The excitement of spring is already in the air! The snow is melting (for now), baby chicks are chirping, the maple sap is flowing and everyone here is itching to start planting! It seems like every other conversation around here has something to do with seeds.. Boxes and envelopes packed full of spring treasures are coming in the mail every week.. Spring Seed Excitement is at its peak!

It begins harmlessly enough. Seed catalogs. They start rolling in when winter is at its darkest, filling us with hope and dreams of warm days that are sure to arrive soon.. flipping through the colorful pages with the children and circling anything and everything that appeals to us, far more than we would ever have room to plant in a season!

After the fourth or fifth catalog, we need more than just pictures to satisfy the itch, we need to get our hands onbearislandcorn some actual seeds! Luckily we have a rather decent collection here to sort through.. seeds that we’ve saved from previous harvests, some that we’ve scored in trades and seeds that have been gifted to us by friends and fellow collectors. And even with this abundance already stockpiled I can’t help but order more every year! Already this spring I’ve purchased three or four varieties of bean, some peppers, two different melons, as well as the Terra-Cotta Tomato and Potawatomi Lima Bean! Sometimes I think I might have a problem..

Every problem has a solution though, right? My solution is sharing this abundance of seeds with everyone that is interested in growing them! I want to get these seeds into the hands of people that will use them.. and hopefully they collect the seeds from what they grow so that they can be shared again..

Fagiolo del Angelo ImperoAnd that’s why we started organizing an annual seed swap. There’s no better way to bring like minded people together to share seeds, tell stories and build a community. Last year’s swap was quite a success and this year’s is gearing up to be even better! We’ve even been lucky enough to receive an impressive number of donations from some of our favorite seeds companies to make sure that there’s plenty of seed for everyone that’s interested! Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, High Mowing Seeds and Seed Savers Exchange all came through with some great stuff for everyone! Be sure to visit their websites and browse through the amazing selections they offer!

If you’d like to check out the swap, its coming up quick! Sunday Feb. 28th at Creative 360 in Midland.. there’s more info on our website or the Facebook event page too… check it out if you’re interested, we’d love to have you join us!

I’ve got a lot of other fun seed adventures to share with you in future blogs too.. Working with Joseph Simcox and crew at Gardens Across America, our experiment growing potatoes from true botanical seed (TPS), my seed saving class at Delta College and lots, lots more! Stay tuned folks.. and happy growing!

 

-Ben