oh, those seeds.

While I am by no means a master gardener and I just garden a small strip of partial-shade yard closely abutted by two houses (and tons of pots), I am a very enthusiastic gardener. I love growing food. I love the creativity, color, and dynamism of gardening. I find comfort looking at and caring for these plants and I love that our yard is a riotous chaotic colorful interesting living place in a neighborhood where most people never even enter their side yards but to mow. So - Colorful? Unusual? Rare? Oh yes. Interesting story behind it? Definitely. We're not out there months of the year working on the garden to have everything we already know. I want to experiment with new varieties and try to find the most outrageous, colorful or unusual fruits and veggies to go along with my regular favorites. If I can expand and change a bit every year then I am learning and growing along with my garden. Sometimes things fail, but the amazing thing is that most of the time things grow and flourish. And everything we try, everything we taste, everything we remember, nourishes us, in more way than one.

What I look for in seeds is open-pollinated heirloom varieties. That is very important to me and I think important to the future of our food biodiversity. If I find biodynamic or organic seeds that are both of the above that is a bonus. I stay away from the big 'M' and don't buy any seeds from any company owned by them, or who use seed suppliers owned by them.

My favorites list may change from year to year as we experiment with new and different seeds, but I always have a good handful that I just have to go back to year after year.


Here are a few fav's this year:

Seed Savers Exchange - We hope to visit their Heritage Farm this summer.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds - They are out there changing the world one seed at a time and they rock. We may take a road trip to visit them this summer too.

Abundant Life Seeds - (some Biodynamic seeds)

Peaceful Valley

Southern Exposure

Seeds of Change

This is just a few on a big list of good seed companies. Email me if you would like some more...


I was digging through my iPhoto, looking through pictures from the garden last summer and they all looked so lovely (on these blah Feb. days) that it aches. While I like winter, by now I'm numbed by the monotony of color and cold, and when I look back through garden season photos each winter I am hit by how happy and intensely colorful everyone and everything looks! The green lusciousness, the flowers, the vegetables, the blue skies and little boys lying in the warm grass watching the clouds go by. And to think that all those garden photos were taken more than SIX MONTH AGO. Well, I think I'm ready for some seed starting and garden planning. I'm ready to plot and plan. I'm ready to dream a little (or a lot) - and find some riotously colored veggies and fruit to grow. How about you?