Hello all, I will respond to all of your replies shortly. Thanks for the advice on providing better contact. The thing is, is that I have had privacy issues with stalkers in the past (ex boyfriends). Yes, I know sounds dramatic. But I guess that's one of the many perils of the internet these days. They've found that all they have to do is troll these boards, respond, get a response, and boom they have my email address. It gets annoying. So it's a little tricky.. Will change that, still. If you go to 'my page' you should be able to email/contact me directly now - the link is present. =) This post was edited by RiverNymph on Sun, Apr 7, 13 at 18:52

Fantastic list of seeds! I think it is just great that you have focused your life on nature at such a young age. I too would love to have 10 (maybe 5) acres someday to plant a wonderland of natives plants, and am already doing that on 1.25 acres. Difference is, my interest didn't come into sharp focus until age 45. :) There are quite a few seeds on this list I am interested in, and I checked your want list and I have a few on that list. Maybe we can do a trade this fall? Just a note - on your want list is Cynanchum louiseae - this is an extremely invasive non-native vine that is becoming a serious problem in the Northeast US. And it has the additional problem that Monarch butterflies will "sense" it is in the Milkweed family, lay eggs on it, and then it will kill the caterpillars because it is toxic to Monarch larvae.

I like reading this kind of stuff. I don't do market gardening for profit, but just plain ol' large scale home gardening for fun. I do sell some things to folks at work, but very cheaply. Seed money, mostly, and I just about break even on seed/fuel costs. Any other costs I eat as part of owning tractors and upkeep on the place. Not bad. I find that when I go to local "farmer's markets" to walk around there are a bunch of hobbyists like me that bring a few of a variety of things and charge an arm and a leg for them. I don't sell at markets, just patronize. One time a guy had a tomato that was huge, I admit, and it looked great, I admit, but it was worth $5. I don't see it. I'll do without or will drive up the road to the produce stand and get them there before I'll pay $5 for one tomato. Some things aren't that badly priced, but they don't look very good. I just like seeing what others grow and comparing what they think is marketable to what I grow and how mine looks. Folks at work see tomatoes. They don't really care whether they're organic or not, or heirloom or hybrid or even what kind they are. They're tomatoes. So I grow varieties that I like and want for me to try and then take extras to work for people that just want tomatoes. Last summer, I didn't grow tomatoes and people just about had a fit. I burnt my transplants while hardening them off. First time I tried to grow my own. Didn't go buy replacements. Lesson learned. Sweetpotatoes work the same way. I started growing them several years ago and bought several varieties. Nobody cared. They just saw sweetpotatoes. My cash crops for my small clientele at work are fall and winter greens (collards and kale) and sweetpotatoes in the fall. Tomatoes and squash do well in the summer. People ask for okra over and over. Sometimes they request green beans. This year, I'm doing the basics - beets, carrots, lettuce in the spring, and tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans, corn in the summer. I'm upping the corn because it did so well last summer despite all the weather issues we had. Hoping for a repeat this summer. I'll have cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon as well as some cushaws and various pumpkins if they do well. And I'm adding a bunch of "exotic" things that other folks at the office don't grow. That's how I up the ante and keep people interested. Last summer I did wax beans and you would have thought I brought in kryptonite. :-) This summer I'll be doing celeriac, cardoon, artichokes, leeks, fennel bulbs, jicama, red celery, and some other things I found in John Scheeper's catalog that piqued my interest. I'm really looking forward to celeriac and jicama. Someone at work asked about fennel, so I'm trying it for them. I hate the stuff. I don't know how much will grow, but I have to try or I won't know.

Becky! You must have read every possible choice of what I wanted on my want list! You're the BOMB! Thank you so much! If you can't tell, I got my package Saturday. It was really late when I got in and was able to open it, or I would've posted sooner. I didn't have any idea how big my envy would be coming back to me... Oh, my! I am seriously very happy! I can't wait to harvest from these and give back way more next year for this swap if it's done again. Blessings, Angela