Here are some snapshots of what we're up to on the Seed Library farm. You can follow our What's Up posts to grow along with us. We hope these will help keep you on track in your home garden. Of course, feel free to pick and choose what makes the most sense for you. Although you might like to transplant along with us, you probably don't want to also be digging a 4' x 3' hole in rocky soil to replace a faulty valve on a spring-fed drip irrigation system if you can avoid it.

The major push here right now is preparing beds and transplanting seedlings along with protecting young plants from insect damage. Check out the pics below to see us in action and read the caption for each shot. Keep an eye out for posts with detailed how-to of what we're up to later in the week.

We get asked, more and more, if any of our seeds are GMOs. The answer is emphatically no! One of the major reasons I became a seed saver, started the Seed Library, and turned it into my full time passion and business was to protect the diversity and independence of gardeners and farmers by making sure there are locally adapted, non-GMO seeds to plant for generations to come. Unfortunately, as of right now, any seed company selling to home gardeners can truthfully answer the same question with an deceptively simple no. However, in many cases your seed dollars that you spend with well known seed companies are supporting the biotech corporations forcing GMOs on farmers and into the food system. I was honored to recently give an interview about this with Kerry Trueman for the Huffington Post in her post Seeds for the People, By the People.

Knowing what your seed and food dollars are supporting, and avoiding seeds and food products that contain or support GMO corporations is the best and most important ways to make a difference day to day. Signing petitions, like this one asking Congress not to let Monsanto be able to override state GMO labeling laws,  as well as attending major rallies, helps make our voices heard. On May 25, tens of thousands of activists around the world will “March Against Monsanto.”

Currently, marches are being planned on six continents, in 36 countries, totaling events in over 250 cities, and in the US, events are slated to occur simultaneously at 11 a.m. Pacific in 47 states.

Here at the Seed Library we are concerned and frustrated by the consolidation of seed resources by multinational biotech corporations (not just Monsanto), the massive global loss of genetic diversity, the cross-pollination of GE plants with neighboring organic farms and wild plants, and the loss of independence in our farms and gardens and GE seeds, which are illegal to save, represent.

You can find your nearest march location here.

We're proud that many of our gardeners will be joining rallies in their neck of the woods and that one of our Seed Library gardeners has taken on organizing our local march in New Paltz, NY. We'll be donating free non-GMO, open-pollinated, and locally adapted seeds at our local march. You can join our local march here.

Wherever you go to join in and let our politicians know that you care about GMO labeling and protecting non-GE seeds, we hope you'll continue your seedy activism all season long by learning how to Sow Smart and support our work preserving, developing, protecting and celebrating heirloom seeds.

This season the Seed Library is partnering with Hollengold Farm to open a weekly farm store where you can get a taste of what we're growing as well as ferments, flowers, preserves, t-shirts, seed swag, books, and more!

Wendy Hollender, botanical artist, author, and illustrator of the soon-to-be-published Foraging and Feasting book written by Dina Falconi, has generously invited us to use part of her farmstead for our trial gardens. Although we won't be producing a ton of vegetables, there will be small harvests each week of close to 300 different heirloom varieties. After we're done evaluating each variety for health, regional adaptation, resistance to disease, and productivity, we'll do one final very scientific evaluation- a taste test (a.k.a. eating them)! Whatever harvest is left after our rigorous taste testing will go to the farm store so you can do you own taste tests and let us know what you think.

The farm stand will be a little different each month. In addition to our seasonal heirloom vegetables, Wendy and the Seed Library will be offering many other farm fresh, artful, homemade, and useful items including seedlings, pickles, ferments, sundried veggies, soaps, organic vanilla extract, foraged food, t-shirts, tote bags, books, row cover, hoops, art, and more. We'll also be hosting tours, workshops, cooking demos, and tastings, including Dina's recipes from Foraging and Feasting, during farm stand hours. Each week we'll post what's happening at the stand on our website and Facebook page.

Stop by and meet Blake, this year's Seed Library trial garden and farm stand intern, who is helping Erin grow out the 300 Seed Library varieties at Hollengold Farm.

Follow signs from Route 209 up to Hollengold Farm, 222 Lower Whitfield Road, Accord, NY 12404 every Saturday from 11-3pm starting June 1st.

Today's frosty morning was a good reminder that the growing season is still just beginning - there is more spring ahead before we head into the long productive days of summer on the farm. Despite this slow start, we will soon be gathering our first harvest... of seeds. A few plants around the farm are already preparing to go to seed. Which one will get there first?

Sorrel	Mache
Chives	Chamomile

Dandelions won the race to seed already, but they'll be saving their own seeds.

One thing we learned from this contest: Gardeners are readers! But why?

This week I did something unprecedented, I took a day off! Somehow, I promise myself that I'll take time off from working every week, and always wind up putting it off. After months of traveling, weekend events, and the busyness of the seed selling season, I finally forced myself to stop, step back, and not work for one day. So what did I do? I gardened.

When Doug and I started the seed farm and library, we didn't realize that one of the casualties of starting our own seedy business would be our garden. It sounds strange to miss having a garden when we have a farm. But the farm is about growing seeds, not food for us. It's a bit of a walk from our cabin, and sometimes we can't grow what we'd like to because of space, cross-pollination, and efficiency. I miss having kitchen herbs and tasty veggies right next to the house for those moments we just need a handful of fresh cilantro to brighten some soup or a few patty pan squash to toss in a stir fry.

Also, because we've neglected our "yard" for so long, everything was a mess around the cabin. Since I had just finished Margaret Roach's new book (had to finish it before I give it away!) her words were on my mind as I surveyed our overgrown surroundings. Where to begin? I took inspiration and lessons from The Backyard Parables to begin rediscovering home gardening. Here are a few of Margaret's many lessons that helped me:

Work With What You Have:

We have an abandoned Catskill camp, trash ridden, black walnut infused, part shady, steep hill of a back yard. I'm using dishes from the caving in kitchen building to terrace the hill and experimenting with what will grow in our conditions. As I was pulling out crushed beer cans, shards of vodka bottles, tar shingles, wire, and thinking about everything that might not grow around black walnuts I uncovered, with a reckless scrape of my rake, a solitary morel. Plants are miraculous.

Put In Plants:

When I'm overwhelmed I over-plan. Margaret inspired me to just jump in and get planting and do a little at a time. Her garden has changed and developed over time, it wasn't a grand scheme laid out by an architect. I'm going to balance planning with doing.

Start With What You See:

Rather than trying to tackle everything at once, I took Margaret's advice and went inside, to look outside. I'm starting with the area I see the most when I look outside.

Garden for Yourself:

I'm planting what interests me, what I want to eat, and what I want to see bloom without over-thinking what goes well together. Of course I'll keep in mind the basics, like plant spacing, being careful not to shade out  shorted plants with taller ones and the like. But for now, especially at the beginning, I growing what I love.

Garden for Others:

Yes, me garden is about me, but it's also many parables about the world I live in. Of course my garden will be organic, and this is one way of gardening with the health of others in mind. But another garden moment happened which reminded me of the way Margaret approaches gardening. As I was cleaning around a black walnut stump and wondering if there was any large machinery I could rent to rip it out, a slender head peeked out from a nook followed by a long slow ribbon. The quiet way the garden snake traveled moved me. This stump was its home. I realized that I wasn't just gardening, but getting to know this place better in a way my busyness usually blinds me to. I'm leaving the stump and incorporating it as a visual element and habitat for good garden companions.

Read and Write:

Margaret's new book is full of great practical gardening advice, but it's not only about how we garden but why we garden. Reading cultivates our knowledge and skills but also connects us to the emotional and spiritual experience of growing. Writing about the weather, what worked and didn't helps us become better gardeners, and journaling about all the other elements of gardening helps us understand ourselves, the place we live, and what it means to put down roots.

Thanks for all the great book recommendations. The random winner of Margaret's book and a waterproof garden journal is.... Cindy P.!

I've put together a list of the book recommendations from Seed Library gardeners who entered our book giveaway contest. I'm sure that once you read The Backyard Parables you'll add it to your list of favorite garden reads.

The Edible Balcony, by Alex Mitchell

Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew

Food, Not Lawns, by Heather Flores

Five Borough Farm: Seeding the Future of Urban Agriculture in New York City

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver

Year Round Gardening , by Eliot Coleman

As We Remember Mother, by Ruth Stout

The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book: Secrets of the year-round mulch method , by Ruth Stout

Second Nature, by Michael Pollan

Gardening Through the Year, by I. Spence.

Tacos, Tortas, and Tamales…Flavors from the griddles, pots, and streetside kitchens of Mexico, by Robert Santibanez

VB6: eat Vegan before 6:00, by Mark Bittman

Vegetable Literacy, by Deborah Madison

The Wildlife Gardener’s Guide, by Janet Marinelli

The Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies, by Ted L. Petit and John P. Peat

Herbs, Recipes, Crafts, and Gifts from Grand Shire Farms, by Connie Hanson

Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard, by Jessi Bloom

The Resilient Gardener, by Carol Deppe

Canning and Preserving with Ashley English, by Ashley English

You Can Farm, by Joel Salatin

The Cook’s Garden, by Ellen Ecker Ogden

Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate: At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World, by Wendy Johnson

Row cover on the Seed Library farm.

This time of year in our neck of the woods we're starting to harden off seedlings. That means we're taking our coddled young plants that have been protected up until now and gradually exposing them to the elements. We want them to be used to wind, direct sun, and some chills before we plant them firmly in the ground. Other plants are already rooted. Our peas are up along with spinach, asian greens, and poppies. It's always inspiring to see tender green new growth, it reminds us of the harvest that are just around the corner. But it can also be worrisome. We can still experience frosts in May that can damage young plants.

It's pretty easy to figure out ways to protect seedlings in flats because they are transportable. They can be brought indoors, put in a hoophouse, or covered with simple wire hoops and fabric. If you're expecting temperatures below 35 degrees it's smart to protect all young seedlings.  The seedlings that are the most susceptible to frost, even light frost, are tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, many flowers, and cucurbits. The flowers on fruit trees (and shrubs, and plants) can also be damanged by frost. (We draped fabric over our hardy kiwis and strawberry patch last night.) Once they're done flowering, they'll be fine.

But what about the plants that can't be moved? Don't go digging up your plants! They are better off undisturbed, and may not need as much protection as you think. There's good parenting, and then there's helicopter parenting. Especially when your plants reach their adolescent stages, they can deal with a lot more worldly pressures than we give them credit for.

Plants that don't need overprotective parenting once they have their true leaves include: Lettuce, Spinach, Peas, most Brassicas (though cabbages and broccolis that have just recently been set out will need protection), Asian Greens, Carrots, Beets, Parsnips, Radishes, Parsley, Cilantro, and all Perennial Herbs.  They've all got the skills they need to survive one or two nights of light frost. Most can even handle a deeper freeze, though if the weather has been mild for a long stretch, it is wise to cover them up: once plants emerge from their winter "protective" mode, they are more susceptible to frost injury.

As ever, no need to freak out when facing unpredictable weather patterns. Do what you can to take care of your herbaceous brood without being an overprotective parent. A little chill will help them grow stronger and mature into healthy, happy, productive plants.

Doug and Brian securing row cover with rock bags.

Sometimes we do things on the farm which feel natural to us. And sometimes I realize that, if someone who didn't know what we were doing was watching, we'd look like weirdos.

Here's a photo essay of one of those moments. Do you know what Doug's doing? Put your guesses in the comments and we'll let you know if your right!

Don't delay! Last day to order for regular shipping in time for Mom's day is May 8th!

While you may have heard (more than once) your mother (or someone else's mother) say, "Don't get fresh with me!" we're here to say, "Go ahead! Get fresh!"

Of course we don't mean you should back-talk to your Mom, but for Mother's Day something garden fresh is in order. Here are our top gift suggestions for the Mother figures in your life. And we won't tell on you if you want to get some of these for yourself!

1. Cook a meal with fresh local produce from your garden and your local farmers. What's in season? Arugula, lettuce, mache (in pic), spinach and more.

2. NEW! Choose one or a set of our beautiful certified organic Dahlia tubers. Our four fab flower choices are: Park Princess (pinks), Procyon (flame), Natan (crimson), and Purple Gem (violets).

3. Say it with seeds! We have a selection of seedy gift baskets including a Mother's Day Gift Basket, Gourmet Salad, Flowerworks, and Culinary Herb Collection. Each collection comes in a reusable porcelain berry basket.

4. Offer to help garden for a day. Some of the most backbreaking work of the season comes all at once at the beginning. Spend a day helping to prepare beds, add compost, transplant, direct sow, and clean up.

5. For picky moms or the mom who knows what she wants try a Seed Library Membership with a Gift Certificate. Our Gift Memberships come with your choice of a $20, $50 or $100 gift certificate.

6. Do you or your mom already have all your seeds but love the artful side of the Seed Library? Check out our Fine Art Prints of the original works commissioned for our Art Packs.

7. Need something that's simple to mail? Will a card do it for your mom? Send one (or a set) of our elegant Seedy Greeting cards. Each silhouette reveals an Art Pack of heirloom seeds inside.

On occasion, we post a vintage image on our blog and ask you to caption it. This time, we found a photo of an eerie cabbage field, which looks like it could use a story. Come up with the best caption and win a prize!

To enter the Seedy Sayings contest, just submit a comment to this blog post with your kernel of wit or wisdom. The following week, we’ll post the winning seedy saying!

This image is from Vegetable Gardening by Ralph Watts, published in 1912:

The arrival of spring brings new life everywhere: blooms, buds, baby lambs… even indoor plants sense the change in the air and take a cue to begin vigorously growing new leaves after months of dormancy. Weeds are in no way an exception. Unwanted greenery has already started coming in strong around the freshly sown beds on our farm, and even more weeds are taking advantage of the warmth in the greenhouse, growing up out of every available corner.  Spring is an especially important time to keep weeds under control, because it’s difficult for young seedlings to compete with wild plants for light and nutrients.

Weeds, although often fully at odds with the goals of a gardener, are not inherently bad. Without a uniting botanical definition, weeds are simply the plants that are growing in a place where they weren’t planted. They are pesky, sure, but also impressive in their survival skills: unfazed by stomping feet or peeing dogs, keeping a seed launched launched in the ground sometimes for years until the opportune moment to emerge. And, while we wait for the first lettuce leaf or asparagus spear of the season, some weeds are worth a little of our culinary attention. The next time you bend down to pull out a large green clump, keep in mind that it may make a better addition to your lunch, rather than the compost pile.

Here are a few edible spring weeds we’ve found on our farm in April:

Field Onions: wild onions that can be eaten whole: green stems or tiny pearly bulbs.	Stinging Nettles: if you touch nettles, they will sting, but if you harvest with a glove and then expose them to heat (quick boil or pan fry), they’ll make great soup or pesto
Lamb’s Quarters: so far, we’ve only spotted little ones in the greenhouse, but soon this prolific weed will be hard to miss. Sautéed, it tastes like a nutty spinach.	Dandelion: use the leaves for a sharp salad green and the flowers and roots to brew a coffee alternative.
Chickweed: makes another great spinach substitute or a smoothie ingredient.	Garlic Mustard: this highly invasive green is detrimental to our native flora and fauna, so the more of it that’s eaten, the better. The leaves and flowers can be eaten raw or cooked and the root preserved as a horseradish substitute.

Notes:

- Be sure you know what you are eating when trying something new, especially a weed. If possible, check in with someone who has experience eating wild foods or consult at least two foraging sources.

- Weeds should be pulled out completely (root and all) to prevent them from coming back. It’s best to pull them before they flower and set seed, so they don’t multiply and take over (and, most greens taste better if harvested before they bolt anyway).