Seed Time!

...seed catalogs time, that is!  This one, my first one of the year, came in 2 days ago.  I love that it is illustrated in the old fashioned way.  The first few pages and the last few pages are of their most popular selections are always in color...

 

The last few pages are always of flowers and those are always in color as well: 



 

 

 But the middle pages are in black and white:



The old timey-ness of it is fun.  I think this year I am going to order a few things from here.  I have ordered from them in the past and have always been pleased.   Last year we weren't able to get any Top Crop green bean seed locally.  I notice that they have them in this catalog, so I might go ahead and order them. 

Also last summer I had volunteer pumpkins and spaghetti squash thrive and grow, so I thought I would try growing pie pumpkins.  Of course, last summer was a drought and the bugs were pretty scarce.  I didn't even see any squash bugs until early fall.  This coming summer might be super wet and allow the squash bugs to thrive.  I might take the chance anyway though.  It was nice having pumpkins in the garden, it gave it a certain charm, I think.

I will probably visit the Mennonite nurseries in the area and get bedding flowers and other vegetables.  They are always more reasonable with their prices than the box stores.  

It is funny that just over 2 months ago, maybe, I was thoroughly sick of gardening and now in the dead of winter I am already gearing up to begin it again.  For me I guess a great deal of the fun is in the planning.  


Comments

Donna. W said…
I hate to order from the catalogues because when you pay for shipping, it costs so much.
January 4, 2024 at 7:51 PM
Calfkeeper said…
It does cost too much; and I can't even remember the last time I ordered from one. But I want to make sure I get what I am looking for this year; often they just don't have it locally.
January 5, 2024 at 6:17 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Oyster

It isn't even halfway through the month yet and I have run out of lists or anything amusing to tell you about the dairy. So here is a poem I picked up on a homesteading forum. It does deal with ag issues, just of a different sort... Enjoy! The Oyster Baxter Black The sign upon the café wall said OYSTERS: fifty cents. "How quaint," the blue-eyed sweetheart said with some bewildermence, "I didn't know they served such fare out here upon the plain." "Oh, sure," her cowboy date replied, "We're really quite urbane." "I would guess they're Chesapeake or Blue Point, don't you think?" "No ma'am, they're mostly Hereford cross . . . and usually they're pink But I've been cold, so cold myself, what you say could be true And if a man looked close enough, their points could sure be blue!" She said, "I gather them myself out on the bay alone. I pluck them from the murky depths and smash them with a...
Read more

Like Cats A'Fightin'

Image
That's a local saying when it's snowing hard. Snowing like cats a'fightin'. You can look out and see the fur flying. Ellen had never been outside while it was actually snowing. She was enchanted. She had to have a bucket of it to carry around. It was in the mid-20s but we took a bit of a walk before coming back in for a nap. The snow is still too dry to be able to make a snowman, it is really powdery. So far we have somewhere between 3 and 4 inches, I would suspect.
Read more

The Blind Calf Story

Image
This happened last month. I thought it was an interesting case. Wed Aug 15th 2007 8:30 AM: Went out and brought new heifer calf and cow in from field. Not too sure how old calf was; umbilical cord sort of dried up, but calf still seemed damp. Left her with cow all morning ‘til maybe early afternoon, then separated them. Beautiful, normal calf. 6 PM Fed calf bottle. She slugged back the whole thing. Thurs Aug 16th5:15 AM (approx) Calf comatose. Or as near as I could tell. She was on her side, non-responsive, drooling, head on ground, eyes closed or just barely opened. I tried to feed her bottle but she only swallowed convulsively once or twice, then milk just drained from her mouth. 5:30 AM. Husband went out and looked at her. Drug her out of pen and out of the way to be taken to boneyard later after chores were all done. She was barely breathing and as I said, totally non-responsive.This was a real grief as the cow she came from is a great milker and to get a heifer from her was a joy....
Read more