Garden Notes for Seedy Folks (Underwater)

On Saturday we celebrated the Solstice in the dank gloom of this unseasonable cold and wet June. Since we could not have the customary outdoor bonfire, we lit a candle. I thought about our poor peppers, sitting in saturated mud, and the tomatoes with their toes testing the temperature of a few inches of standing rainwater. I also thought about each of you, hoping your gardens were surviving the weather. I thought about all the first time gardeners; rest assured, budding green thumbs, that this has been one of the most difficult springs in memory.

This season has been full of challenges here at Seedy Farm. It reminds me that no matter how hard we work, or how experienced or inexperienced we may be, as gardeners and farmers we must learn to work with what is: the weather, weeds, the slugs, flooding, deer. Growing is a continual process of letting go. Using organic techniques and open-pollinated plants is an acceptance that we can't control nature. By working with, not against, the natural world we become a part of or local ecosystems and contribute to the health and vitality of our communities.

As we continue to learn what two people can accomplish running a homestead farm and Seed Library, Doug and I have come to realize that we need to accept our own limitations in terms of energy, time, and focus. This means allowing the Seed Library to change in ways that make the most sense for the current conditions. We may lose some seed crops this year, to flooding or deer, but many will thrive. One change we are making is that the newsletter has become a blog. The blog format allows us to update when we have time, add quick seed saving tips more frequently, and cut down on the number of emails we send. We hope you will all find that the blog format is useful to you as well.

You will not receive these blog posts in your email inbox. However, there are many ways to follow the blog. You can visit the home page of the website at anytime and scroll down to see the most recent blog post. You can visit the blog archives, sign up for RSS, or follow us on Twitter where I post blog updates as well as relevant articles and happenings.  We will continue to use this email list for workshop and event announcements, online sales, and to let you know when the annual catalog is ready.

Thanks again for being part of our seed saving community. The sun will shine again, the peppers will perk up, the tide will recede, and our gardens will show us what it means to be resilient.

Stay seedy,
Ken

Tomato Toes Underwater