Considering that tomatoes are a New World plant I should think bringing the seeds back is not an issue.

Last year I had a great crop of tomatoes, though they weren't any particular specialty variety, just stuff I hoped would grow here in Texas. I have bags and jars of frozen tomatoes for my slow cooking this winter, and my last tomato from the season, picked green in mid-December before our first big freeze, moved the other day from my window sill to my fridge, finally ripe.

My onions and garlic are in now, and a couple of weeks ago I thinned and transplanted the onions. You present me with an interesting challenge, so I'll visit the local garden center and see what seed packs are available and start my tomatoes in the house. They can be started any time now, because down here they go in the ground in March. A friend of mine up in Washington state grows her tomatoes in the green house all summer so that the folliage doesn't get wet. That's what contributes to the fungus (yellowing) that affects the plants as the season progresses. Her tomatoes are to die for.

Are you familiar with some of the more recent work that Gary Nabhan of Northern Arizona University is doing regarding eating local foods?

SRS