Earth To Eats

When it rains…. Seed Savers Exchange Catalog received

21st November, 2009 - Posted by shawn - No Comments

I am just amazed at how early these catalogs are arriving this year.  Usually I’m sitting next to the Christmas tree drooling over the beautiful photos, but this year the turkey isn’t even cooked yet!

Perhaps gardening has gone the way of the other commercial ventures and decided to push the season earlier and earlier.  It’s OK by me, gives me more time to plan and get those wish list items in ordered even earlier.

The SSE catalog cover is a thing of beauty showcasing heirloom tomatoes and a badge for the group’s 35th anniversary.  This year they have over 200 certified organic products in the catalog which is great to see.

I did a quick walk through of this catalog while the baby took a nap and a few things caught my eye.

Page 17 showcase a fruit I love and one I’ve never heard of.  Huckleberry seeds are offered for $2.75 which is something I may need to look into.  My father once lived in an old log cabin surrounded by huckleberry bushes.  Alas I never had a chance to partake of their berry goodness and have wanted to grow them since.  This page also sports an entry for nipple fruit which I’ve never heard of, but unfortunately there was a crop failure so this one can’t be ordered.  I will have to do some research and perhaps look for this one next year.

I love the layout of this catalog this year – blocks of photos with labels make it so easy to look things over.  Reminds me of a well set up scrapbook page.  (Yes, I’m one of THOSE people… been keeping scrapbooks since before it was a money-making venture, back in the days of construction paper and rubber cement. We’re a bit more advanced now. )

Weird item of the day, page 45 features “prickly caterpillar.”  Yep, looks like caterpillars and they say they add them to salads but that usually they are not eaten.  Not sure they would make me want to eat a salad.

I also love the grower profiles in this catalog.  It is neat to see the people who are taking responsibility for adding to our genetic diversity (or ensuring it remains.)  Much more reassuring to see a man on his farm than some lab tech at Monsanto with a petri dish.

(Thanking someone at WordPress for setting up auto-save.  I nearly lost this entire post with the touch of a key – whew, glad I could get it back.)

My eye caught the Himalayan blue poppy on page 74, really neat looking flower with bright yellow on baby blue. $2.75.  Also was tempted by the interesting snail flower on page 77 but at $5.00 for 5 seeds I’m not sure I’m ready to risk it.

But what I probably will try is the Historic Pansies mix on page 78 for $2.75.  I’m a sucker for pansies and violas.

If you don’t get a Seed Savers Exchange catalog, you can order from them at www.seedsavers.org.  Their website is always interesting to visit and so far we’ve had great customer service from them.  If you join the organization you get 10% off seeds and some other great perks and publications.  It is worth checking them out.