The growing season is beginning to come together. I have purchased most of the seeds....still need Boothby's Blonde cucumber, Kootenai tomato, and it would be nice, but not essential, to have Oaxacan green dent corn or Hopi Blue flour corn. Also, it has come to my attention that most oats which are not marketed as gluten free have been contaminated with wheat via common handling facilities. So....if I could find it, I would grow hull-less oats (for ease of threshing), because it would be pretty easy for me to grow enough for my own needs.

So I have jiffy pellets soaking as I eat my dinner (a fried egg, roasted rutabaga fries (yum!!!) and roasted brussels sprouts with rosemary) and packets of seeds laid out beside me: basil, kale, parsley, calendulas, monarda, chammomile, pak choi, etc..... These things will get jiffy pellets. The evil tomatoes will go into recycled Ciao Bella sorbet pint cartons. Yes....I love that brand of sorbet that much!

And...what else. I have come to conclusions: I've decided to intern/apprentice with the Riley creek Blueberry farm in Laclede. They are not organic, but because permaculture and orcharding/small fruit production is my long term goal, and I have a pretty good grip on producing vegetables organically...I am going that route rather than training at any one of the other also appealing organic vegetable farms around here. The ideal situation would obviously be an organic apple/nut orchard, or even better, a summer spent at a Camphill Village, but none of these are options due to distance.

If I ever win the lottery (and I won't, because I never, ever play!) I would build a Camphill Village around here. This would be such a good area for one.