Author: staff

Lifestyle

Chicago’s Tomato Man on mission to help others rethink the plant by offering more than 100 varieties of heirloom tomatoes

To Bob Zeni, a perfectly round and perfectly red store-bought tomato is something to look at, but not to touch. In fact, Zeni hasn’t purchased a tomato since 1990. He grows his own heirloom tomatoes to avoid buying what he calls “tasteless travesties” or “red water balloons.”“Gardening itself is very satisfying and certainly enjoyable,” Zeni said. “Seeing the way it looks is beautiful.”AdvertisementFor more than a decade, Zeni has followed the same routine.In February, he began planting tomatoes at his La Grange home. Wherever a window was in sight, a table holding a pot of budding heirlooms sat right next to it. In March, he moved his plants to his portable backyard greenhouse. Zeni’s daughter, Rebecca, and several neighbors helped him set up what looks like a clear plastic tent equipped with space heaters. By April, the tomato plants would be ready for sale.AdvertisementBut that was until 2019 because like his heirloom tomato plants, Zeni’s business continued to grow until there was no more space in his home or driveway.Now Zeni, who was dubbed the “Chicago Tomato Man” by his daughter, has more than 4,000 heirloom tomato plants in a greenhouse that stretches as far as a city block. Inside are more than 100 varieties of the fruit, ranging from big red beefsteak tomatoes to dark and smooth Black Beauty tomatoes, and vibrant yellow Golden Grape tomatoes that can brighten up any salad.The greenhouse where Bob Zeni grows heirloom tomatoes has more than 4,000 heirloom tomato plants in the North Lawndale neighborhood. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)Starting this past Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Zeni started working alongside Gardeneers volunteers in their spacious greenhouses. Gardeneers is a nonprofit organization that uses school garden programs to teach students about nature, nutrition, how to cultivate fresh fruits and vegetables and how help the planet at a local level.Adam Zmick, CEO of Gardeneers, said Zeni’s planting is aligned with what the organization does and is a way to better support school gardens.“How it works is that a team of garden educators visit our 16 schools at least once a week to get students hands on in the garden,” Zmick said. “(Zeni) needs a lot of hands to do all this stuff so we are able to contribute and we can earn some income to help support our school gardens.This year, each tomato plant costs $6, with more than three of those dollars going to Gardeneers.“They are putting in a lot of the time and the effort,” Zeni said. “They deserve it.”Between April and May, his customers pick up their pre-orders from several different locations throughout the city, as well as Evanston, La Grange Park, Lamont, Palatine and Wheaton.AdvertisementAnd some of Zeni’s customers have walked away with more than just a tomato plant.One father has been able to teach his children about harvesting. A mother and daughter duo are strengthening their bond by using their green thumbs to contribute to a community church in Northbrook. And everyone who has purchased a tomato plant from Zeni also has the opportunity to share the taste of a fresh heirloom and create new recipes.“When people pick it up, it’s gratifying because people are giddy with excitement,” Zeni said.Varieties of heirloom tomatoes being grown at Homan Rails Farm on April 28, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)Heirloom tomatoes begin to grow under the care of Bob Zeni. He has a greenhouse that stretches as far as a city block. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)Selmaan Ansari, one of Zeni’s customers, has purchased tomatoes from him for the past three years. A neighbor who knew Ansari was looking to put together a garden suggested he check out the wide variety the Tomato Man was offering. It excited Ansari to find someone who was local.“Every year, I get about six to eight plants from him,” Ansari said. “I have young kids and they get to see them grow so when it’s time to harvest they ask questions and want to be the ones to pick the tomatoes off.”For Monica Dim, a beginner gardener, this is the second year she is purchasing from Zeni. She and her mother, Colette Dim, contribute to the St. Giles Episcopal Church community garden in Northbrook.AdvertisementColette Dim said she has been involved with the community garden for 14 growing seasons. There are 30 10-by-10 gardening plots.“Anyone who gardens with us donates to the Northfield pantry and some of the pantries in Evanston,” Colette said. “I said to Monica, ‘Let’s get our tomatoes together,’ so we decided to go headlong and get a dozen tomato plants each for last year.”Though this is Monica’s second year purchasing tomatoes, it is her first year getting the full gardening experience.“I was nine months pregnant when I first bought my tomato plants from him so I had a good amount of questions and wasn’t able to do a lot of the planting myself,” she said. “When you are able to grow and share your own tomatoes, it’s very exciting and he made that possible for me.”But some of his newer customers are confused or disappointed when they first see their tomato plant. For Zeni, it’s an opportunity for a teachable moment.“I get complaints from initial buyers because I give them this plant and it’s really tall and it’s kinda skinny and it’s kinda bushy and they say, ‘Well, there’s something wrong with this plant,” Zeni said. “I tell them no, just bury the bottom third and it will blossom, don’t worry about it.”AdvertisementZeni stays engaged with his customers months after the sale. He takes phone calls to answer any questions, and asks for photos to check on the growth process because he can empathize with the frustrations his customers face.“Tomatoes are full of moisture and juice and they need the water,” Zeni said. “The other thing is if you drown it and then forget about it for two weeks, the core of the tomato grows faster than the shell of the tomato so what happens is that the core breaks the shell and that’s when you get the mold at the top.”For Zeni, the key to growing a ripe tomato is finding the proper balance of heat, light, water, along with tender, loving care. He admitted that it took close to 20 years before finding success.“Every year I failed and every year I learned from that,” Zeni said. “There’s a lot of frustration with it from having too much water or enough water, too much heat, not enough heat and trying to sell these things.”This year was no different.“I always lose about 15 to 20% and this year, despite our best efforts, we did lose 20%,” Zeni said. “One of the shelves had fallen over so that killed a whole bunch of them and then in March we moved them over to the greenhouse thinking there was heat and there wasn’t so that killed several others as well.”AdvertisementBob Zeni works in his greenhouse at Homan Rails Farm in the North Lawndale neighborhood on April 28, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)Facing these difficulties not only makes Zeni feel like a more knowledgeable gardener. The unexpected twists and turns also help the tomatoes become more resilient.“It has not been warm, it has not been sunny and there has been far too much rain, so the plants are struggling, but that’s not a bad thing,” Zeni said. “You need to harden off tomatoes meaning you have to expose them to variations of temperatures, which strengthens their stem.”The frustrations pay off, however, because he gets to experiment with new varieties of heirloom tomatoes each year.“When the word heirloom is applied to growing fruits and vegetables it means created using non-GMO, open pollinated techniques,” Zeni said. “It’s not the common definition of being old. As oxymoronic as it sounds, there are new heirlooms.”This year Zeni is growing a tomato from seeds given to him by a Norridge customer last year. The customer said the seeds were from his wife’s grandfather, who had been saving seeds from Calabria, Italy, every year for 100 years.“I was honored that he would think of me,” Zeni said. “He didn’t have a name for it so we named it Art Zaino’s Centenarian.”AdvertisementArt Zanio was the grandfather’s name and to Zeni’s knowledge, he is the only one selling that particular variety.When not doing business, Zeni enjoys a quiet night eating a plate of fresh pasta with his wife, Wendy, who cans the tomatoes.“We take it out in the winter and she makes a secret spaghetti sauce that she learned from her mother,” Zeni said. “It’s fresher, it tastes great and it’s better than the store.”tatturner@chicagotribune.com

Sports

Cubs and Marquee Sports Network announce a multiyear TV partnership with the Sky

Marquee Sports Network is expanding the scope of its coverage beyond the Chicago Cubs.The network announced a multiyear broadcast partnership with the Sky to provide live television broadcasts of 16 games. All non-nationally televised games will also be available to stream through Marquee Plus via the app for authenticated Marquee subscribers.AdvertisementLocally-televised Sky games that conflict with Cubs games will be carried by WCIU-TV as well as Marquee Plus.“On behalf of the Chicago Cubs organization, I’m so honored to announce this broadcast partnership with the WNBA Champion Chicago Sky,” Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts said in a statement. “We’re looking forward to a great partnership between the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Sky and Marquee”AdvertisementThe Sky broadcast team will consist of Lisa Byington (play-by-play), Jason Ross Jr. (play-by-play), Stephen Bardo (analyst) and Meghan McKeown (analyst).The Sky open the season Friday at home against the Los Angeles Sparks. It will be the first Sky game to air on Marquee.“This partnership with Marquee elevates the Chicago Sky fan experience in a way that has never been done before,” Sky President/CEO Adam Fox said in a statement. “Women’s basketball, particularly the Chicago Sky, is increasingly gaining attention and affinity, and Marquee’s commitment to women’s professional sports made this an easy partnership. With Marquee, as well as our continued relationship with WCIU-TV, fans will never miss a moment of the Sky’s title defense.”

Sports

Brian Flores’ lawyer: ‘Unconscionable’ for Goodell to arbitrate suit

NEW YORK — A lawyer for former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who sued the league alleging racist hiring practices, told a judge Monday that arbitration is the wrong way to resolve the lawsuit in part because NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would be the arbitrator and that would be “unconscionable.”Attorney Douglas Wigdor said the league was trying to force “behind closed doors” the claims of Flores and two other Black coaches. None of the coaches was present for the Manhattan federal court hearing.AdvertisementIt was the first hearing for a lawsuit Flores filed in February, when he claimed the league was “rife with racism” even as the NFL publicly condemns it.Flores was fired in January as head coach by the Miami Dolphins after leading the team to a 24-25 record over three years, with two straight winning seasons including the most recent, when a 9-8 record left them out of the playoffs. He has been hired since as an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.AdvertisementHis lawsuit was joined last month by two other coaches, Steve Wilks and Ray Horton.There are six minority head coaches currently in the NFL, a league where the majority of the players are Black.Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, representing the NFL, told Judge Valerie E. Caproni that the league believes all claims in the lawsuit must be moved to arbitration according to the terms of employment agreements.Wigdor said the league demonstrated “this unconscionable bias of the arbitrator” when the NFL said the claims in the lawsuit were without merit after it was first filed. He said it would not be fair for Goodell to arbitrate the claims after he earned $120 million over the past two years from the league’s teams.Lynch said she invited the three coaches and their lawyers to meet with league officials to discuss the “important issues” surrounding racial inclusion that the NFL seeks to address.“Today, they declined to meet with us,” she said.Wigdor said he rejected the league’s invitation to discuss racial issues because there would be no magistrate judge or judge present.For now, the judge has put the lawsuit on the slow track, setting up a schedule stretching into August for the submission of written arguments regarding whether arbitration is required.AdvertisementThat schedule is likely to be delayed further once Wigdor formally informs the judge that he wants to seek permission to collect evidence surrounding the arbitration practices of the league before the issue is resolved.

Sports

James Madison University cancels remainder of softball season after player’s apparent suicide

James Madison University is canceling the rest of its softball season in the wake of the death of star player Lauren Bernett.The school announced that Bernett, 20, who was a sophomore catcher and power hitter for the team, had died last Tuesday.Advertisement“Our hearts are aching, hearing the news of the loss of one of our student-athletes,” university president Jonathan Alger and athletic director Jeff Bourne said in a statement. “Lauren Bernett was a high-achieving member of our softball team and a great ambassador of JMU and our athletics program.”The Rockingham County Sheriff’s office in Virginia has said the death is an apparent suicide.AdvertisementJames Madison catcher Lauren Bernett during a NCAA softball game on Friday, May 28, 2021 in Columbia, Mo. (Colin E. Braley/AP)JMU coach Loren LaPorte announced the decision to cancel the season on Monday.“This was an extremely difficult decision and one that was not made lightly,” JMU coach Loren LaPorte said in a news release. “We are so grateful for the support of our fans all season and for the love from the softball community during the past week. We will use this time to continue healing and to honor Lauren’s memory while finishing the academic semester strong.”LaPorte added that the team and school would be sure to properly honor the team’s seniors whose collegiate careers came to an abrupt end.“We will make sure that they are honored for the commitment and dedication they have made as student-athletes.”The team had previously already canceled five games.Bernett’s death came roughly a month after Stanford soccer captain Katie Meyer died by suicide months before graduation.With News Wire Services

Sports

Former Chicago Bears player Anthony Adams sells Wadsworth home for $765,000

Former Chicago Bears defensive tackle and TV baking show host Anthony Adams and his wife, Andenika, on April 26 sold their five-bedroom, 4,847-square-foot timber frame house in Wadsworth for $765,000.Adams, 41, played for the Bears for five seasons, from 2007 through 2011. A comedian, Adams was one of the co-hosts of the ABC cooking competition show “The Great American Baking Show” from 2017 until 2020.AdvertisementIn Wadsworth, Adams and his wife paid $800,000 for the house in early 2014. They first listed the house in June for $950,000, and they cut their asking price little more than a week later to just below $900,000, and then to just below $850,000 another week or so later. They reduced the asking price for the final time to $785,000 in November.Built in 2001 and situated on a 4.66-acre property at the end of a cul-de-sac, the house has six bathrooms, three fireplaces, exposed wood beams, a newly remodeled kitchen with high-end appliances, a home theater, a walk-in wine cellar, heated floors, a large wet bar and an upstairs loft. Outside are an outdoor kitchen and a separate two-story in-law suite.AdvertisementAdams and his wife sold the Wadsworth house because they paid $2 million in July for a five-bedroom, 9,817-square-foot mansion in Long Grove.Listing agent Lori Progar of Coldwell Banker told Elite Street that the Wadsworth house that Anthony and Andenika Adams sold was “very special.”“This home was very special to me as an agent, the only true timber frame home that I have sold in my almost 40-year career,” Progar said. “I think I loved it as much as my clients (did). I know it was a home truly special to the Adams family and near and dear to their hearts. They felt it was time for a change and decided to move closer to the city. From its exposed beams to its rustic charm, it is privately tucked away on almost 5 acres. It will be missed.”The Wadsworth house had a $14,032 property tax bill in the 2020 tax year.Goldsborough is a freelance writer.Join our Chicago Dream Homes Facebook group for more luxury listings and real estate news.