Friday 3 February 2012

Hope Seeds for 2012 is more than a seed catalogue.........

   Hope Seeds Catalouge arrived in the mail with my Rural Delivery magazine.Since I live in a town with a postage stamp backyard,I have no room for growing food.My garden space is maxed out in flowers and a small bit of lawn for BBQ's and entertaining.However,I glanced through the little seed catalogue just the same and ended up reading it like a book.
   There are Baie Verte Indian Beans. The seed is believed to have originated with the local natives and shared with the Acadian settlers up around the Port Elgin ,Cape Spear area of New Brunswick.
   Then there is a new bean for the catalogue called Goose Gullet.In 1755,Acadians deported through the Bay Of Fundy purposly crashed their ships along the banks of Clare County(Digby area).Survivors hid deep in the woods,living with the Mi'gmaw,lost to the ruling British.Acadians found this bean in the gullet of a goose that Fall,saved and planted the seed the next Spring.It has been grown by locals in the area ever since.
   A tomato plant growing wild along the Tobique River in New Brunswick and found by a naturalist is now available as seed called Tribe's Tobique.
  This little seed catalogue has a wealth of imformation.Product codes: LO=local,ceritfied organic ;LG=local,not certified;CO=certified organic:and a no letter code means untreated,conventional.
  The catalogue includes vegetables,herbs and flowers. http://www.hopeseed.com/
  This is the big surprise.Hope Seeds welcomes volunteers through a program called WWOOF,offering room and board in exchange for 5-6 hours of labour a day.To learn more check it out at http://www.wwoof.ca/ .My idea of a fun vacation.
  The Hope Seed people are located in Bellisle,Nova Scotia.