Paten Hughes’ Incredible Journey From Tomato Farmer To Web Series Star

Everyone has their own way of processing disappointment. Some people shut down emotionally, unable to fully absorb the letdown, while others unleash a previously dormant resolve as they aspire to turn a perceived negative into an authentic positive. Paten Hughes, co-creator and star of the new Vimeo web series Heirloom, definitely falls into the latter category.

Originally from Virginia, the New York City resident felt that oh so relatable pang of rejection when a film project she believed would be her big break fell through, forcing the actress to reevaluate her professional options. Hughes and her fiancé own a property in picturesque Sonoma, California, complete with an old garden plot where the couple had planted some tomatoes the previous year. Edith, a friend of Hughes’, believed the tomatoes were so delectable that she, unbeknownst to Hughes, took them to a local Sonoma chef. From there, it was love at first bite as he agreed to begin purchasing some of Hughes’ tomatoes. Little did Edith know that her simple gesture would set off an unforeseeable chain of events that would ultimately result in the web series Heirloom.

Faced with the reality that the film project she had invested so much time and energy into was over, Hughes turned her attention to tomato farming.

“I expanded the garden and I planted 250 tomato plants, because that felt like a normal reaction,” Hughes joked during our recent conversation. Perhaps green thumbs are innate to the Hughes bloodline because the next time she returned to California, she was greeted by a surplus of produce.

“I was just staring at hundreds of pounds of tomatoes in front of me that were just ready and ripe and beautiful and delicious. So I said, ‘Well, I got to figure out what to do with these now,'” Hughes remarked. “So I put them into a baskets and took them around to every restaurant I could find.”

From there one of the most compelling multi-hyphenates was formed: Paten Hughes actress/tomato farmer.

But Hughes wasn’t content to limit her new career to just a top-notch party anecdote. She decided to use her unique life experience as material for a web series, the aforementioned Heirloom, which was filmed on Hughes’ organic tomato farm in Sonoma and features her real produce. Created by Hughes and Bekah Brunstetter, the series is described as an aspirational romantic comedy about a young woman who rediscovers herself after inheriting a small plot farm in Sonoma. While Heirloom is certainly inspired by her real life, Hughes noted that she took some “very strong artistic liberties” in bringing her fascinating story to the small screen.

Beautifully shot and bursting with optimism, the series boasts an impressive ensemble cast featuring former Gossip Girl star Margaret Colin, Tom Wopat (from The Dukes Of Hazzard), Ryan Cooper, John Lavelle, Luis Vega, and Pascale Armand.

“Heirloom is sort of like that part in your life after [the television series] Girls when you start to realize, ‘Oh god; I’m an adult, and I have to get out of the Neverland of Brooklyn’ kind of thing. I think that for anyone going through that and trying to figure out how to manage all of these different sort of needs… like as a millennial you have this need to be successful. You have this need to be artistically fulfilled. You have this need to satisfy what your parents define as success,” Hughes said. “I’m 100% one of those believers that sometimes you have to step out of things and look at the big picture and then just individually look at each problem or each piece of the puzzle.”

Hughes’ story offers comfort to anyone who’s ever spent countless hours refreshing their Gmail hoping against hope to receive a life-altering message that never arrives. Instead of lamenting the loss of an opportunity, Hughes made her own luck, and in the process, demonstrated how life is really just one big Rube Goldberg machine that’s both maddeningly and exhilaratingly impossible to predict.

As for her relationship with Vimeo, Hughes gushed that she has an “artistic crush” on the website while praising the exciting new era of digital storytelling.

“I love the way that the industry is changing. You turn on a network TV show right now and everything is getting so watered down, to a certain extent. It’s really lovely watching these new places have such momentum and strength. Like, I don’t think you would have Netflix being able to put out Stranger Things five years ago, and I just love that a new form of storytelling is taking fold and being given legitimacy and getting celebrated.”

Hughes continues to thrive in her dual professions as she helps to perpetuate the idea that there’s more than one road that can lead to happiness. While the actress hopes to make another season of Heirloom, she plans to use what she’s learned from the experience in future projects.

“[Making Heirloom] was such a thrilling, exciting way to learn about storytelling from a different perspective,” she said. “So hopefully Heirloom will be my gateway drug into making more work. “

[Watch Heirloom on Vimeo]