Seed catalogs, cure for the winter blahs

Do you know what just arrived in my mailbox?

The 2009 Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog. Drum roll, please...

Here is their website: www.rareseeds.com

I went to their website to order a catalog and thought it would not ever come. This was part of my planning in case we have a much huger economic slow down than people think we are going to have. Stony Creek Digest was having a discussion on that, and someone suggested these guys in their comments. Growing your own garden is a really good idea if you foresee food prices rising. I don't know for sure if they will, things have stabilized for now, I think, but considering the past year or so, I think I will just live very frugally and then if things go downhill, at least I had fun getting prepared. I really love learning about gardening.

Occasionally it occurs to me that someday I will be partially in control of some amount of farmland, unless my parents do something completely unforeseen and sell it all. That is just not likely, so I'd better keep my green thumb handy in case farming is in my retirement plan. I have an inkling that it is, at least part-time. And in California. Currently my parents are beginning a process of readying said property to make hay, literally. They are tractor shopping and pole barn shopping, and I guess they might be serious. I'm glad it's hay and not cows. I'm not ready to play midwife to anything with four legs right now, and hay is relatively stress free. You worry about the weather, but what can you really do about that? Other people's dogs, on the other hand, you always feel bad shooting. Ah... farm life. I miss it so.

Because I enjoy it and because I used to do it with my family, and because it's likely to be in my future, I keep reading the fun hippie seed catalogs. Heirloom gardening is very, very interesting to me. First, there is a profit involved, because when something is rare, it is more expensive. Secondly, there is worldwide history involved. Thirdly, this stuff is just healthier for you, and more fun to look at, at least in a lot of cases. There are many hobby farms that try to keep certain breeds alive, since there is less interest in them now that everything is so commercialized. You thought the endangered species list was interesting? Try the list of farm animals and plants that are going extinct just for lack of interest in farming!

I have no idea how to keep seeds. I need to get a book on that. I did follow the directions this year for my beans, and next year we'll see if I did it right. I think you just dry them out for a couple of weeks and store them cool and dry. Right?

This catalog is amazing. These people have built a regular old west town around their business. It was started by one son of a homeschooled family, when he was 17. Seventeen!! What male teenager has an obsession with seeds? Well, he got married a bit ago and now they have a little girl. The catalog is beautiful, and gives some history of certain seeds from places like Iran and Israel and Thailand, not just the US. It is indescribably beautiful and makes me want to get in the van and just go see the place next summer. I've never been anywhere near Missouri, though. It would go nicely with a trip to uncover some Laura Ingalls Wilder history, too, being also in the Ozarks, where she and Almanzo ended up.

So many things to do, how can anyone in their right mind ever be bored?

I told DH that Rikki should NOT see this catalog. I stand by that comment. But how can I possibly resist the looks of giddy glee that will come over her face when she sees this thing?

Oh, and by the way Rikki, I did that dump run today we've been meaning to do. So when you get home and your garage is missing a few items, don't worry, it's just the garbage.

Tempting as it was, I still did not lose your cat in a snow drift. It was on my to-do list, though. :)