The seed catalogs arrive in January, vegetable porn for eyes weary of a bare wintry landscape -- an explosion of green, chartreuse, crimson, scarlet, gold, yellow, orange and coral, purple, mauve and lavender in a time of somber grays and whites and browns.
The abundance of varieties overwhelms me -- a profusion of peppers -- six pages worth in the Seed Savers catalog -- with names like poems: Aji Cystal, Black Hungarian, Bull Nose, Fatalii ('the hottest pepper we offer'), Georgia Flame, Hinkelhatz, Red Rocoto, Rooster Spur, Tolli's Sweet Italian and Wenk's Yellow Hots.
I am on fire with capiscum desire.
I am on fire with capiscum desire.
I have saved some seeds on my own -- these are from one of the handsome winter squashes our friends brought us at Christmas. (It was delicious baked -- a robust, non-watery vegetable and the leftovers made a delicious curried squash soup.)
But for the most part, I'll be pouring over the catalog pages -- trying to balance lust and reality.
Lettuce -- I'll need both romaine and looseleaf -- and buttercrunch for spectacular flavor and oakleaf to get through summer's warmth. And there has to be a mix of color for at least one bed of bright greeny-yellow combined with deepest red -- maybe Red Velvet . . or Flame . . . or Mascara.
The speckled trout look of Forellenschuss is well nigh irresistible to me, as is the name -- as are varieties with French names -- Merveille des Quatre Saisons, Reine des Glaces, Rouge d'Hiver -- would I be as tempted if they were listed as Four Season Wonder, Ice Queen, or Winter Red?
Probably not.
Lettuce -- I'll need both romaine and looseleaf -- and buttercrunch for spectacular flavor and oakleaf to get through summer's warmth. And there has to be a mix of color for at least one bed of bright greeny-yellow combined with deepest red -- maybe Red Velvet . . or Flame . . . or Mascara.
The speckled trout look of Forellenschuss is well nigh irresistible to me, as is the name -- as are varieties with French names -- Merveille des Quatre Saisons, Reine des Glaces, Rouge d'Hiver -- would I be as tempted if they were listed as Four Season Wonder, Ice Queen, or Winter Red?
Probably not.
Okay, I'll stop drooling over the seed catalogs and announce that Tammy of Fairlight Farm is the winner of the forthcoming Miss Birdie book (or a copy of one of the current books, if she doesn't want to wait months for a prize.) Congratulations, Tammy!
We'll do another contest in the coming months.
We'll do another contest in the coming months.
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