I'm a seed hoarder

I had actually meant to start a few seeds inside in March but it seemed that time kept getting away from me. Today, with only a few weeks to go before when I should be transplanting I took some time, pulled out my seeds, and began to plant.

I love the smell and feel of the potting soil. The colors on the seed packets are always vibrant and make me long for the sweet smell of wet earth and fresh carrots.

I realized though, when I pulled out my seed packets, that I perhaps have a problem.


Hi. My name is Lacy and I'm a seed hoarder.

Every year I buy my seeds and instead of throwing out what I don't need or better yet, passing them on to others, I put them in Zip Lock baggies, label them and put them in the garden shed.

I was surprised that packets of the same kinds of seeds seemed to purchased year after year for now three years in a row. (I'm looking at your Green Beans) Frankly, it was a little embarrassing.

I also noticed that my gardening know how and ability seem to have increased.

When I first started I just grabbed whatever seeds in the garden store looked interesting. Not sure what I was thinking when I bought jalapeno seeds. I don't even LIKE jalapenos!

Now I only purchase heirloom seeds and I think long and hard about how I want to eat what I grow. I wont plant lettuce again since my family are not big salad eaters. We love cucumbers though and I think we need a few more plants around here of those.

This year I'm trying a couple of new things. I'm going to try and grow watermelon and another kind of melon. I've added garlic.

And I threw out the old seeds. Anything from 2010 just had to go. A couple of the 2011's went too.

And I planted tomatoes. Amish Paste and Fox Cherry. I also planted mini yellow peppers. Just for fun. (And because my girls will eat them.)

I find when I do my gardening outreach it's always good to have something people can pop in their mouths right then and I hope those peppers do it for them.

Viva la Tomato!

Real Prepping

I am totally and completely blessed with the family God gave me, not just the one I married and the ones I birthed but also the extended family such as Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.

This weekend we will be visiting one of favorite Aunts and her family for Easter. I am beyond excited because I will get to see two of my cousins (I have a total of 11 cousins. My family is Irish so it's considered a small family.) and rub their baby bellies and just allow my kids to be in the presence of family. They live in a small town and even by the towns standards they live outside of town. They still have dial up. They just got cable and only because we visit and might want to watch something. I love being out there because it's so remote and we aren't able to be distracted by the hum of every day life.

One of my favorite things about my Aunt's house is that she and my Uncle Prep without meaning to. I've actually mentioned them before and my secret coveting of their cold room.

Something that has come up recently for me though is that I have ANOTHER Aunt and Uncle who at one point did a lot of prepping. They bought water and toilet paper and buckets of wheat in preparation for Y2K. Once Y2K passed they let it go and have since stopped any type of prepping as well as they stuff they USED to do such as canning their own food and raising their own chickens.

I love and admire my all of my family but I have to be honest. Y2k never scared me. The economy, solar flares and peak oil. THAT scares me.

In the end I don't think growing and eating your own food is just for preppers or just for locavores or just FOR anyone. I think it should be for EVERYONE.