FEBRUARY 16TH, 2021 – Dreaming of spring
It’s about this time of year when the seed packets start coming in. That’s always a good sign. When the seed company starts shipping out their seed packets, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s spring, but it does mean that spring is on its way. The arrival of the seed packets also requires another shift in our house, though. Once the seeds come in, the seed trays come out. And along with the seed trays, there is a slew of other accoutrement which aids our garden.
Last year, we made some capital investments into our garden. The biggest was the incorporation of four-tier metal shelving, heating pads and grow lights to help our little seedlings get their start in this world. The shelving is assembled by the sliding glass doors to our small back deck and as we fill flats with seed starts, they are added to the mats. In addition, there are the seed trays themselves, the rabbit tray liner which holds a pile of compost and potting soil for filling the plant cells and a few other supplies. My little green watering can – a $2 purchase from a local discount store – gets appropriated into garden production for the duration and I’m often stealing it back to water the houseplants. A small, rather determined little kitty has also been known to push aside a seed tray or two and make herself a bed on warming mats. She’s not a big fan of the ultraviolet light coming down on her turning her a pinkish/purple color, but she’ll deal with it for the cushy place to sleep.
And that’s it. From there, we start growing. With each day, it’s fun to see what has popped up overnight and what’s gotten just a little bit taller from the day before. As the plants get taller, the days also get longer and more importantly, spring also gets closer. Finally, the plants are ready to go outside and so am I.
Last year’s garden produced over $2,000 worth of food. For an annual seed cost of less than $200, it’s a ten-fold return on investment. Sure, there have been some capital investments along the way – the shelving, heat maps and lights cost about $350 last year – but even those are offset by the production. And, should we have decided to capitalize those investments over the realistic life of the equipment, the real-cost per year would decline even more. (That’s a little of the finance geek in me coming out.)
But it’s the arrival of the seed packets that actually gives me the most hope. These tiny little envelopes with pictures of the fruit they will soon bear arriving at our doorstep feels like its full of possibilities. There’s the new cucumber variety we decided to try and the Ten Fingers paste tomatoes that we decided to add more of this year. We had to shop around to find the seed potatoes we wanted, but we have all-blue and all-red varieties soon to arrive. Together with their white-fleshed brethren, they’ll make up our traditional potato crop. Then, there’s the other vegetables we put on the list this year. A little asparagus, some different variety of acorn squash and a new sweet cherry tomato variety. There’s beans and peas and pumpkins and onions. The garlic is already planted and the sweet potatoes we’ll start from our own stash of sweet potatoes grown last year.
Seed packet by seed packet and little cowpot cell by cowpot cell, the garden will take shape. First, there is the one tray on the shelving. Then, a flurry of four to five more. A slight pause and then a few more trays get added. Soon enough, the shelving is full and that which once fit in a six-by-eight inch box with room to spare becomes a full six-foot wire rack of possibilities. From there, it expands to two plots of land – about 2,000 square feet in total.
So, slowly we churn. The little box with seeds arrive and it feels like a farmer’s version of Christmas. Inside it holds a world of possibilities for good food and adventure. It also harkens the start of spring and the miracle of Mother’s Nature.
The Yuppie Homesteader 