It’s shaping up to be a cold, dry winter (so far).  The garden has essentially been put to bed, and so attention turns to infrastructure.

These three trees – two very tall pines (Pinus sabiniana) and a cedar – were increasingly shading the garden proper, so they had to go.  I hired a guy to drop them – a “climber” – and a friend and I will use an Alasakan mill to turn the trees into planks or benches or something.  Pine makes pretty lousy firewood (compared to hardwoods like oak or madrone).

I spend much of the winter poring over seed catalogs, daydreaming about spring.  One of my favorites arrived in the mail today – Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  It’s filled with interesting, unusual, old-fashioned varieties.  I’m not a huge fan of cucumber, but Mexican sour gherkins seem interesting, and I’d like to give naranjilla (Solanum quitoense) a shot, though I suspect my growing season might be too short.  I’m also eagerly awaiting the Seed Savers Exchange yearbook, as I finally ponied up for membership this year.  Browsing the online catalog, I found this listing for Transylvanian Sorrel:

A variety of garden sorrel with nice long strap shaped leaves. Good color and flavor all winter. Needs water in the summer to keep growing., Collected by the Seed Ambassadors from a Hungarian speaking man at the farmers’ market in Cluj-Napoca, Romania on our 2008 trip to Transylvania.

This is to me the best thing about the varieties on offer through Seed Savers Exchange.  These seeds aren’t faceless, mass produced, run-of-the-mill, hybrid seeds from mega-conglomerate seed corporations, but unique characters, each with its own (often romantic, evocative) back-story.  Seeds with character.  Plants I would be proud to have in the garden.

EDIT – I know it’s not technically winter until 21st December, but it might as well be.