Apr 03 2008
Sprouting Stories
We planted seeds over the weekend. We were so incredibly surprised to see how quickly the zucchini and cucumbers have emerged and tripled in size over the past few days.
These plants are special, and a part of a larger movement to reintroduce old variety seed stock back into the market. Heirloom quality vegetables are just that – a vegetable with a history. Like stories, the seeds are passed down from generation to generation within a community. This heritage preserves the qualities of the vegetable. With the vegetable comes a story, and a link to the past.
We purchased these seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, a large family farm in Iowa that is committed to preserving heirloom seeds. I first learned of Seed Savers through the Ravelry group, Crafty Gardeners. From there, as I continued to read Barbara Kingsolver’s amazing book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
The cucumbers are a variety that was picked up by the larger distributor Abbott and Cobb in the 1920s. This particular cucumber was introduced in 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The cucumber seeds were part of a larger package of seeds called the Heritage Farm Favorites. [you wanna see something beautiful? check out these beets from Italy propagated in the 1840s!]
We selected plant varieties that are well-adapted to our region. We have pumpkins and tomatoes from Pennsylvania and beans from Maryland. As frost is still possible, we have our seedlings protected indoors. However, we are preparing the soil for their arrival. Blessed with sunny skies for the two previous days, Kris and I expanded our existing vegetable plot in the backyard. We diligently shoveled, mixed, and tilled. Tonight’s rain will prepare the soil further for the seedlings arrival. By early May, we should be able to transplant them outdoors.
I am quite happy that we have transitioned into the Earth element for Project Spectrum. I guess you could say I am *ripe* with inspiration for this two-month span. As you can see, gardening will be an important part of this element for me. With these fresh vegetables, I hope to create some delicious “earthy” fresh foods. I hope to also practice more weaving, and maybe stashbust knit a few accessories. I also have some idea for a collaborativeproject for Earth Day and Arbor Day later this month. I would love to hear what you have planned too!
Ooo, how exciting. I like the pictures. I sprouted seeds this year too, but I chose container flowers and herbs. Hopefully we’ll get a plot at the community garden and can grow vegetables this summer! That’s what I’m focusing on this round of PS3 also – gardening and growing. I also plan on focusing even more on adjusting my lifestyle to be more simple and green. Cultivating plants and habits! Of course, the knitting will be green as well.
) Geez, I guess I’m just ignoring the brown and metallic element! 
) I’ll be sure to eat more chocolate for the brown part. 
Wow – sproutlings already! I can’t wait to start my garden this year! I may try growing some things in eggshells this year. They can then be planted directly in the ground. Instand fertilizer!
I hope to start some tomato seeds this weekend with my 3-year-old daughter. They aren’t heirloom (I am going to check out that site though, very cool), but the packet is probably several years old, so they do have a little history to them.
Oh, those sprouts are lovely… and so shiny!
One day hopefully soon I’ll have a place where I can plant some vegetables. Your sprouts make me look forward to it even more!
Not being a vegetable gardener, I’m not usually one to be so intensely pulled into a gardening “story” as I was just now! It all sounds so beautifully historical and important! Lovely photos too, I’m a sucker for macro photography and goodness knows after such a seemingly long winter, sprouts seem just the ticket.
My summer garden is just about finished and I’m all nostalgic for it now, looking at your pretty little sprouts! Lovely.
I love your photos! The green is so vibrant. I really wish we had our own outdoor space. My oldest loves flowers and always tries to pick them from yards in the summer (which I don’t allow). I think my children would benefit from watching things grow. I have been contemplating joining our local CSA but I am the only one in the house with adventurous veggie tastes and I’m not sure I can eat it all alone.
I have been thinking of volunteering at one of the community gardens so they can get their hands dirty planting things, even if it’s not in a yard of their own.
I’m so envious of your green. The snow is still waist-high here (though melting, so there is hope).
I’m hoping to have my own little patch of veg this summer. I love heirloom plants. Feels like we’re connecting to our “roots”, doesn’t it?
Lovely photos.
Your plants are beautiful and full of such hope and promise!
lovely pictures. full of hope. I love early spring!
I’m so jealous you can plant in the ground!! I still have 2 months to go before I can do that!!!
stacey: they are very much indoors – not outdoors yet! it is too cold for them now… although we can plant some carrots outdoors now, I think…
beautiful!! i guess the only downside to living in such an urban area is that I can’t have a garden!! i’ll just have to live vicariously through you
The sprouts are beautiful; like brand-new babies!
Your sprouting veggies are beautiful, so shiny and new and hopeful. I’m watching all my fall planted bulbs start to peek out here.
I look forward to following your gardening adventures. Shawn and I have had plans and set aside a patch of our yard, but decided this isn’t the year to start – too much going on. So we’re sticking to our houseplants. I think I might go take some cuttings though so I can have some of that starting a new thing fun.
Thanks for the inspiration.
This is so exciting! I am also very glad to have EARTH in Project Spectrum this year. I am hoping to start a small veggie garden in our backyard this year, so I’m really appreciative of seed and gardening links you shared, because I am definitely a newbie at this. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks for your comment. I think I can´t make as many things in this month project spectrum that I made last month. Pink is my favorite colour that´s why I made so much works in right colour.
This is the first year I’ve been able to start plants from seed as well (something went wrong last year). And it was motivated by listening to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I know I won’t ever be able to completely sustain myself with my balcony garden of herbs and tomatoes, but it’s a fun start. Looking forward to seeing how your plants do!
I read Kingsolver A, V, M and it has made me rethink my procurement of food quite a bit. I need to get onto the planting thing…they aren’t going to plant themselves, I suppose.
Yay for gardening – I too have little sprouts growing in my windowsill. A great start to PS-Earth. I’m also really wanting to read that book!
Thank you so much for posting this link–that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for to start my own vegetable and herb garden and I placed a healthy order this morning! I too have been inspired reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and The Omnivores Dilemma and I’m so glad that my reading has coincided with spring and the start of the earth element in PS3! I’ll be looking forward to seeing the fruits of your efforts.
Boy, do I need you as my gardening mentor! My husband planted seeds indoors (for the first time) three weeks ago, and I think we went about it the wrong way. Of the 18 containers he filled with seeds, only three have sprouted, and they are teeny tiny!
We created a small raised garden bed a few weeks ago and plan to plant garlic and lettuce outdoors this weekend (Elkridge, Maryland area). We’re kind of fumbling our way through this first year of gardening, but I hope we get some payoff in the form of yummy veggies.
If you’d ever be interested in getting together to discuss gardening, let me know! I’d love to hear more about what your set-up is like, being that we also live in a townhouse with next to no land!
Such adorable sprouts! We’re planting tomato seeds this weekend and I am SO ready for them!
I’m also a huge fan of the Kingsolver book (well, all of her books!) and I live quite near her…her farmer’s market (in Abingdon, VA) is just a 20 minute drive and opens in another 2 weeks!
As for the Earth theme, I plan on focusing on gardening and on yarns that come “from the earth” like cotton, soy and bamboo and am already inspired by all the blooming things as I dye!
whhat beautiful photos! thanks for sharing!
Better go and get my seedlings ready. Thanks for the reminder. I hope this year will a great one for gardening.
Thanks for buying heirloom seeds! I think it’s a really important thing to do. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle really changed the way I look at food. And it definitely changed the way I spend my food money.
Lovely spring green growth there Lolly. We had lovely weather today and I was itching to get back out in the garden, too much work to do unfortunately!
Gorgeous pics! It will be so exciting to have fresh veggies this summer!
I bought some very sad grape and raspberry plants from Lowe’s a few weeks ago that were cut down to the saddest stumps. I am so excited to see they are thriving with tons of leaves now! I normally have a black thumb, so I am hoping that I can keep these guys alive
Those veggies are going to be terrific. I just finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle this morning and am even more energized to do it local!
We’re lucky in that we have one of the top heirloom tomato guys in the country living right here in NC and I have been buying heirloom tomato plants from him for about 10 years now. They are about the only thing that I actually grow myself. Lucky also in that we live in a large farming area and more and more of them are going into organic farming.
Looks like a lovely start. I’m no green thumb (not even close) but maybe one of these days I’ll figure it all out and have my own fresh veggies – until then I’m a local organic market kind of girl!
I hope you’ll keep us posted on the sprouts.
Loved this blog entry! I am a big believer in choosing the older varieties of plants, bushes, bulbs, and vegetables. For one thing, many of the super hybridized versions are designed not to reseed. (I like to propagate in my garden, for myself and others.) Also, when it comes to bulbs, those things like the triple-petal, wavy, two-color daffodil have a notorious way of blooming once and then never blooming again. It’s like they shot off everything they had that first spring and then had nothing more to give. (Once wasted 100 daffodil bulbs this way! Argh!)
Lastly, my nutritionist and holistic doctor say that part of the reason we need to take multivitamins (and the like) today is because we have literally breeded the nutrition out of our food. In other words, a leaf of spinach was more nutritious 40 years ago, than it is today. This is because we are breeding for the “pretty factor” and for bug resistance, etc — not for taste. We are also breeding food plants to stand up to shipping times, etc. Taste and nutrition come way down the list.
I absolutely go with heritage and heirloom plants and seeds. I just picked up some nice old rose plants at Costco. They might have 25% fewer blooms, but they will hold up better and with fewer pesticides, which I don’t use anyway.
Beautiful pictures! I must fill you with so much happiness to have these beautiful reminders of spring right in your home. It’s such fun to think about all of the fresh vegetables you’ll soon be able to enjoy. I’d like to grow a few veggies on my deck this year, I may be asking you for advice when I see you.