(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Detainees taking part in the DuPage County Jail's horticulture program grow all kinds of produce and plants in Hope's Garden, including the very rare Inciardi tomato.
“This is a tomato that was brought over from Sicily back when the Inciardi family came over, and they had sewn the seeds into the seams of their clothing as they came through Ellis Island,” said Connie Kollmeyer.
Kollmeyer is an adjunct instructor at the College of DuPage, and she oversees the program.
She said gardeners have been trying to grow and save the heirloom variety seeds for years, and now the detainees are a part of that process.
“So they grew them all last summer in the garden, harvested them last fall, learned to save the seeds and the whole process of cleaning them and drying them and storing them. And then, this year, started [seeding] again.”
As the seeds were eventually lost in other areas, Kollmeyer said the Inciardi family, who settled in the Chicagoland area, were the only ones still growing this tomato. She said her students have found themselves connected to that piece of history.
“Every week when I would come in, they wanted to show me how much they'd grown,” Kollmeyer said. “They just really took ownership over these.”
Some of the seeds are replanted, but in an effort to save the tomatoes for future generations, Kollmeyer said others are donated to seed libraries in Downers Grove and St. Charles.
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