We did not get the seed order done by mid-January this year. We were still picking up from moving, and we thought we still had a big box of seeds from 2011. It turned out that the mice in Wells had been busy, and we had a big box of empty seed packets. Oops.
Our goal this year is to return to growing all of our own food except the proverbial flour sugar and coffee. We’ve got much better land this time, so we hope to be selling veggies in a couple of years.
We’re breaking sod this year, and Lisa will be working mostly alone, so I’m going light on the root crop orders. I’m less worried about the seed, because all but a very few will keep for at least 3 years. They’ll be stored in canning jars this time.
I started with The Maine Potato Lady because as usual she is selling out fast. She is already out of All Blue, which is a bummer because we like them. We may pick some up at the farm store come spring. I ordered Adirondack Blue instead because she said good things about it. New to her and thus somewhat pricey, but it’s a small order this year. (She contracts with local farmers for all her product.)
ORDER DETAILS UNIT PRICE TOTAL
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PRODUCT Yellow Moon Dutch Shallot – conventional – SPRING SHIP – 1 pound
PRODUCT Potato Onions – organic – FALL SHIP- 1 Pound
PRODUCT Red Thumb – organic – 1 Pound
PRODUCT Mountain Rose – organic – 2.5 Pound
PRODUCT Adirondack Blue – organic – 5 pounds
I ordered the potato onions for fall shipment because I’ve wanted them since 2008. So did a lot of other people, and they’ve been basically unavailable. I’m getting in the MPL’s queue early this time, and maybe a couple of other places as well.
Next up were the Southwestern specialties. Pinto beans, Black Turtle beans and Big Jim chiles. It turns out that the old bean varieties are still the cultivars on supermarket shelves. Black Turtle beans are becoming popular, likely because the only substitute is a Cherokee variety, unsurprisingly called Trail of Tears. Anyway, Google found many sources, even including Johnny’s for Black Turtle, but Pinto beans are surprisingly hard to find. I ended up going to Everwilde Farms for both.
Black Turtle Beans 0.25 lb.
Pinto Beans 0.25 lb.
I went with Hatch Chile Express. They sell seed in quarter ounce units, which they describe as “enough for a backyard garden.” At 4500 seeds per ounce, that’s quite some back yard.
Big Jim Numex chiles 0.25 oz.
We switched to Johnny’s four our other root crops this year. To get plants, that meant Patterson onions and King Richard leeks. Both are similar varieties to what we’ve been getting. We did get the same Beauregard sweet potatoes. Unsurprising since they have a strong reputation as the best variety for northern growers.
Lisa wanted to switch to Johnny’s because the crunchy to cheap ratio is far higher here in Vermont than it is in New Hampshire. Over there, virtually everyone is satisfied if you follow organic practices since they have no desire to pay for paperwork that doesn’t actually make the food better. In Vermont they want, and, fortunately, will pay, for the paperwork. Me, I think they’re touched in the head, but their money is fine.
The main seed order goes out this week.