Today, January 28, 2020, I received my first mail order seed catalog in my mail box. Yesterday, while walking at the Lexington Kentucky Arboretum, I saw several robins. Spring cannot be far off. For most of my life since I was a child, I have known that the arrival of mail order seed catalogs was a sure sign of impending spring. Yes, I know that the commercial seed companies do mail those catalogs in the dead of winter. But, in addition to bringing photographs of perfect produce, these catalogs also bring hope to the hopelessly home bound. When your first seed catalog arrives in the mail, you know that the earth has continued on its rotation around the sun, that the days are probably already getting a minute longer a day at least, and that the normal rotation of four seasons will likely once again be honored in the universe.
For most of my life, the Stark Brothers catalog has been my favorite. But I also enjoy all the others, especially Burpee, . Any of them can get my blood circulating faster; get me to believing that I should once again raise a garden even though I haven't done it in years; get me to lusting after the taste of a fresh, warm, sun ripened, homegrown tomato eaten with a salt shaker in the garden beside the plant on which it grew and less than one minute after it was plucked from the vine. Nearly all of these spring catalogs will contain photographs of several varieties of fruits and vegetables which I have never grown but always wish I had such as salsify, kohlrabi, rutabaga, Jerusalem artichoke, figs, lingonberry, currant, or marionberry.
But now that I have read Bill Best's excellent book "Kentucky Heirloom Seeds Growing, Eating, Saving", I know that I, and all of my readers, should exercise caution in making any decision about which seed company to order seeds from, which varieties to plant, and which to actually eat. Nearly all the major commercial seed companies are primarily marketing varieties of fruits and vegetables which have been genetically altered to produce fruits and vegetables with a variety of characteristics which were not selected with your best interests as a goal. They are not selected for long shelf life so they can be shipped from a plethora of Third World countries and retain their marketability over a long period. Most of them are hard, thick skinned, flavorless but beautiful specimens which will attract your attention from a mile off, hold their shape and appearance for days, and taste like cardboard or Styrofoam. Whenever it is remotely possible, we should all be producing, purchasing, and consuming fruits and vegetables of proven heritage varieties which have protected and preserved over hundreds of years, passed from one grower to another, from parent to child. They should have been dealt with in a manner which preserved their genetic purity and produced several generations with the very same desirable characteristics. I do not presume to be an expert of heritage seeds but I learned enough to know that heritage garden plants, fruit trees, and berry vines are best for the entire human race and the planet as whole.
Yes, it is fun to open that first commercial seed catalog of spring and lust after fresh tomatoes, potatoes, corn, beans, and watermelons. But out desires should be channeled toward the same varieties our ancestors carried across the oceans from the land of our personal heritage, varieties which have been handed down to beloved children and grandchildren from ancestors who carried those seeds on a pilgrimage to a better home with a vibrant, nutritious garden just behind the house. Enjoy spring whenever it comes and take some personal action to protect, preserve, and propagate heritage fruits and vegetables.
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