Winter is far from over, but I’m already behind in thinking about gardening. Seed catalogs have been arriving at my house for weeks now, their colorful photos brightening gray days. Interest in gardening has surged in the last couple of years, outpacing supply and making ordering seeds in February or earlier a smart move.
When you only need a few packets, you can skip the shipping and pick up seeds around town. Box of Rain in Kalispell already has peas, kale and other seeds in stock. Within weeks, local garden centers that took a winter break will open their doors with racks packed with seeds and tables loaded with starts. The Seed Library at ImagineIF’s Columbia Falls branch is a great resource if you want to try some new-to-you varieties, and Free the Seeds will again be giving away seeds at locations in Kalispell and Columbia Falls on March 5, followed by a weekend of online workshops.
February is also time to consider a community-supported agriculture (CSA) share. Many area farms are already signing up customers so that they can plan and plant for distribution that won’t start until April or May. Memberships have already opened for North Shore Farm, Raven Ridge Farm, Two Bear Farm, Wicked Good Produce’s Veggie Club and other area farms. More local growers will begin signing up their season’s customers in the next few weeks. Many CSA programs will sell out long before harvesting begins.
All this talk of seeds and shares comes back to one thing: eating well year-round. I enjoy digging, planting and occasionally even weeding, but it’s really about the delicious food that ends up on the table. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the pretty choices in seed catalogs. So I work backward, gardening from the perspective of my kitchen by asking, “What do I want to eat, and when do I want to eat it?”
Last year, I saved seed for arugula, butterhead lettuce and peas that will go in the ground early and become the mainstays of my fresh meals. I’m buying large seed packs of beans, corn and more in hopes of big harvests for canning, freezing and, of course, pickling.
My seed order this year includes Deep Purple carrots, Boldor golden beets and heirloom pickling cucumbers. Purple carrots create a colorful brine when pickled in Curtido (Cabbage Slaw) or as Taqueria Carrots. Orange and Golden Beets with Roasted Garlic are a quickly pickled favorite. And only pickling cucumbers stay crisp after weeks of fermenting as Smoky Full-Sour Pickles or through the heat of canning as Honeyed Bread-and-Butter Chips.
As I sit in my kitchen, tallying my ever-growing seed order, I know I’m planning a summer of digging, planting, weeding, harvesting and preserving – and ultimately eating well.
Julie Laing is a Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger at TwiceAsTasty.com.