Seed Keepers

[Allan Balliett <aballiett@frontiernet.net>]

Anyone have any gilfeather seed or know the 
whereabouts of any? Fedco is sold out. Thanks 
-Allan

Feco says:
 Gilfeather® Turnip (85 days) Brassica napus This 
heirloom has come down in folklore as a turnip 
but is really a rutabaga, big-knobbed and bulky. 
Small hairy tendrils grow on its light green 
skin. Either developed or discovered by John 
Gilfeather (1865-1944) of Wardsboro, VT, in the 
late 1800s. Gilfeather, a lanky secretive 
bachelor, is said to have cut the tops and 
bottoms off his turnips, so that no one else 
could propagate them. Nevertheless, some seeds 
escaped to a neighbor who gave them to market 
growers William and Mary Lou Schmidt, who 
salvaged, then commercialized, the variety. It 
has developed a loyal New England following, to 
wit, "Gilfeather is the reason for the order," 
stated Judy Simon-Bouton of White River Junction, 
VT. Gilfeather is sweeter and later to mature 
than other turnips, not woody even at softball 
size, and tastes better after frost. Listed on 
Slow Foods' Ark of Taste. Enjoy its tender mild 
spineless greens as well as its sweet white flesh.