Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Today, it is cold and tiny drops of ice are falling, enough to whiten the deck.  It is a day of earaches and stuffy noses and hiding under quilts. What could you do on a day like this?  Order seeds, of course. From my favorite seed company, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, we're getting some variegated lettuce and some herb seeds.  We always order one thing we haven't grown before; this year it is Plum Granny.  Remember when they would be at the end of  Grandma's garden? They were bland and we didn't eat them, but they were so pretty and smelled fabulous.  Time will tell. Ordering seeds: its what I do on cold, dark days in the middle of January.

There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors. This is robbery. The second by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry. Benjamin Franklin I love gardening. Even as a child, I loved digging in the dirt, seeing seeds sprout, and watching plants grow to maturity and bear fruit. It is the best thing I have found to relieve stress. We are an impatient lot here in the winter. Sometimes, warm autumn days will last until Thanksgiving, and daffodils are blooming by early March. Compared to others, out winter is relatively short. It is way too long for me. Early in January, after the holidays are over and things are looking dark and bleak, there is...