Garden Seeds/ Speaking/ and Family

One of My Veggie and Fruit Gardens

What to write! Lots has been happening and I've not found breathing space yet. And what to title this post . . . I think I'll ramble, and maybe then an idea will formulate.

Right at the moment? I'm researching my favorite seed catalog and Monsanto. Monsanto bought Seminis - a large, maybe the largest organic seed company - in 2005. There's blogs being written, "Don't let Monsanto into Your Garden!" No matter where you buy your seeds, a large amount of the vegetable seeds come from Seminis. You have to look closely if you're concerned about all this. There's a lot of posting out there that are mainly around the year 2010 - so old. Check for currant info. I'm only researching my seed company.

Why Johnny's? I think I said it in my last post - they breed most of their own seeds. They are a short cool growing season area as am I. I've used their seeds for 30 years. At my altitude of 8000 feet, their seeds work for me. When we moved here I was told I can't grow tomatoes or winter squash, but I do. I have to trick Mother Nature tho. I'm giving up on peppers, eggplant, and okra. I don't know why I keep trying.

Johnny's is now completely owned by their employees and they are a member of the Safe Seed Initiative - which states that they do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered or modified seeds or plants. I know that over the years they have been phasing out these kinds of seeds. So with that knowledge, I still have to order my seeds.

When I wrote my last post, we were in Grand Rapids, Michigan, speaking at their Midwinter Homeschool Conference. Monte and me have not been speaking in that arena for over a decade. We did homeschool our kids all the way thru, till they went to college. When Monte wrote Romancing Your Child's Heart, we were doing parenting seminars, but haven't been doing that for quite awhile as well. We were told by many last weekend that we need to return to speaking; that our message needs to be heard. And we do have lots of messages, having lived a rich life! We'll see what the future holds . . .

Emery

Once home, we did our annual visit to Denver's National Stock Show. Little Emery and me have birthdays close together in January and have started the tradition of going to the Stock Show together. He picked his colors and made himself a rope this year. Little Scout rode a pony. Saw lots of animals, spun wool . . . Saw the typical chicken egg production, and glad we're raising our own chickens again. Visited with the spinning and weaving demonstrators (which I used to do a lot years ago). We met friends for a great lunch. Then visited the art exhibit before the little munchkins needed to leave for naps!

Scout on Pony

I spoke at MOPS yesterday. Been a Mentor Mom for 13 years.

I'm going to do a post on what I dyed just before leaving for Grand Rapids and ended up wearing. Actually every day I wore something I dyed, and scarves I knit. In spare moments I knit - always have knitting along wherever I go.