. The Sunrise Bumble Bee had almost orange and gold swirls. The Pink Wonder resembled a beefsteak tomato, but was almost a deep rose color, and fragrant.
Tomatoes were one of many types of food to be sampled during the three-day fair. On Sunday morning, there was a blueberry pancake breakfast with local berries, and later in the afternoon, there was a barbecue chicken dinner with organic corn on the cob and the traditional homemade Heath Fire Department root beer.
Justin Lively, president of this year’s fair, said this year’s fair had a good turnout of visitors, and benefited from good weather. Next year, the fair will be celebrating its 100th anniversary.
In the lecture tent, state Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, gave a talk on what the state Legislature was doing to shift the state from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy. Mark said he was the lead sponsor of a bill to raise the net metering cap, so that households using solar energy systems would be able to get more utility credit for putting their excess solar energy “on the grid.”
Mark explained that the net metering cap had been put into place to “maintain the integrity of the grid” — to ensure the utility made enough money from its customers to cover its infrastructure costs. But the state has been hitting the net metering maximum since 2014, and needs a higher cut-off point to spur more solar energy growth. Mark said the Legislature raised the cap in July 2015, but he would like to see the cap raised again in the next few years.
Mark said he’s working to establish a “Green Bank,” which has been a successful program in Connecticut. He said the bank began with a state loan, and lent out money for green energy projects. Within seven years, as the loans were repaid, the Connecticut Green Bank is now sustainable and runs without state funding.
Another green energy triumph, he said, was the defeat of the Northeast Direct pipeline project and the recent court ruling against billing utility users for pipeline infrastructure. By increased use of sustainable energy alternatives, he said, “we’re changing the need for the pipeline.”
At the other end of the midway, Jeremy Lanoue of Charlemont was yoking 2,400-pound bulls, Willie and Skeeter, in preparation for the Ox Draw. When asked if his animals were ready for the competition, Lanoue explained: “We go every weekend, all summer long.”
His son, 9-year-old Hunter, also has a team of 1,600-pound bulls that he enters in youth competitions.
Hunter says he’s been going to the Heath Fair “all my life.” And so has Dad. Jeremy, 32, says he remembers coming with his father and, like Hunter, having his own team when he was a child.