Friends! It is almost the best time of the year: the time to plant seeds!
SEEDS
The past two years I've gotten my seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I chose them because they had a wide variety of open-pollinated seeds and lots of strange heirloom varieties that I couldn't find other places. Also, and most importantly, none of their seeds are genetically modified. Now I'm not here to lecture you on the potential horrors of eating genetically modified vegetables (ahem) BUT my reasoning is that if I'm going to go through the trouble of growing my own food I want it to be as healthy as possible. I recently stumbled across a list of seed companies that are either owned by Monsanto or sell seeds from them, and then there's also a list of seed companies that are not affiliated with Monsanto and sell only non-genetically modified seeds. Here's the list and, of course, take it with a grain of salt since it's coming from a website called "Emergency Homesteader." But! Both Baker Creek and Happy Cat Farm are on there - I mention Happy Cat because they are right in Kennett Square and you can find their seeds at a lot of local places (including Reading Terminal) if you'd rather go for local seeds. Another local-ish one is D. Landreth Seed Company, which is near York.
Although I've been very pleased with my Baker Creek seeds I think I might try Happy Cat or D. Landreth for some seeds this year since they're closer. Plus they have lots of strange varieties that are hard to find elsewhere. This year I am going to actually try to save some seeds (fingers crossed!) so I'm looking for some slightly weirder things to grow. Plus, isn't it fun to grow produce you can't find in a grocery store or farmer's market? I think so!
One last thing: even if you're not too worried about eating genetically modified food, Monsanto still uses lots and lots of chemicals to grow their genetically-modified seeds - in fact, lots of their seeds have been genetically modified so that they can survive insanely high doses of pesticides. That's not cool, especially because those pesticides seep into the water and ground and then people and animals end up ingesting them unknowingly. This is where I grew up so I witnessed it firsthand and let me tell you, the fish in the Housatonic River are deformed and dying rapidly and it's just ridiculous what big companies can get away with in this country.
Anyway! Choose your seeds wisely. Soon it will be time to plant!