Sowing and Reaping and Watching Out For What's Lurking in the Sweet Corn

When I was a little girl, I lived with my family out in the country on a lot that was nearly an acre in size.  About one third of that lot was made up of our garden.  We grew all sorts of things in that garden, but some things we grew every year.  


Strawberries, peas, green beans, sweet corn, lima beans, carrots, watermelon, cantaloupe, and tomatoes were our regular crops.  Dad and Mom would experiment with other things from year to year, but those were the basics that they kept going back to.  Some of the other plants they tried growing were onions, radishes, rhubarb, lettuce, cabbage, strawberry popcorn, peanuts, and potatoes.  They liked to try something new once in a while for the sake of variety.

Yesterday, I was thinking about the garden that we had back then for two reasons.  The first reason was that for the first time in a long time, the sun was shining brightly here yesterday.  We had blue skies instead of the dreary, drab grey that has been with us for so long.  The temperatures even made it into the forties.  It was wonderful, even if it did come just for the day yesterday.  


When the temperatures start to creep up and we get closer to the arrival of spring, I think of gardens even though I no longer have the space for a garden nor the time to work in one and do it justice.  The only place I plant seeds anymore is in a couple of small flower beds we have here.  It is fun to browse through seed catalogs and look at all the lovely pictures of flowers and fruits and vegetables though.  This is a good time to do that.

The second reason I was thinking about gardens is that I received an email from an online seed company called Hometown Seeds.  They are trying to build up their business and asked if I could link to them in a blog post.  In return, they wanted to send me an order of their survival seeds.  Their survival seeds have a five year minimum shelf life and up to a ten year shelf life if kept frozen.  They are intended to help families have food during a crisis.  


As far as I can remember, we never had this kind of seed when I was young.  My parents bought their seeds in little bags from the local hardware store every spring and bought just what they would need for that season. I don't think the seed that they bought back then was intended to be kept from one season to the next.

I have written posts on this blog previously for free cookies and free earrings in exchange for providing links, so I thought why not write a post for some garden seeds too.  I don't mind helping people out.  There have certainly been many times in my life when others have helped me out.  I'm not sure how much help having  a link on my little blog is going to be, but I'll give it a try.

Although I have no garden to plant the seeds in that they are going to send me, I am sure I can put them to good use.  I may give them to friends who have gardens.  Or, I may donate them to the local homeless shelter.  I believe I read a while back that they have a large garden plot where they grow fresh produce to help  provide fruits and vegetables to our local food pantry.  That seems like it would be a very worthwhile use of survival seeds.  That would be survival at its most basic, I think.  I will look into it and see what I can find out.  It's good to remember that as you sow, so shall you reap.

Before I end this post, I would like to share a small anecdote with you about that garden we had when I was young.  My dear mother  spent many an hour stooped or squatted down among the rows of our garden picking green beans, or peas, or lima beans, moving along the row intent on putting the vegetables in a basket that she carried along with her.

I had a cat named Twinkle. (Yes, I know it is an awful name for a cat, but I was six years old when I received her, and I was given the honor of naming her.  She was a mostly white cat with brown and black markings on her.  I loved her dearly. I named her Twinkle because I liked the song, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."  HA!  Yes, I know that makes no sense now, but like I said I was six years old, and at the time it seemed like a good idea!)

Anyway, Twinkle used to love it when my mom was in our garden picking vegetables.  She'd creep around in the rows of sweet corn, lurking and watching and waiting for my mom to approach.  When Mom got close enough, Twinkle would spring out at her and land on her back in a mock attack while Mom was stooped over and focused on picking bean or pea pods from the vine.  That cat was stealthy and sneaky and seemed to just love startling my poor unsuspecting mother.

If you are interested in survival seeds or other seeds for your garden or flowerbed, click on the link above in this post or on the logo below to visit Hometown Seeds.  If you decide to plant a garden this summer, though, watch out when you pick the peas and beans.  There may be a cat lurking in the sweet corn!