Heirloom seeds

At the moment, I have about fifty things going through my head. Don't worry, I will only write about forty-nine of them. Maybe.

I'm eating a really amazing sandwich. I should have taken a picture of it. It's too late now and sorry, but I am not going to stop eating to grab my camera. Which reminds me I should start some alfalfa sprouts, so I can have an even better sandwich later this week... and sprouts might be fun to take photos of as well.

I really need to add butter croissants to my arsenal of home-baked bread products.

Someone left the light on in the coop, so I have to go back outside again. I have no one to blame but myself, but that's OK, I love my chickens.

I've had a whole week to calm down since my seed order arrived, but I just can't help myself. They're so beautiful, I keep picking them up and smiling while I listen to them roll around in their envelopes.


It's that time of year, people! The weather may be frightful, dreary and bleak, but my garden is already growing in my head.

Oh! And the color pictures on these things are half my problem, I think. I see them sitting on the counter across the room, where they're screaming at me, "Pick me up! Gaze upon my gorgeousness and fondle me!".

Seriously, it should be illegal to put pictures like this on a seed package.


I can't get a darn thing done with them in the house. Every time I put them away, they call to me and I have to get them out again just to be sure, ummm... I don't know.

They are awfully pretty though, don't you think?

Besides being pretty, trust me, these are very special seeds.

They came from Seed Savers Exchange which means they are all heirloom seeds. Not a hybrid to be found. That means I can save my own seed. Each seed package, in fact, comes with instructions for saving your own seed from the lovely things once they grow in your garden. Detailed instructions too, like what each will cross pollinate with, and how far apart those items must be grown.

Each one is a historic variety that was painstakingly saved by someone for years and years. Some were thought to be lost and later found.

Personally, I believe saving my own seed is not a trivial thing. Once Monsanto takes over the world (and the truth is, they will), it will be the little people who had the foresight to save their own seed that end up saving humankind from certain disaster. Monsanto is evil. Maybe I'll write more on that another day.

Anyway, right now I have hope. Tiny little balls of hope rolling around in brightly colored envelopes. They are full of potential, waiting to do the one thing they were created to do.

I can't wait to see them grow. I am so excited to see how these varieties do here in our neck of the woods prairie. I ordered some cool stuff, an extra-early tomato, kale hardy to -10F, onions that store like rocks, tiny extra-early melons, gorgeous eggplants and swiss chard that looks like my kids colored it.

I have a friend who also ordered from Seed Savers Exchange, and we are planning our own little seed exchange. Seed saving goes hand-in-hand with seed sharing, it builds community and empowers us, and frees us.

Monsanto can kiss mine.