Much of my art, both the physical material I use to create it and the subject matter in the images, are based on things in my garden. In addition to organic herbs, fruit, veggies, nuts, beans, and seeds, we grow flowers and plants that foster pollinators and generate interesting seed pods. I also enjoy supplying my own dye material and fiber for cordage and paper.
We’re at the dawn of the new garden planning season. It’s so early for us in Zone 6, which means (almost) anything is game. I had bought garlic at a local organic farm about five years ago that I planted that year in November. We’ve had a perpetual supply since. This year I am excited to try to establish a similarly perpetual shallot supply, but from seed. (Wish me luck with this tricky biennial crop.) When you plan ahead and save seeds, food can be free. Food should be free for all of us.
There are many wonderful seed companies, but my most cherished plants have come from swapping saved seeds with fellow gardeners. You not only swap nature’s perfectly packaged DNA of a future crop, you swap the personal love and care that went into growing its parent plants and sometimes you inherit a family or regional legacy. For example, the husk cherries I grow are from my family’s seeds that have been saved and shared for decades. Today, I am establishing a practice that combines my love language of swapping seeds with my art. To each new person who signs up for my newsletter, I will mail a free pinch of their choice of saved seeds from my garden (as long as they are in the United States where I can legally mail seeds - for those outside of the US, I plan for my next freebie to be a digital token of thanks).
If you are reading this, you are one of my original newsletter subscribers, and I appreciate you more than you will ever know. So with this seed freebie (and any of my future freebies), I am offering it to you when (or in this case before) I broadcast it to the greater world. If you're game for receiving some seeds, you can choose which seed variety you’d like at this direct link, which will be publicly released in the near future. The postage is on me. It’s my way of saying thank you for supporting me. I can’t wait to drop your envelope in the mail!
What new things will you be growing this spring?
Until next time,
joç
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