New Library Pack Varieties

Hey folks!

We're happy to announce that Poughkeepsie Farm Project has recently provided us with surplus locally grown seeds from its  City Seeds Program, a project that "aims to increase awareness of, participation in, and capacity for a healthy and just food system in the Mid-Hudson Valley, offering young people ages 14-24 opportunities to learn and engage in urban farming and gardening, community education, farm marketing, food policy, and seed saving." Wendy Burkhart-Spiegel, PFP's Garden Manager, recently let us know that she's interested in participating in our local seed-production network for 2010, and happened to mention that she had a few surplus varieties from the past two seasons--would we be interested? Of course we would!

The five new varieties are:

Shirofumi Edamame Soybean: a delicious, succulent, buttery soybean that is ideal for fresh eating; they also freeze beautifully for edamame all winter, to go with your miso soup or roasted winter squash.

Provider Bush Green Bean: a popular, heavy-yielding green bean that does what it says, cranking out huge quantities of tender green beans over a window of about three weeks. Does well throughout the season.

Magenta Lettuce: a red-tinged lettuce that tolerates summer heat well. Frilly outer leaves, crispy and thick-ribbed inner core. A nice choice for mid-summer salads.

Tiger Eye Bean: a beautifully-marked, elongated red- and tannish-yellow bush dry bean that is pinto-like in flavor and culinary use; skins shed quickly when cooked.

Black Turtle Bean: very versatile black bean, terrific in soups, cooked then fried with garlic, or in sweet potato burritos. Easy to grow, bush habit.

All of these varieties will be making their way into the catalog tomorrow and will be available immediately. Many thanks to all the folks (especially Wendy) at Poughkeepsie Farm Project for making five more locally grown varieties available to the Seed Library.