0:00

Hey friends, welcome to Old Fashioned On Purpose,

0:02

the show where we explore what we have

0:04

left behind as we have raced towards

0:06

progress as a society, but not only

0:08

that, how we can get all the good stuff

0:11

back. I am your host, Jill Winger,

0:13

and my family and I have been homesteading

0:15

out here on the Wyoming prairie

0:17

since 2008. And

0:20

in that time, homesteading has changed

0:22

my life in every way possible. And

0:24

I'm super passionate about teaching. Old

0:27

fashioned skills to, well,

0:29

anybody that will listen. And I firmly

0:31

believe that we can have the most fulfilling

0:34

lives right now, not by hiding

0:36

from modern culture or fully embracing

0:39

it, but finding that sweet spot in

0:42

the middle. So today's topic

0:44

is one I'm really excited about. It's a solo

0:46

episode today. It's something I've been working on a lot

0:48

lately, and that is. seeds.

0:52

Maybe you weren't expecting me to say that. But I

0:54

am really focused on efficiency

0:56

lately in my homestead efforts. As

0:59

my life gets more full, my kids are getting

1:01

older. There's more things that they're doing.

1:03

We have the businesses, you know, but

1:05

I still want to homestead. I'm always going to homestead. So I'm

1:08

all about figuring out how to keep things

1:10

flowing as smoothly as I can. And

1:12

the focus in my efficiency efforts

1:14

this month would be my seeds

1:17

because it is January at the time of

1:19

this recording. It is the time of

1:21

year when people like me are definitely

1:24

not outside digging in the garden, but

1:26

I am dreaming and planning and

1:28

scheming as to what my upcoming

1:30

growing season will look like. And a big part of

1:32

that is ordering seeds.

1:35

Now, over the years, I've I've tried

1:37

a lot of different methods, a lot of different techniques

1:40

for organizing and planning. But there's one thing I've

1:42

done that has created

1:44

the most cost savings

1:47

when it comes to buying seeds. And

1:49

that is, drumroll please, inventorying

1:52

your seed stash. It might sound

1:54

obvious, but it's really easy to get

1:57

wrapped up in the excitement of the seed catalogs,

2:00

ordering the varieties, dreaming of what's

2:02

to come, and you end up overbuying.

2:04

Now, seeds. really

2:06

technically aren't that expensive

2:09

in the grand scheme of things.

2:11

However, their prices are steadily

2:13

increasing just like everything else in the world

2:15

right now. And so as

2:18

good stewards of our budgets, and also just good

2:20

stewards in general, I think it's wise to

2:22

not overbuy. And so today, I

2:25

want to share some of my best

2:27

strategies and tips and techniques for

2:29

inventorying your seeds. I'll share

2:32

where I love to get seeds that are

2:34

heirloom and open pollinated because that's really important

2:36

to me. I'll share some of my favorite varieties.

2:38

And yeah, we're just going to talk all things

2:41

seeds. If you want to discuss some of the

2:44

more technical pieces of starting

2:46

seeds yourself, because odds

2:48

are you're probably Either in the thick

2:50

of doing that now, if you're in a warmer climate or

2:52

you're getting ready to do that, I'll start

2:54

my seeds for the greenhouse probably

2:57

in the next couple of weeks, and then I'll start my

2:59

outdoor garden seedlings probably

3:01

in March sometime. So I'm getting close. Go

3:03

back a few episodes to the

3:06

show where I talked with Sean from.

3:09

all about gardening. And he

3:11

had an incredible amount of information

3:13

on how to start seeds and do it more

3:15

efficiently and more effectively because

3:17

a lot of people struggle with that. So good

3:19

info there. But today we're going to talk about

3:22

the seed stash in

3:24

general. All right, you ready? Let's

3:26

do this. So first things first, why

3:30

It's worth it to take the time to do this instead

3:32

of just pulling out the credit card and going

3:34

to the seed catalog or the seed website and

3:36

placing the monster order. Okay,

3:38

so the first things first, I already alluded to this, organizing

3:41

and inventorying ahead of time every year, just

3:43

get into the routine of this, is going to save

3:45

you a lot of money, right? It's so easy

3:47

to overbuy this is fresh on my

3:49

mind because last night I ordered my

3:51

seeds for the year and before I did that I followed my

3:54

own advice. I sat down and inventoried,

3:57

and what I had in my mind

3:59

that I thought I needed for this coming

4:01

season, and what I would have purchased

4:03

if I hadn't inventoried first, was

4:06

very different than what I actually needed.

4:08

I had in my mind that I was completely out

4:10

of cabbage seeds and I was going to order a whole bunch. Well,

4:12

it turns out I had like a lot,

4:15

like five ounces of cabbage seeds in my

4:17

box that was tucked away in a different location.

4:19

So I would have purchased

4:22

those for absolutely no reason. Now

4:24

some of you may be thinking, what's the big deal with

4:26

overpurchasing? Because. Most of

4:28

us, including myself, we like to buy ahead,

4:30

we like to buy in bulk, that's kind

4:32

of how we roll. Well, you can do that

4:34

with seeds to a point,

4:36

but seeds don't

4:39

last forever. They do have

4:41

a shelf life. Now, that

4:44

shelf life really depends. And people always ask, well,

4:46

how long do seeds last? And the answer

4:48

is just, it depends. It depends on how you're storing

4:50

them, the temperature, the amount of moisture

4:53

the type of seed there's a lot of

4:55

variables there. Now, seeds are technically

4:57

designed to last a long time,

4:59

at least most of them are. We all have heard the

5:01

stories where regenerative

5:04

ag communities, where different techniques

5:06

are applied to a piece of ground. And there will

5:08

be seeds come up from the seed bank

5:10

in the soil that are varieties

5:12

that no one in recent history has even

5:14

seen before. So seeds are designed to last,

5:17

but seeds aren't necessarily

5:19

designed to last when we have them

5:21

in jars in our. basement

5:24

and they're exposed to light and warmer temperatures.

5:27

So it depends on how you're going to store your seeds,

5:29

but they don't last forever. My point is the older they get,

5:31

the less usable they will be.

5:34

So you can buy a pound of cabbage

5:36

seeds if you want, but odds are that investment

5:39

will probably not be great

5:41

because those are going to degrade over time

5:43

and become less useful. So there's just so many variables

5:45

there that seeds are one thing I'd prefer

5:48

not to have giant quantities

5:51

of. Alright and kind of along

5:53

with that line, when you're inventorying

5:56

and you're keeping your seed rotation

5:58

rolling, you're going to have

6:01

greater growing success because your germination

6:03

rates will be higher.

6:06

One of the biggest frustrations I see gardeners

6:08

having, whether they're starting seeds indoors

6:11

or they're doing it out in their garden plot,

6:13

is they're like, I planted all these beans

6:16

and 20 percent of them came

6:18

up. Or I planted this huge flat

6:20

of peppers and 30 percent

6:22

of them came up. That in

6:24

and of itself can put you very

6:26

behind in your growing season,

6:28

right? If you're waiting, like let's say peppers, peppers

6:31

are really slow to germinate just by

6:33

nature. You're waiting. 10

6:35

days, 14 days for those to germinate. By the

6:37

time you realize that, eh, over half

6:39

of them aren't going to germinate, now you're two to three weeks

6:41

behind. Peppers need a long time,

6:44

and so when you have seeds that

6:46

you know are viable, that you know

6:48

are fresh, that you know have a high germination rate,

6:50

that's going to greatly increase your

6:52

success in your gardening venture.

6:55

So it's little things, right? little

6:57

things, but those little things can make a really

6:59

big difference in your garden

7:01

plans for 2024. And like I said,

7:03

my focus is efficiency and

7:06

cutting out the fluff, cutting out unnecessary

7:08

steps. And so You know, I think it took me

7:10

20 minutes to inventory my seeds

7:12

last night, maybe 30, and

7:14

that was worth it. That was 30 minutes well spent. So,

7:18

hopefully, you're convinced that this is something

7:20

to do if you haven't done it already. So let's

7:22

talk about how to

7:24

inventory, how to keep things organized,

7:26

because there's lots of ways to do it, but I have

7:29

figured out a few little tweaks over the years

7:31

that have made a big difference for me. Before

7:34

I go any further though, I did

7:37

Want to give you a quick recommendation of

7:39

my favorite seed company because I have a feeling

7:41

Many of you are wondering that and I figure I would

7:43

just close that loop in

7:45

your mind now So you don't have to think about it the rest of the

7:47

episode And I'll share it again

7:49

at the end if you don't have a pen and paper at the moment But

7:52

I love True Leaf Market. If

7:54

you've been living, or living, listening

7:56

to this podcast for any length of time, you've heard me mention

7:58

them before. I've even had some of their

8:01

founders on the podcast to talk about

8:03

seeds. They are awesome. They

8:05

are a small company.

8:07

They have incredible quality. Their germination

8:10

rates are fantastic. You're not gonna get old,

8:12

stale seeds. They are

8:14

GMO. Air loom, open pollinated

8:17

at least the majority of their varieties are, and they clearly

8:19

label each variety accordingly,

8:21

which means that when a seed is open

8:23

pollinated, you have the ability to

8:26

save those seeds. So

8:28

you technically, if you have your act together,

8:30

which sometimes I do, sometimes I don't

8:32

you could buy a pack of tomato seeds and

8:34

then you save those year after year and you never buy

8:36

tomato seeds again. So

8:39

I always, always am picking non GMO,

8:41

open pollinated, and usually heirloom

8:43

varieties. And I'll explain a little bit more about

8:46

heirloom versus not in a minute. But that's

8:48

really important to me, and that's True Leaf's specialty.

8:51

They also have really fast shipping.

8:53

You can get free shipping, I think, over orders

8:55

of 75 or more. That's when I ordered my

8:58

stuff last night. I got free shipping. They have cover

9:00

crops. I have tons of episodes and blog posts

9:02

about why I love cover

9:05

crops and they have some excellent selections

9:08

there. So just good stuff. So true leaf

9:10

market, if you go to the prairiehomestead.

9:12

com slash seeds, you

9:14

can check out what they have to offer. And I'm going to drop that link

9:17

in these show notes as well. Okay.

9:20

How to organize. The first thing you

9:22

want to do is. You

9:25

know, you got to make a mess before you can kind of

9:27

clean things up sometimes and so what

9:29

I suggest is getting all the seeds from every nook and cranny

9:31

of your home or your garden

9:33

shed or your garage or whatever and bring them into one place

9:36

and lay them all out and start making piles,

9:39

categories, okay? There's a couple different ways

9:41

you can categorize depending on

9:43

your goals and what you focus on. A

9:46

couple options would be season, so you could

9:48

group your seeds according to when you

9:50

plant them. You know, there's some seeds that I

9:53

have that I'm not going to even

9:55

be bringing out except in

9:57

early spring or late winter. Like, if

9:59

I'm going to plant onion seeds, which I don't do a lot because

10:01

it's a little sketchy, it's hard to get those to

10:03

grow the way I want, but I only use onion

10:05

seeds Once and then

10:07

I don't need them the rest of the year. I have some

10:09

greens that I plant in my greenhouse

10:12

when it's super cold. I don't plant them in the summer, so

10:14

I keep those, you know, kind of off to

10:16

the sides. I have my other seeds,

10:18

which I'm planting in the spring. I'm planting another. Round

10:21

in the summer, I'm planting another round in the fall. So you could

10:23

organize by season. You

10:25

could also organize by plant

10:28

type kind of go into broader categories

10:31

depending on what you have the most of,

10:33

what your focus is. Some different types

10:35

would be the root vegetables,

10:37

the greens, the brassicas

10:40

the tomatoes, most homesteaders have a lot of different tomatoes,

10:43

the herbs, the flowers, et cetera.

10:45

Yeah. Yeah. And then within those, if you want

10:47

to go into the type sort

10:49

of categorization, you

10:51

could also go even further down into variety.

10:53

So if you're a tomato connoisseur,

10:56

tomatoes might be a monster category

10:58

for you. So you'd want to break it up even further.

11:00

Cherry tomatoes, paste tomatoes, slicing

11:02

tomatoes, you might break it up by color, you

11:04

might break it up by heirloom versus hybrid,

11:07

all sorts of things. For me. I

11:09

find that the plant type categories

11:12

work the best. I

11:15

actually don't keep millions

11:17

and millions of different

11:19

plant varieties, generally. I know

11:21

some homesteaders do, and they get, you know,

11:23

20 types of tomatoes a year, and five

11:25

types of carrots, and three

11:28

different radishes. I tend

11:30

to just find a variety that works for

11:32

me in our short season, because we have a really

11:35

challenging climate. So I find

11:37

a variety that works for me, and I just

11:39

double down on that. Cause, I don't

11:41

know, I'm in this stage of life where I have so much

11:43

going on, I'm really just about producing

11:45

the food that I know we're going to eat the most of.

11:47

And I'm less about just like garden

11:50

experimentation. You might be in a different

11:52

stage of life where experimenting

11:54

with 20 tomatoes and 16 flowers

11:56

lights you up, but I'm not there. So

11:58

for me, I just have pretty minimal

12:01

varieties in each category. So going

12:03

the most big umbrella. Buckets works

12:06

the best. Okay, so my buckets, just

12:08

in case this is helpful, my

12:11

buckets that I'm going to organize in would be

12:13

alliums, like onion and

12:15

shallot seeds. Now, quick note

12:17

on that. Often, I

12:20

just buy onion sets, the little

12:22

tiny bulbs in the bundles, right? I have

12:24

tried many times to start onions

12:26

from seed. I always get them to sprout, but

12:29

they just don't excel

12:31

and get really strong. And it just

12:33

is like kind of a pain. So over

12:35

the years, I found that a bundle of onion sets is pretty

12:37

affordable. I can order long

12:40

storage varieties. I think Dixondale

12:42

Farms is who I ordered them from the last couple

12:45

of years. There's lots of different onion suppliers out

12:47

there. I always get the ones that are going to store well.

12:49

Sweet onions don't store as nicely. And

12:52

I want them to last a long time in my basement,

12:54

so I just get the sets and plant those. Anyway,

12:56

but I do have a few onion seeds and shallot seeds

12:58

just for fun. That's my first category.

13:01

My second would be salad greens, the

13:03

lettuce, arugula, spinach, and

13:05

so on. Next category is large

13:08

leafy greens, like the collards,

13:10

the chard. Sometimes the mustard goes in

13:12

there if you're letting those mustard greens get really big.

13:15

I don't grow a lot of that, but some. Next

13:17

would be brassicas. That would be broccoli, cauliflower,

13:19

Brussels sprouts, etc. Bush

13:22

beans, cucumbers, carrots,

13:26

other roots. So I don't have a ton of

13:28

beets and radishes that I grow, just kind of a handful.

13:30

So I put those in with parsnips and just keep all the roots,

13:33

seeds together. Winter

13:35

squash. Also pumpkins go

13:37

in there. Summer squash. Winter

13:39

greens. This would be the mosh, the mizuna,

13:42

sorrel, and the kale. Like I said, these are what

13:44

I'm planting basically in my greenhouse

13:46

during, to grow during the dead of winter.

13:49

I don't need them any other time of year for the most part. Sometimes

13:51

I plant kale early, but those go in their own bucket.

13:54

Herbs, flowers, if you have

13:56

a lot of flowers you probably want to break that

13:58

up. I'm, meh, flower grower.

14:00

Marginal flower grower. I just have a few that I like.

14:03

And then cover crops. I usually buy my

14:05

cover crops in giant quantities,

14:07

like I think I bought 10 pounds of winter

14:09

rice seed last night from True Leaf.

14:11

So that doesn't exactly fit in my cute

14:13

little storage box, but I still

14:15

have a category of that elsewhere in my

14:18

basement. So those

14:20

are my big buckets. You

14:22

can adjust that according to What

14:24

you love, what you grow, like

14:27

I said, if you're a connoisseur of carrots, you're going

14:29

to need to break it out more, but those are my main buckets,

14:31

and I could be forgetting some, but those

14:33

are the ones I could think of off the top of my head.

14:35

I also do grow potatoes, but

14:38

because I use seed potatoes. I

14:40

don't put them here because I'm not organizing my

14:42

seed potatoes. I just buy them in the spring. Okay,

14:45

so once I have my buckets, my categories,

14:48

then I like to document

14:50

it somehow in

14:52

writing. That way I can just

14:54

have a mental tally of what I have

14:56

and what I don't have. So I use

14:58

my old fashioned on purpose planner for

15:01

this. We have seed inventory, seed

15:03

collection pages in the back sections,

15:06

and that's what it's for. And we do have planners

15:08

available still if you'd like to order them. PrairiePlanner.

15:10

com to get a copy. You can

15:13

also use Google Sheets or Excel

15:15

if you're a spreadsheet person. That works

15:17

great. I would suggest having columns in

15:19

your spreadsheet. for the

15:22

seed type, the variety,

15:25

the quantity and then a place for

15:27

notes. So you can just say how it performed for you,

15:30

what you did like, what you didn't like, you know,

15:32

this termination rate was a disaster, etc.,

15:35

etc. The more notes that you can

15:37

take, the better, and I think that's

15:39

one of the hardest things for me. And the other thing

15:41

that I love about being in being an organized gardener is remembering

15:43

to take notes and remembering to document

15:46

and every single year there's always something where

15:48

I'm like I'm gonna remember this I

15:50

won't have to write this down and then I come

15:52

to that following season and I'm like don't remember

15:55

it and wish I would have written it down so having

15:58

a place whether it's a google folder whether

16:00

it's a planner whether it's a note in your phone

16:02

I don't care what it is just where you're able

16:05

to jot things down as

16:07

you go along it's gonna. Make your

16:09

gardening progress that

16:11

much more effective because it's really

16:13

hard to remember things I have found especially

16:15

when you have lots going on which I think most

16:18

of you do So I have my planner

16:20

with my list and my notes and

16:22

then as far as organizing the seeds themselves

16:25

I've tried a lot of different things over

16:27

the years I've tried cardboard

16:30

boxes and plastic boxes. I've made dividers.

16:32

I have tried jars and envelopes There's

16:35

a lot of ways to organize seeds, but

16:38

the hands down

16:40

best way that I have used for, I

16:42

don't know, four or five years now, and I stick with our

16:45

photo organizer boxes

16:47

and I'll put a link to those in the show notes. They're

16:49

the type that a scrapbooker or a just

16:51

a photo person, I don't know

16:53

what else to call it, photo person would use if you're organizing

16:55

a lot of printed photos. They are

16:58

a big clear box. And then within

17:00

the clear box are little boxes.

17:03

that snap open and that you put photos

17:06

in. And I think the one that I was looking at on Amazon,

17:08

the one I have like 18 mini boxes

17:11

to one big box. And

17:13

as it turns out, those mini boxes

17:15

are the absolute perfect

17:18

size for a seed packet. It is

17:20

almost miraculous. Like it was made for

17:22

seeds. I think the box

17:24

is generally run around 30 bucks. I will,

17:26

like I said, I'll drop the link from Amazon

17:28

in the show notes, but. They're awesome,

17:31

and you can get little labels,

17:33

or put a Sharpie note on each of the boxes

17:35

for your categories, and pack those

17:38

babies around, and it saves,

17:40

keeps them away from mice moisture,

17:42

etc. They are transparent, so

17:44

the one thing you'll need to be mindful

17:46

of is, they still need to be in

17:48

a dark place. Seeds want

17:51

to be kept dark, they want to be kept, cool.

17:54

Well, actually, they would actually not rather be kept

17:56

dark and cool. They'd rather be kept moist and

17:58

warm, but that's going to make them sprout. We

18:00

don't want our seeds to sprout. We don't want our seeds

18:02

to start to degrade. So to keep them in

18:04

hibernation, we want them dark and cool. One

18:07

little note about these boxes. I think

18:10

one of the biggest benefits is that you can

18:12

pull the mini boxes out, stick

18:14

them in your coat pocket or haul them out

18:16

to the garden and plant a couple of varieties

18:18

at a time. I did not

18:20

actually do that last year. And I

18:23

just grabbed the whole big box and took it out. The

18:25

reason that can be problematic is because it

18:28

gives an opportunity for bad things to happen

18:30

to a larger portion of your seed collection.

18:33

And that happened to me last year. I

18:35

forgot I left the big box outside,

18:38

like it was sealed, or the, I think

18:40

the lid was open, but all the mini boxes were kind of sealed.

18:43

They're not like airtight, right? But they were snap shut.

18:46

And the sprinkler came on during the night.

18:49

And I didn't realize that when I put

18:51

the box, you know, Oh, I left it outside. I grabbed

18:53

it and brought it in the house, stuck it in the basement where it goes. I

18:55

opened it a few weeks later. Didn't

18:57

realize that moisture had got in, and I had like half

18:59

of my seeds sprouting. So

19:02

do not do that. Take one mini box

19:04

out at a time. That way if you forget it, it gets

19:06

wet. You're not gonna

19:08

lose a large portion of your seed

19:10

collection. So anyway, that is just a

19:12

little caveat there.

19:16

All right, so we have our list in our planner,

19:18

our spreadsheet. We have

19:20

our seeds categorized. We have them in

19:23

some sort of container or box or

19:25

drawer or whatever. And

19:27

then I would say if you do have varieties

19:30

that you have come across in your organization process

19:33

that you are not sure if they are still good.

19:36

You've had them a long time. Maybe they were exposed

19:38

to warmth and you're just like, if these feel sketchy,

19:40

I would suggest doing a quick

19:43

viability test. And

19:46

this is, again, just going to save you heartache later

19:48

on. A really good example of this

19:50

would be beans. I find that

19:52

bean seeds, like bush beans, I've

19:54

had more issues with those degrading

19:57

faster than other seeds, even

19:59

when I don't leave them outside under the sprinkler, just in

20:01

normal conditions. And a

20:04

number of years ago, I made the mistake of buying a lot of

20:06

them in bulk. And then I would plant those seeds

20:08

that were three or four years old. And I'm like, Oh, my bean

20:11

germination rate is horrible, like, you

20:13

know, 20%. And I

20:15

could have You know, I was like, what do I, what is

20:17

it? What, what is happening? And I realized later,

20:19

well, the seeds were old. I didn't realize that at the time. So,

20:21

a viability test is a really simple way

20:24

just to check your seeds. And so,

20:27

the way you can do this, and again, you don't need to do it for everything

20:29

in your stash, just for the ones you're uncertain about.

20:32

Grab your seeds. And a paper towel.

20:35

We're going to get the paper towel pretty damp, and

20:38

then put the seeds in

20:40

a grid pattern in the paper towel. I

20:42

like to shoot for 10,

20:45

because it makes it really easy to figure out

20:47

percentages, right? You could also do 20, but you don't want to

20:49

waste a ton of seeds, so 10's a great number. Put

20:51

the seeds separate, don't just wad them

20:54

up in the paper towel, make sure that they're separated

20:56

out on the wet paper towel, fold it over,

20:58

and then roll it up. Now put the paper

21:00

towel in a Ziploc baggie

21:02

to prevent it from drying out.

21:05

You want to keep it moist the whole time. And

21:07

then put the baggie in a warm

21:09

place. It doesn't have to be bright, seeds don't

21:11

need light to germinate, they just need light later.

21:14

So it can be a warm, dark place, and temperature

21:17

is important because seeds Don't germinate

21:19

as effectively when they are

21:21

in cool temperatures, and then just tuck

21:23

that away. And within, well,

21:25

it kind of depends on the seed itself, right? It can take

21:27

anywhere from three days to two

21:30

weeks for seeds to germinate depending on the

21:32

seed. A bean seed, I'd say you're probably

21:34

going to see something happening, little tails

21:36

coming out of the bean within four to five

21:38

days. If you're doing carrots, it's going to be

21:40

a lot longer. Sometimes that's 10 to 14 days,

21:43

but just start watching. And then

21:45

once you're kind of past that window where

21:48

it should be germinating, count how

21:50

many germinated and you can figure out

21:52

your percentages. So if five of the 10

21:54

germinated, you had a 50 percent germination rate.

21:57

If two of the 10 germinated, you had

21:59

a 20 percent germination rate and so on. That's

22:02

going to give you a good ballpark of

22:04

what to expect when you get outside in a garden.

22:07

Now, if you do have some seeds that aren't as

22:10

viable as you like. You can still use

22:12

them in the garden. I just would plant them potentially

22:15

a little more densely just to make

22:17

up for that, the chance that you're probably going to have

22:20

a higher rate of failure, but just

22:22

that little step of the viability, again, it's

22:25

not absolutely necessary, just like inventorying

22:27

isn't absolutely necessary, but it's going to save

22:29

you time and headache in the long

22:32

run. And when we're working to be more efficient, that's,

22:34

That's a pretty big deal, right? Okay,

22:37

so then my last step

22:40

of the process is the hardest one. Just

22:43

don't forget to keep up on this as you go

22:45

through your season. I find that these early

22:47

months, well at least it's early for me, some of you are

22:50

probably already knee deep in your gardens

22:52

if you live in Texas or the South. But

22:54

for me, these early months, it's really easy

22:56

to start off with grand intentions.

22:59

I order all the seeds, I'm going to try this,

23:01

I'm going to try that, I'm going to You know, I have all these resolutions

23:04

to stay on top of things, and every year,

23:06

it never quite works out like I think. I think that's

23:08

just a lesson in life in general.

23:11

But I just want to make

23:13

sure that I am keeping up on my

23:15

note taking as we go through

23:17

the year, whether that's in my Google Sheet or

23:19

it's in my planner. Those little notes,

23:21

they don't have to be full sentences. They just can be brief

23:24

thoughts or phrases go a really long

23:26

way. So make sure you're tracking as you

23:28

remove seeds from your inventory, as

23:31

you add them to your inventory, if you find

23:33

problems, if you find pest issues

23:35

with certain varieties, if germination rate's bad,

23:37

if you love the plant, if you hate the plant, write it

23:39

down. Right. And

23:41

that is my. little four step method

23:43

for seed inventorying.

23:46

So I hope that was helpful. Also I wanted to

23:48

share a quick list, let me pull

23:50

it up, of my favorite

23:52

seed varieties because I find that this is always

23:54

fun just to hear other gardeners

23:57

favorites, right? These are

23:59

primarily heirlooms.

24:02

I think there's a couple in here that aren't, they are all

24:04

GMO free. They are all open

24:06

pollinated other than the potatoes. That's a

24:08

little different. Heirloom is just,

24:10

I think it's 50 years or older,

24:13

classifies something as an heirloom. And I have

24:15

a couple on here that are a little more modern,

24:17

like they were created in the seventies.

24:19

So it doesn't bother me. Right. It doesn't have to be,

24:21

there's something magic about 50 years,

24:24

but yeah, anyway, so my favorite.

24:27

Open pollinated, heirloom ish seeds

24:30

and varieties to grow. When it comes

24:32

to tomatoes, I love

24:34

San Marzano's. I know the

24:36

tomato world is a big one and there's so

24:38

much to choose from. We're not

24:41

huge, huge eaters of just tons

24:44

of slicing tomatoes or tons of cherry tomatoes. I

24:46

use those sparingly. So the thing

24:48

we do love is tomato sauce, tomato paste.

24:50

I like to can as much as possible

24:53

because I, I haven't bought home or

24:55

sorry, I haven't bought store bought tomato products in

24:57

a very long time. So San Marzano's

25:00

are a paste tomato with a lot of flavor

25:02

and the difference between a paste tomato and a slicer

25:05

is that the paste ones have a lot less water

25:08

content. You can make sauce

25:10

out of a slicer. You're just going to boil

25:13

it down a lot longer. It's going to take

25:15

more time. Again, efficiency, right? The

25:17

San Marzanos are classic for sauce and

25:20

they're meatier and drier, not

25:22

in a bad way, in a good way, and just makes

25:24

it a lot more efficient. Watermelon

25:27

is something I have more recently played

25:29

with because Wyoming, right, we

25:31

were not exactly watermelon territory,

25:34

but there's a variety called Blacktail Mountain watermelon.

25:37

That's a super short season. It's a small

25:39

guy. It's probably. The

25:41

size of a volleyball or smaller

25:44

and it does have seeds, which it doesn't bother me, but

25:46

they're awesome. They grow quickly. I

25:48

can grow them in the greenhouse or outdoors.

25:50

Greenhouse is better. But they taste

25:52

really good and it's just fun to have watermelon in Wyoming.

25:54

It's a novelty. For pumpkins,

25:57

I like the sugar pie variety. They're smaller,

25:59

but their flavor is awesome. The flesh is dense

26:01

and rich. For spinach,

26:03

I like Bloomsdale Longstanding.

26:06

Spinach is tricky because

26:08

it bolts quickly, and I've learned that it's

26:10

pretty much a fool's errand to try to grow

26:12

spinach in the summer. So

26:15

spinach for me is an early spring or a fall

26:17

winter crop, and that

26:19

will help you get more bang for your

26:21

buck. So, Bloomsdale Longstanding is my favorite

26:24

I will say, buyer beware, there's a variety called

26:26

New Zealand and they

26:28

marketed it, I don't remember where I bought it, just kind of a typical

26:30

seed company. I don't even know if Truleaf has it,

26:32

but it's description said it was like, the best

26:35

for not bolting. And that sucker

26:37

bolted faster than any variety of spinach

26:39

I've ever grown. Like it was barely out of the ground and

26:41

it was bolting. So don't get those. Anyway.

26:44

For beets, I like Detroit Golden

26:47

Beets, and I

26:49

think they have a really good flavor. I also like they don't

26:51

stain my whole kitchen when

26:53

I'm using them or cutting them up. I don't

26:56

do a ton of beets. My family likes

26:58

them a few times a year and then they're like meh,

27:00

but a couple rows will usually

27:03

do us for lettuce I

27:05

like butter crunch. It's

27:07

the the texture of the leaves is just fantastic

27:10

The flavor is amazing again I usually grow

27:12

that more in the spring in the fall versus the

27:14

summer for onions

27:17

a good red storage onion I

27:19

got it from Dixondale Farms is Red Zeppelin.

27:22

There's also one called Blush and Copra.

27:24

I think I tried all three of those last year, was really happy

27:26

with them. Onions are cool because

27:28

you can really if you read the descriptions,

27:31

figure out the long season, the short season,

27:33

the different flavors the different storage ability.

27:35

So I think onions are really fun to grow.

27:38

For potatoes, I'm pretty boring.

27:41

I actually just like to grow Yukon

27:43

golds. And I don't buy

27:45

my potatoes, at least not in recent years. I don't

27:47

buy them from a official seed potato

27:50

place. I actually just buy organic

27:52

potatoes from the grocery store. I started

27:55

doing that in 2020 when you could not

27:57

get seed potatoes anywhere. And

27:59

I just told Christian, I'm like, well, it's now

28:01

or never just go to the or

28:04

the health food store, whatever the non

28:06

normal grocery store and get organic potatoes.

28:08

We cut them up, planted them

28:11

and they worked great. Like It

28:13

was fine. And they're way cheaper than buying seed potatoes.

28:15

You know, the downfall is you don't get the fancy varieties.

28:18

I found the fancy varieties never quite gave me

28:20

to yield as much as the workhorse varieties.

28:22

And so Yukon Golds are easy. Like

28:24

I said, if you're going to get them at the grocery store, get

28:27

them organic, otherwise they have been sprayed

28:29

with a compound that keeps them from sprouting.

28:31

Which is the kiss of death when you're trying

28:33

to grow potatoes. That works.

28:36

Okay. Carrots. I like tender sweet. Again,

28:39

I've tried a lot of varieties of purple and

28:41

the orange and the red and they're fun. And I

28:43

just am kind of going with the standbys and

28:46

tender sweet have worked really good for us. And

28:48

then for bush beans, I like the contenders

28:50

or the providers. They

28:53

are shorter

28:55

season. They're just high yield,

28:57

super easy and haven't had a lot of issues with

29:00

those. So that. Is

29:02

my list of favorites. Everyone has different favorites. I

29:05

love to hear. what people find, you know, I'm

29:07

always always changing, right? I do experiment

29:09

a little bit every year. But I found when

29:11

I first started homesteading, I wanted to try five

29:13

different varieties of everything and it just

29:16

got messy and convoluted. So now

29:18

I'm kind of back

29:20

in my stuck and not stuck in my ways. But I found

29:22

things I love and I'm happy to just stick with it and

29:24

experiment with a few different varieties every

29:26

year. Again, TruLeaf Market is

29:28

my favorite place to get the seeds. The prairiehomestead.

29:31

com slash seeds will take you right

29:33

to their online store. It's really

29:35

easy to navigate, good shopping, free shipping

29:38

over 75 good company.

29:40

Just good company all the way around. So anyway,

29:42

that is my encouragement for you.

29:45

If you haven't started your gardening yet, You're

29:47

like me, you're in the Arctic, and you're still

29:49

sitting by the fire and planning. Just spend

29:51

a little time getting ready for this year.

29:54

Maybe not just in the garden, maybe in other places

29:56

in your homestead. How can you use these

29:58

quiet, dark evenings to

30:00

prepare and set yourself up for success

30:03

for a more well thought out and

30:05

efficient homesteading season in

30:08

2024? So, that's

30:10

it, friends. That's all I got for you today. I hope

30:12

that was useful. If you like

30:14

this sort of information, this is what I send

30:16

out every week in my newsletter. It

30:19

comes on Wednesdays, and I usually

30:21

do a recipe, a framework, a how to, and usually

30:23

some sort of more information. Deep thought piece

30:26

each month and you can sign up for free

30:28

over at the prairie homestead. com slash

30:31

letter. We'll drop that down in the show

30:33

notes. This episode actually

30:36

was an email before it became a

30:38

podcast episode. So I don't always publish.

30:41

All my newsletters into podcasts or turn all my podcasts

30:44

into newsletters, but this one worked well for both.

30:46

So anyway, you want to get it first if you want to see it before everybody

30:48

else, or you want to just have a written version of some of this

30:50

stuff. Because sometimes I like to listen to

30:52

things, but I really absorb it the best when I

30:54

see it with my eyeballs. Go join the

30:57

list and you'll get a little note from me every Wednesday.

31:00

All right, friends, that's it. Have a

31:02

wonderful rest of your day. And thanks for listening

31:04

to the Old Fashioned On Purpose podcast.