By Jean Thomas
Now what do we do? Christmas and all its affiliated mini holidays are done. The Decorations (at least the indoors ones) are cleared away. Not all of us are snow bunnies. We might not even have reliable snow, the way rain forecasts are popping up. The Super Bowl and Valentines’ Day festivities are weeks away. The good news is that the days are reliably getting longer. While we can’t garden outside, we have a couple of options inside. If you’re a veggie grower, you probably started receiving catalogs already. Depending on your level of fanaticism, you’re already designing next year’s plots or at least flipping through the pages and reading the names of exotic stuff out loud to the dog. The hard copy paper catalog is a powerful influencer, although less so nowadays, when the whole thing is available on line. I’m kind of a middle-of-the-road type. I want to be able to fold pages back and flip back and forth between catalogs. Once I have spent days at this, I can go to the website and place my orders and get instant gratification. Episode 5 of the Nature Calls podcast, https://ccecolumbiagreene.org/gardening/nature-calls-conversations-from-the-hudson-valley/episode-five-understanding-seed-catalogs, goes into some interesting detail, if you want to listen in while you’re browsing. There are so many seed companies, many of them in New York State, that you can specialize in just about anything, whether tree fruit or native flowers, veggies specifically for canning or the latest and greatest Dahlias. Most catalogs are free, but there are some so amazing that even I, proud Scotswoman that I am, will happily cough up whatever they ask. One particular gem is the Whole Seed Catalog put out by Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. If you get there early enough, sometimes you can buy a copy at the Tractor Supply Store. It’s a lot at $15, but the 2024 edition has over 500 pages of what I call pure plant pornography. I can spend an hour just reading the descriptions of the plants that might grow in my garden or dreaming about some that might be borderline and maybe will grow this year. The story of how the company started and continues to ethically produce fruits and vegetables is like a novel. They also produce a much smaller free catalog you can order online, if money’s tight. You can also just order everything from the website, and the quality of the descriptions is equal to any in the print catalogs. Hudson Valley Seed Company is based in Accord, NY. They are specialists in heirloom and open-pollinated seed, and their seed packs are a thing of beauty. Literally. They put out a call each year for artists to create the designs on the seed packs. The result is a beautiful outside packet that unfolds to reveal an artwork on the front and information about the plant and the artist on the reverse. Within the pack is an envelope with the actual seeds inside. There is a retail store in Accord if you just can’t wait (check for hours), and they have a beautiful web site. A little further to the east, in Columbia County you can visit Camp Hill Village, the home of Turtle Tree Seed. This is a company that grows organic, biodynamic seed. They have a facebook page and a terrific website. There are other small seed companies scattered through the state, and it could be an adventure to track them down. Page Seed is in the town of Greene, in Chenango County, and Bentley Seed is based in Cambridge, in Washington County. These companies all have fascinating histories, many that reach back into the 1800s, and a thoughtful attitude that reaches forward into our future.
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