Appendix 7

Contributors

Don Chambers Warwood, WV

Paul Huffer Circleville, OH

Ron Kirschenman St. Paul, MN

Chris Lyons Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Marv Meisner

Ron Wilson St. Helens, OR

Minnie Zaccaria Long Branch, NJ

Eddie Zachykowski Airdrie, Alberta, Canada

Don Chambers (Don C.)

Don Chambers lives in Warwood, WV, a suburban area north of Wheeling. He grew up on a farm where hard work was a fact of life. He also worked construction. He is now a Licensed Professional Counselor for adolescents and children, and a wanna-be grower of giant pumpkins, tomatoes, and other vegetables. He has held the state record in WV for pumpkins at 1019 pounds in 2003. His largest tomato was 4 pound, 3 ounces He has also grown seven others ranging from 3 pounds, 3 ounces to 3 pounds 10 ounces His goal is to grow the next world record.

Paul Huffer (Paul H.)

Paul "Huff" Huffer is a truckdriver for Roadway Express and a member of the Teamsters Local 413. He has been growing giant pumpkins for the last 6 years, after a long break. He grew up in Circleville, Ohio, Home of the Longest Running Pumpkin Festival, and grew pumpkins as a teenager with a best of 374 pounds in 1979. He started out growing tomatoes just to make salsa, but discovered very quickly that he could do this very well. He grows mainly Big Zac's, and routinely grows 3 pounders off non-pruned plants. His best weights have been 4.7 and a 5.2 pounds. His main problem has been timing his entry for the local weighoff in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. His goal is to dominate at Reynoldsburg.

Ron Kirschenmann (Ron K.)

Ron Kirschenmann. lives in St. Paul, MN, but grew up on a farm in South Dakota. He retired from Pepsi Cola in 2002 where he had worked as a mechanic, route salesman, and semidriver. He started to grow giant tomatoes in 1995. His biggest so far was a Big Zac at 4 pounds, 14.7 ounces in 2003. He has won first place at the Minnesota State Fair for largest tomato 6 times.

Chris Lyons (Chris L.)

Chris Lyons lives in suburban Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and works as a regional truck driver. He has been growing giant vegetables for 15 years, including giant pumpkins, long gourds, watermelons, and tomatoes. All of this is done along with his father, John Lyons, at his parents' property 60 miles east of where he lives. His dad has been the major tomato grower in the family, growing several over 4 pounds, and one at 4 pounds, 15 ounces. They generally grow tomatoes for the pumpkin weigh-off in October, so they've had to adjust to the late competition by adjusting their planting schedule. Many of the biggest ones never made it to the later shows. Their goal is to have a 5 pounder for the Port Elgin Pumpkinfest.

Marv Meisner (Marv M.)

Marv Meisner is a retired cardiologist living in the mountains in Hollidaysburg, PA. He has grown giant pumpkins for over 15 years. His heaviest is 1060 pounds. He has been growing tomatoes for years, but only 3 years ago really started trying to grow large ones. He planted 60 plants in 2006 and grew several large tomatoes with the heaviest at 4.4 pounds. His goal is to grow a tomato over 5 pounds, and to cross several of the bigger tomatoes to see if he can create a hybrid that produces heavy with multiple megablooms.

Marc Petersen (Marc P.)

Marc Petersen is from Clinton, Iowa, which is located as far east in Iowa as you can go – two feet farther east and you're in the Mississippi River. Marc works as a process engineer when he's not playing in the dirt. He has been growing large, and/or unusual stuff, for about 10 years, including: giant watermelons (156.5 pounds), long gourds (90.75"), and giant pumpkins. He sometimes teams with Dan Carlson in the pumpkin patch. Last year they lost a few big ones including a 1432 pound squash – that would have been the first true squash over 1000 pounds. He has been growing tomatoes for the past 5 years, and usually only grows 5 to 10 plants. His personal best was 4.32 pounds in 2002 He has had a few over 3 pounds since, but has not made it back to the 4 pound level. He won the Iowa state fair 3 years in a row from 2002 thru 2004.

Ron Wilson (Ron W.)

Ron Wilson is a Soil Scientist for the U.S. government. He has been growing "big" tomatoes for several years, but his first year at entering a giant tomato contest was 2003. Like a lot of other giant tomato growers, he started with giant pumpkins. His best pumpkin so far is 1130 pounds. He is currently the President of the Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers and the founder of the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta (to take a look go to pgvg.org). He lives in a good climate, but gardens with a high water table. He is fairly isolated from any agriculture, so few pest or disease problems exist. To date, his best official tomato was 4.83 pounds in 2004. In 2005, he had one over 6 pounds that ripened 10 days before the weigh-off. When he harvested it, the bottom was mush. He didn't get an official weight, so his goal next year is 6 pounds at the weigh-off.

Minnie Zaccaria (Minnie Z.)

Minnie Zaccaria has grown tomatoes for at least 40 years in a very small back yard garden where she says, "I do a lot of damage." She used to grow many, many plants, but has narrowed it down to about 2 dozen now. She's very confident with that number. She grows about 13 or 14 for weight, and the rest she grows for eating. She always plants Supersteak, one plum variety, Big Beef, and a new variety that perks her interest. Her goal is to beat the world record. Most of her competing has taken place at the New Jersey Championship Tomato Weigh In. Her records can be seen at www.njtomato.com.

Eddy Zaychkowsky (Eddie Z.)

Eddy Zaychkowsky owns and operates a construction company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He lives on 4.5 acres just outside Airdrie (a suburb of Calgary), and he grows almost all the giant vegetables that gardeners compete with. His largest tomato to date is 4.2 pounds. His goal is 5 pounds. He also has a personal best giant pumpkin at 615 pounds. Weather conditions are his biggest obstacle, as he lives in the foothills of the Rockie Mountains.