The unnamed package from Tulsa is mine. Sorry, I thought about putting my id on there, then forgot to do it.

jlhart - Thanks for the verification. I thought it was, but just wanted to make sure. Carol

Carol, you're a real garden jewel for doing this!

Susan

You are welcome and thanks for all the kind words. It isn't too bad if I keep it organized as things come in. I think I will have everything that I have received marked and ready by the end of the night. I may have writers cramps before I finish because I have to do Dawn's and she is one generous person.

I think I should have them all before Monday. I am trying to keep that week open so I will be ready to work on them. I don't like to start sorting until I have them all because they cover my entire dining room table until I finish.

Then I stand at the window of the post office and we work through everything. Last year, the lady that helped me was wide eyed everytime she peeked down inside a package. I expected her to be on GardenWeb the next week. LOL

Hey, did some of you guys notice that your e-mail addresses are showing up in the line depicting your User Name/Zone, etc? I know most folks are reluctant to have that info revealed on open posts due to potential spamming and maybe even other nasty junk you might get in your e-mail. The Garden Gnomes are playing havoc with personal information, aren't they?

Susan

Latin name for Black sesame seeds is Sesamum Indicum L , please see more info at "Black Sesame Seeds"

"Health benefits of Black Sesame"

Here is one most simple Recipe for Sesame Squires (Till ki Chikki)

INGREDIENTS
250g Jaggery, its called Panela in Spanish (substitute Brown Sugar)
100g Roasted Black Sesame Seeds,
One tsp full Butter.

METHOD: Put butter and jaggary in pan cook for few minutes or until it caramelized then turn off the burner. Add roasted sesame seeds mix it well, greese the cake pan and spread think layer by patting, after little cool, cut it with pizza knife.

Thank you Paula, what is performance of Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans in Norman area? if they are great producer, then I would like to try few seeds. I wish to plant pole beans of all colors (green, yellow, pink, red, purple)!

May I say it.... Me too, me too, me too! If there are any black sesame seeds left, I would love some.

Carol, THANK YOU for are your effort. Santa may work for Christmas, but I think you must be Ms. Claus working for sping.

Carol,
I think it would be easier if you just asked the people who DON'T want sesame seed to post.

seedmama - I think you are right. I will have a look at them and see how many packs I can make and still let everyone have enough. I may be posting about a few other things as well.

Dawn - Since you don't sleep, I know WHEN you did it, but how did you ever sit still long enough to write all of that information on those dozens and dozens of little bags. That is a lot of seed, and a lot of writing. I love what you sent to me, but I am ever so grateful that I get first shot at that pepper bag as well. LOL

Dawn - How did the Brandymaster tomatoes do for you? I had several tomatoes from my Pink B last year, and I didn't keep records, but it seems it had good taste but didn't produce very many. Did the other colors do about the same.

Sorry for little typo in height unit, Black sesame can grow 3-5 feet not meter! but who knows, it can reach sky in the hands of great great green thumbs you all have!

Carol - don't worry about sharing any of the Black Sesame with me. I'm going to do a Baker Creek order and I can just get mine from there. And if not, maybe someone can share with me next year.

I have TONS of Black Sesame seeds, we use frequently in cooking. Please let me know if you need to send more to Carol. As its a summer crop, require direct seeding usually done late-spring. I guess you will not be seeding till labor day, in that case I can bring more seeds to Spring Fling and also ask Priya to cook something from Black Sesame seeds for the Spring Fling. -Chandra

Chandra - that would be great if you could just bring some to the Spring Fling! I'll save the Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean seeds to give to you then also. The beans don't need to be sown until late Spring also. All's well that ends well!

Paula

Chandra - that would be great if you could just bring some to the Spring Fling! I'll save the Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean seeds to give to you then also. The beans don't need to be sown until late Spring also. All's well that ends well!

Paula

Here is one site dedicated to Sesame: "http://www.sesaco.net/" they also some pics about "traditional sesame harvest" and "fully mechanized sesame harvest" and lot more info about the sesame...

Carol,

With the crazy hours my DH works, I don't sleep much, so all I had to do was stay wide awake enough (caffeine, caffeine, caffeine) to write on those packets. I hope the handwriting is legible though.

My recollections about Pink Brandymaster are very similar to yours. It probably isn't the fault of the variety, though, as last year's weather was challenging for some tomato varieties. I don't currently have the Brandymaster family on the grow list for 2011, but have been toying with adding them back so they at least get a fair 'second chance' to prove themselves worthy. If only we could know in advance if the weather is going to work with us or against us in 2011!

Dawn

p-mac, Keep in mind you and Chandra will be seeing each other for onion pick up.

Carol, seeds are in the mail. I didn't put any info on the packets, tho. Just ran out of time and energy. Hope that is okay. After I got the seeds sent out, I noticed one of the cats tossing something around on the floor, and discovered my packet of Easter Egg Radishes had somehow "missed the boat". Oh, well, I think there are enough packets to total 20.

Susan

Seedmama - there ya go "enabling" me again! Now I've been reminded that I'll have TWO opportunities to get Chandra the seed and I'll still forget. It'll probably end up at the bottom of my purse next fall when we do another seed swap!!! (Carol and I are "logistically" related. ha!)

Thanks for the reminder. I'll try to be on my toes about that...but a very dear bean-counting friend will probably remind me. =)

Paula, I have been in OKC all day, but came home to find your package had arrived.....along with a very light mist just about the time we got home. We are at 35 but expecting a frezing drizzle and a temp drop to 21. Tomorrow will not be pretty. Ugh.

Darn, Carol, I cudda just met you and handed you my seed package! LOL!

It is very cold this morning here in OKC! Brrrrrrrrr.

Susan

Glad you made it home before the weather hit, Carol! Radar says you've gotten quite a bit of snow. We got the ice first...ugh. Heard a bit ago that the hospitals in Norman and Moore were on "divert". Too many people have fallin and the ER's are overflowing.

Can't believe it, but the FAA closed! I'm going to have to bake cookies or something so I stay out of the Seed Catalogs!!! or worse yet....set up the Grow Lights!!!

Paula

Well, I couldn't house someone overnight from the elements anymore. The bed in my guest bedroom has been disassembled and is now propped up against the north wall.

Why you ask? To make room for the SECOND(!) extremely large seed starting shelving unit with grow lights, of course! It's a sickness I swear and you people are a bad, bad influence. :-)

Susan, I was with DH yesterday and he always has a lineup of things to do. The only thing on my agenda was to go pick up my pecans at my daughters. She had picked them up for me (from the grower) and put them in her freezer so I didn't have to come back to OKC to get them and make a special trip. Now I have to get them picked out and back in the freezer fast, so I will be working on that today. I buy 100 pounds and then have them cracked, so they pick out fairly easily. I tried a few last night and it looks like the bulk of them will go fast. Buying pecans this year is an investment, WOW.

Paula, we were lucky to beat the storm. It started to mist almost as soon as we got home, then stopped, and there was nothing more until after I went to bed. We awoke this morning to a sizable snow fall. DH had to drive to the courthouse in Jay, but I haven't been out at all. He said there were some really slick spots and the temp is only 19 still.

Paula,

I am completely shocked the FAA closed and you got a day off. That is incredible. (And, not normal either, is it?)

When the ice was falling here, I only heard of one serious fall that required an ambulance and one rollover-type fatality accident, but otherwise it seemed pretty calm and quiet here. Clearly, even the thinnest glaze of ice on pavement is still really dangerous.

Officially, we only got 5/100s of an inch of precip, which fell first as rain and then as freezing rain, but some parts of the county may have received more. I don't think we received more here, but we'll never know because I found my rain gauge on the ground lying on its side this morning, so the wind or some critter got it and it didn't record anything.

Lynn, Oh wow, you have got it bad. I've even stopped calling my guest room the guest room. From now on, I'm just going to call it the plant room. Might as well be honest about it, I think, and the only guests who stay in it anymore are plants and occasional kitty cat invaders.

I would like to put up a second light shelf but so far have restrained myself.

Carol, We have been around the mid-20s all day but have had intermittent sunshine all afternoon that might make it feel slightly warmer if you're out of the wind. With the wind blowing hard, it still feels bitterly cold out there in exposed areas.

Tonight will be very cold for most all of us, I think. Then? A couple of good days before the next system.

I wish spring would hurry up and get here.

Dawn

I received packages today from Susan and Danni. We are almost ready.

Yippee - that was quick! I didn't think you'd get them until Friday. Not as many as I'd have liked to have sent, but next year.........

I was just ribbing you about meeting to deliver seeds, heehee!

Maybe on one of your OKC jaunts we could meet at the new Organic Gardening store on 36th & Penn. I'm really anxious to see it, and they will be carrying SunLeaves products, too, as in grow bags and fertilizers. They are carrying so many things for organic gardeners that I'm really excited to see the store.

Seems to me those "guest" rooms are still just that - those are living, breathing babies you'll be nurturing in those rooms, and don't they qualify as "guests" since they'll only be staying there temporarily?

Susan

Susan, I knew you were kidding, and I haven't opened you package yet. I am still in the middle of getting my pecans picked out and frozen. After that, I will start back on the seed swap.

I think my next trip to OKC will be 'onion day', at least I don't have an earlier one planned.

Where do you get your onions?

Susan

From seedmama's onion thread, but I agreed to come pick mine up and anyone else's that wanted to meet me on my way back. Like the Tulsa folks, and Melissa lives near me also. I hope it warms up by then, I'm not liking this 6 degree temp. Brr......

You pick 100# of pecans, Carol? Holy moly!! I bought those 5# of cracked pecans near Thanksgiving and picked them all... and ate them all! Not a single one made it into the freezer or pies or anything other than my belly. From now on, I'll just pay stupidly outrageous prices for pre-shelled pecans. Lesson learned. Again. (I tend to have to relearn this particular lesson once every five years or so.)

Diane

owiebrain - My nephew is a grower so I wait for his broker to set the price then I buy. It's a good deal for me and he doesn't lose anything. I normally just buy every other year, but I missed last year, so had to buy at pretty high prices this year. He called me the day before his pickup day and I was in OKC, but he left me a msg. I didn't want to turn around and go right back so my daughter met his wife in OKC for me, and put the pecans in the freezer at her house until I went back to the city again. He usually saves them all from one tree so they are a very uniform size and are great when they come out of the 'crack house'. LOL I went through all of them in one day which is very fast. DH was gone all day, so I did little else, and I was tired at the end of the day.

This seed swap is so exciting! I'm new to everything but hope to be a part next year!

It's been a really rough few weeks at our house, so I'm just now seeing this! I mailed my envelope off to Carol and can't wait to see what comes in the mail! I have no preferences...I will (try to) grow whatever you send me, I'm just so grateful to be included! Thanks so much to all of you generous folks for letting me participate without having anything to share. Maybe next year I'll have things to send along!

Of course, letting me participate means you'll have to answer a mountain of questions about seed-starting, etc. :)

Bring it on, okieladybug!!! Not that I can help (ha! last year was my first year!) but lots of good info can be found using the "search" function and if you don't find it, just come back here and ask!

(how do you like the way I volunteered everyone??? LOL!)

Paula

We need an official countdown clock similar to the ball dropping in Times Square...10 days...9 days...8 days... (til Carol mails out the packages). Can't wait to see what Santa Carol Claus brings me.

Lynn

I should mail on Wednesday. I'm a little out of balance on a few, so I have to re-distribute some. I ran out of little bags in separating some of the larger packages but I will get those tomorrow. Then I will get my own seeds out again and add a few more things. So by tomorrow night, I should be packing it up.

Don't worry about sending seeds to me. Cross me off the list.

Susan

Ok Susan - so you really didn't take to heart the messages on other threads that were offered. I really meant them in the best way but oh well. I'm sorry. I'm posting this just because I wanted to give you the feed back that you're obviously craving.

Hey Carol - send me any extras that you were going to send her. OR keep them for the Spring Fling. I'd bet we can distribute them to peeps that will really appreciate them.

Carol, I'm sure you knew I wasn't rushing you to get the packages mailed. Whether they arrive this week, next week or anytime thereafter really doesn't matter to me. I just wanted to share how excited I am about all the goodies to come. Reminds me of being a kid at Christmas. Remember how fun it was to count down how many days were left before Santa came to visit? You always knew the exact number and were beside yourself in anticipation.

Since this is my first seed swap with the group and knowing how generous everyone can be, there is just no way to anticipate what's to come other than tons of seeds! Makes me salivate like Pavlov's pooch.

Don't worry about balancing out the packets for me. I don't expect to get back the same amount I sent. I had extras, we had newbies so I sent plenty to go around.

Thanks for all the effort you put into the swap. I know you work very hard to make wish lists a reality.

Lynn

I've been playing it cool, acting like I'm not excited because there's nothing much I need seed-wise this year. But let me tell you...

Ack! I can't wait!!! I don't know what it is about this sort of thing with this particular group of folks but, dang, I'm gonna have to get myself a pair of Depends if I get any more excited!

Breathe, Diane. Just breathe...

Diane

Diane, I need bibs...you need diapers...what in the world has happened to us?!?

I believe y'all have become infected with the dreaded gardening malady known as Seed Affliction. There is no hope for anyone with this disease. From now on, no matter how many seeds you have, you'll salivate at the prospect of having more. Not only that, you'll willingly spread the "Gotta Have It" Seed Affliction by sharing seeds with everyone you meet and even with people you never meet, except here on the forum.

I think both of you have had Seed Affliction for a long time and just have been in denial. I think Diane's had it since before I met her online, and that was a long, long time ago.

As we always say with regards to our gardening and seed addiction, there's worse things to be addicted to!

Dawn

I remember one particular Labor Day, sitting lakeside and folding paper seed envelopes like there was no tomorrow. Being made out of discarded (horrors!) gardening catalogs, they were oh so pretty. A relative inquired why I was making envelopes and before I could respond my husband interjected, "It's for this cult she's in."

It has occurred to me we should make cult T-shirts for the Spring Fling, but my immediate response to myself was I'd rather spend my $10 on seeds and supplies. Plus, it's easier to identify people and remember names if we all aren't dressed alike.

Seedmama

oh lordy, i've got it too then! :)

i told my husband that the seeds from the seed swap would be here soon, and he just shook his head, smiled (you know that indulgent smile of which i speak?), and said "well at least seeds don't take up as much room as your all fiber and yarns."

And then he says "no matter how many seeds you have, we won't need an addition just to store them".

i looked at him and said "have we met?!?"

bwahahahah....silly man.....

dody

Seedmama,

Cult? Cult? We're a cult. Well good heavens, aren't "cults" so 1980ish? I can just picture you sitting there making those little packets.

Oh well, everyone's got to belong to something. We might as well belong to the Cult of Oklahoma Gardening Addicts. Back when I was a kid, they called them Gardening Clubs or Plant Societies. I joined my first gardening club in 1975 or 1976, so my history of cult membership goes back a long way.

Dody,

If he thinks your seed collection won't expand to fill all the extra space in the house, then your DH has another think coming, as my mom used to say.

"Silly man" is right.

Pity the poor spouse who married a seemingly normal person, and then discovered they'd actually married a gardener.

Dawn

Just a couple of days ago, I was thinking about how long I've been at GW. Then I remembered that our member profiles have our join date on them. I lurked for a long time but finally joined up July 10, 2003. that's almost eight years I've been kicking around here. I've known some of you a very long time. Does this mean we're getting old?? Nah, not me. Maybe you guys but certainly not me.

There is no cure. They just keep sucking you in deeper and deeper...

Diane

oooh i am beyond excited to know they are coming soon.
i even have a little chunk of unclaimed time this weekend that now has SEEDS written all over it........

This thread is getting long so let's shut it down. Look for Thread 3