We made it to the other side of the storm of a generation. Yay! But the actual reason I’m excited is that most of my veggie garden seeds came. It’s one of my favorite times of year.
The first of my seed orders is the brunt of it. The seeds nearly always come from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I love their philosophy on individuals saving, growing, and sharing seeds from heirloom varieties. Equally as important, and going hand-in-hand with their seed-saving philosophy, is their signing of the Safe Seed Pledge. Because I, too, do my level best to avoid planting genetically modified seeds, for the same reasons.
Back to the seeds that came in the mail… did I mention I’m excited? Squash, including a different variety of pumpkin I wanted to try, my favorite sunflower varieties, carrots that I’ll still need to remember to thin, tomatoes and peppers, Ragged Jack. My birds adore Ragged Jack kale. I hadn’t heard of it until a couple of years ago, when Baker Creek included it as a free gift. Now it’s one of my garden must-haves. Mustard, marigolds, cucumbers and tong ho, which is apparently a chrysanthemum, and edible. This will be my first try at growing this, and I envision stir fry and tea from it.
Speaking of free gifts, between the two seed shipments so far, I’ve received Mizuna, which is also new to me, Datil pepper, and Spoon cherry tomato seeds. Yep. Excited! The peppers are a hot variety, which should round out the sweeter and somewhat sweeter types I ordered. The cherry tomatoes I normally grow are huge, and these spoon tomatoes look adorable in comparison. My pea, bean, and of course, lemongrass order should be here very soon. I was able to get some more Purple Teepee bean seeds this time, although I had enough dried to get through last growing season. It’s been impossible to find Canada Crookneck winter squash seeds for a couple of years now, sadly, but Cinderella pumpkins sure do last through the winter. No worries.
I’ve been crocheting, mostly for presents during the holiday season, and now for selling, and that will keep me busy until spring. Well, that, making other items, and soon, hatching quail chicks. I’m in throw-making mode, currently. It’s relaxing to to fall into a chevron stitch or a blanket stitch, and either visit with family or watch a program. I should probably look at doing more stuffed animals or veggies soon. Hat-making season is done, for me, unless someone asks for one.
Each day, this past over a week, I have said, “I need to scale out some lye for soap.” And each day has either required hours of shoveling snow or hours recovering from it. My business is very personal, meaning, it’s mostly based on what I can do. If we collectively wish hard enough, maybe the weather will settle down a bit now, and I can get to that soapmaking.
