I have been bitten by the jealousy bug!  Sorry, but just the plain honest truth here.  I live in zone 4a in West central Minnesota and I am jealous of those can start planting outdoors or start seeds indoors.  I love all the photos I am seeing on Instagram of farmers and gardeners around the states who can busy their hands with seeds and plant duties.  I can only envision on my little farm, lush green rows of lettuce, blooming tomatoes, gorgeous orange pumpkins on the vine, bright green peppers waiting to be stuffed, and oh my, I need  to quit daydreaming and focus here folks!  Don’t feel to sorry for me though, we can typically start planting seeds indoors around mid march.  But before I can even do this, I need to finalize my seed orders.  I have spent alot of fun hours researching (you can tell by the lack of housekeeping I have done) all the seed catalogues and scouring the internet for those items we think will grow well here and also something new.  We do get kinda bored growing the same green bean year after year so we like to change it up and keep the fun factor in it. ( Yes, I should learn how to seed save for homesteading purposes)

We own and operate a small CSA (community supported agriculture farm, www.doublekhobbyfarm.com  and provide on average 40 families with wonderful garden produce.  Our season typically here is about 12-15 weeks depending on frost etc. One of our first steps to get ready for the season, is seed selection.  When I am shopping, I keep my focus on what we think our subscribing families would like to consume.  Each year, we try to incorporate more organic seeds for health purposes but also for our honey bees.  After we get the selections narrowed down, we look at how much quantity we need and the cost factor.

This year we are primarily working with www.JohnnySeeds.com and Agassiz seed supply.  If you like to do a local  farmers market or grow for your family,  what is the primary thing you look for in seeds?  organic? cost? days to grow? heirloom?

 

Growing up in Benson, MN, (1977-1988) we had a small backyard garden.  The landlord was gracious enough to let my mom till up a  small part of the yard.   She spent a lot of summer days weeding and watering while us kids went to local swimming pool.  She was a single mom raising 5 kids and the produce from the garden was a mainstay of our  summer diets and during the winter months, it was vegetable soup.   She made a big kettle and then towards the end, she would freshen it up with water, ketchup, and rice.  It was about 4 days of meals! 

It is encouraging to see the movement of people wanting and enjoying fresh local produce, not just because of the need to put food on the table.  If people continue to want, then we will keep growing healthy produce at Double K Hobby Farm and continue to teach our families of this life skill of gardening!