Good morning, friends!

Yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post showed you the highlight of my day yesterday...well at least ONE of the highlights of my day: my order from High Mowing Organic Seeds in Vermont came yesterday.

I have been playing around with the idea of planting a bit of something again this year.  Last year was a bust - killed everything BEFORE I could put it in the ground.  My lil' buggers helped me "start" the seeds last year - may have them "help" me again with some of it...we shall see.  There was lots of potting soil and water spread about that afternoon - all good and lots of fun.

Last year a grabbed a couple of packages of very cheap seeds from the local Wally World, which may have lead to the demise of my plantings...no....I must be honest: I didn't do my job...they died.  Period.  This year, I went with High Mowing seeds for several reasons.

1. They are produced here in New England - in our sister state of Vermont.  Who knew they had a place like that, eh?  
2. They are organic - NO GMO's: YAY!  That is a good thing for us all!  
3. The company is committed to sustainable agriculture. Not only that, but if I so desired to make the 2 1/2 hour trip north, I could visit.  Combine that with a stop at King Arthur Flour (and maybe Ben & Jerry's??) and you've got a great day!!
4. It was incredibly fun to peruse the catalog and then super easy to purchase my seeds.  I liked the descriptions and they way they indicated which ones would grow well in our VERY short growing season here in New Hampshire.  I figure if they can grow in northern Vermont, we should be all good here.

So.... I went through the catalog and marked all the seeds I would like.  Then reality hit ($$$) and I picked the ten I thought my family would enjoy and that I could plant and grow successfully.  Therein lies my issue.  Successfully growing things.  One might think with the green thumbs that preceded me that I would be one heck of a gardener.  I am not.

Let's be honest, I killed an air fern once - it wasn't even alive!  Did you know that, according to Wikipedia, an air fern is: "a dead and dried colonies of hydrozoans, colonies of marine hydroids ... 
These dried hydroid colonies are commonly sold as a curiosity, as a supposedly decorative "indoor plant", or as underwater decorations for aquaria in stores. They are sometimes labeled as "Neptune plants". Despite a superficial resemblance to plants, they are actually animal skeletons or shells. The dried colonies are often dyed green, but, when soaked in water, the coloring will dissolve."   There is your bit of trivia for the day.

Deceased, marine hydroids - "AKA Air Fern"

Back to my seeds.  I went with:

• summer squash - both yellow and green - because hey, they grow like crazy;
• spinach because it is a "cool season hardy annual" and HARDY was the key word there.;
• bush beans because I thought the boys might have fun picking them growing on some sort of trellis-like thingy;
• basil because I love it and am thinking I could put it in a pot on the porch, maybe;
• sweet red peppers because the family loves them and they'd be fun to watch grow indoors first; 
• lettuce in honor of my Pepere - he always grew leaf lettuce and put sugar on it right out of the garden - want to share that with the boys;
• and finally tomatoes...3 kinds!  Gotta have the full-size ones, went with Brandywine because they are heirloom, black cherry tomato because I love the color and yellow pear cherry because when I worked at Tenny Farm so MANY years ago they grew them and they were delish!!

Yellow Pear Cherry Tomatoes from High Mowing

Now, I need to get some potting soil and containers to get them started!  Whoo hooo!  Let's forget all this snow and think about some wonderful, fresh veggies, shall we?

I would LOVE to know what you are planting this year!  Leave a comment with your favorites - I might have to try them next season!

Quilty hugs,
Carrie