Hello everyone
I feel like an addict. It's the middle of January and I've been pouring over the same seed catalogs for four weeks now. I keep re-reading the lavish descriptions of the tomatoes and eating up words like "luscious", "bursting" and "full-bodied" that seem so alien to the frozen landscape outside the window. After the terrible Late Blight (yes, this was the same nasty epidemic that caused the Great Potato Famine in Ireland in the late 1800s- this disease has a seriously nasty record) wiped out most of the solanacea (mainly tomatoes and potatoes) crops last summer, it seems almost reckless to be planning which incredible heirloom varieties to grow this year. But despite the tomato troubles of last season, Sue and I met the other day to talk about what to grow this summer, with the typical January confidence that this year will be different. Maybe the weather will stick to its New Year's resolution to behave itself for once.If any of you have gardens of your own, or are thinking about starting one, I wanted to let you know about a seed and gardening company from Waterville, Maine, called Fedco Co-op Seeds. It's a fair, above-the-board small company, where the people really know their varieties and give you straight-forward, informative descriptions and guarantee (to the best of their knowledge) that they don't carry any Genetically Engineered seeds or plants. So you won't be supporting Monsanto/Seminis (look them up, or read about them in "Omnivore's Dilemna"- Michael Pollan) with your business. In fact, you'll often be supporting organically and sustainably-grown seeds, with heirloom varieties that you won't find anywhere else. Its a company that I would highly recommend. I only found out about Fedco last year, because that's where Sue gets the majority of her seeds for the farm. It's definitely worth checking out if tomato varieties such as "Cosmonaut Volkov," "Rose de Berne," and "Cherokee Purple" get your mouth watering.
It's a bit early to start any seeds yet, but it won't be long before we get some germinating to start seedlings for Lucky Moon. I can't wait to taste that first tomato! (or pepper, or peas, or carrot, or lettuce, or beet... you get the idea)
To get me through the dark days of winter, I picked up a book I've been meaning to read for a long time: "Animal, Vegatable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. Now, I know she's a great author, but I had no idea she was so cool in real life! The book is a loose journal of her family's decision to try and eat for a year from food that they could obtain locally, from sustainable producers, or that they grew themselves. They move from Tucson, AZ (one of the more difficult places to live sustainably in our country, as much as I love it there) to a small farm in Virginia and begin a true adventure, daring to examine their eating and living practices and how they help or hurt their local economies, the environment and their own bodies. It's not an impassioned rant, but it is witty, hilarious and very compelling. I can't put it down. In addition to Barbara's wonderful writing, her husband and her eldest daughter both include short essays on various topics that coincide with particular chapters. These also include simple recipes featuring seasonal and locally-available produce as well as lots of internet links for finding out more on a particular subject. It's a wonderful read.
Gardening can be a slippery slope- once you start cultivating your own fruits and vegetables from the garden, or start getting them from a local CSA like Lucky Moon, or the farmer's market, or a co-op, your standards for what you eat start changing. Once you see how good real food can be, it makes you think about other things you might make yourself (or get from someone who has) instead of getting the industrial version that is produced simply to be a certain shape and have a certain color (why would we care what it tastes like?). I learned last summer that Sue makes her own bread, and I couldn't believe that she could possibly have time to do such a labor-intensive thing while running the farm. Without a bread machine. She told me that it really isn't that hard, or labor-intensive, when you do it a lot. And she's right. I decided to give baking bread a try, and even my first unpracticed attempts produced such tasty loaves that I kept at it. This is home-made bread, we're talking about. It's delicious! There's no way frozen dough that's baked in a supermarket oven can ever taste that good. I've been baking our own bread now since July and it really isn't a horrible chore. It's actually quite enjoyable, and is a skill that many of us in my generation, and even my parents' generation have not taken the time to learn. The next thing I want to try is making cheese. I know, I know, it sounds really drastic, like I've jumped off the deep end. But apparently Mozzarella takes 30 minutes to make, and as long as the milk isn't ultra-pasteurized, any milk will do. I'll keep you informed.
Keep dreaming of that summer garden- I keep looking out the window at my garden beds quietly blanketed with snow- the promise of another year.
