After a seven-hour drive and a week with family for the holidays, we struggled into the house under boxes and bags, new socks and leftovers for our dinner that night. I quickly surveyed the house- cat, over excited dog, no strange smells and a dining room table stacked with mail. I did the quick flip through for something good and I found it. Seed catalogues! A whole stack of them and I had the first week of January at home to indulge.
Seed catalogues! What else would I write about this time of year? They are so tempting. Their lovely covers of luscious fruit and flowers, sun kissed farmers in dirty overalls, looking like they sprung from the earth themselves and page upon page of color and descriptions that make every seed package seem to hold the allure of a foreign country, a uniqueness all its own and a quality that surpasses all other varieties. The best catalogues can be read from cover to cover. They are witty and have stories to tell. These pages are left on my coffee table, the kitchen table and my desk. I take a moment here and there to flip through and fantasize. This is the fun part. I can and will grow something on every page of every catalogue in my dreams in these cold winter days.
This morning a friend was over for coffee and we perused a couple catalogues while chatting about the plants that took up too much space and didn’t earn it, what we didn’t grow and missed last summer, what vegetables were keeping well and what were not, and the no brainers- sungold tomatoes for us! Although it was an easy morning of chitchat, it was productive. It was the beginning of getting serious about this seed business for a whole new year. Oh, I am excited about the potential. For now though, in the world outside- bring on the snow! My fantasies have their work cut out for me.
