an invocation for 2014; ancient heirloom seeds (giveaway!); the january chores

2014! Here we are together; another threshold. And remember: "What we need is here," to quote the environmental activist Wendell Berry, whose poem I used as the epigraph in "The Backyard Parables." Before we get started with more seeds and the January chores, let's read it together, an invocation for the way ahead:

What We Need Is Here

Geese appear high over us,

pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,

as in love or sleep, holds

them to their way, clear

in the ancient faith; what we need

is here. And we pray, not

for new earth or heaven, but to be

quiet in heart, and in eye,

clear. What we need is here.

- Wendell Berry

Blessings to all of you, and thanks for your friendship and support of my funny garden enterprise. OK: Woo-woo moment is officially over; now, onward!

native seeds/search's ancient heirlooms (giveaway!)

Some people assert an heirloom variety must date to pre-1951ish (around when hybrids became popular); others claim 100 years old as the cutoff.  At Native Seeds/SEARCH in Tucson, Arizona -- whose 2014 seed catalog includes the motto "Ancient Seeds for Modern Needs" -- such heirlooms would be mere pups. Learn about, and maybe win, some of America's longest-cultivated seed varieties from the place where I bought seed for my very first oddball winter squash (above) decades ago.

january chores: a focus on seeds, but first, reflection

I hear you! Like the kid in the back seat on the way to somewhere special, all you want to know is, "Are we there yet?" There being: Is it time to start seeds -- or at least to do some serious seed shopping? The answers: Maybe not quite yet, unless you're much farther south than I am and the crop is onions, but absolutely yes on the binge. First let's review and reflect a moment, shall we, as we start laying plans together for the 2014 garden? The January chores.  

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