An Itching Green Thumb

Spring is definitely here, and it's definitely affecting me.  I love the idea of spring-- re-birth, new life, and the coming of summer.  And I have planting fever.  

I find myself daydreaming about things like custom planter boxes and what I'm going to cook come summer using my the produce I'm producing on my balcony.  So, I loved this post on Design*Sponge about an heirloom seed bank in Petaluma.

Started by Jerre Gettle at just 17 in 1998, this business, which sells only non-GMO* heirloom seeds, expanded so much after its beginnings in Missouri that he decided to take it to California, to the crossroads of "foodies, farmers, and the slow food movement."

*if you don't know what GMO is, you must watch Food Inc., it's available on Netflix instant and will instantly change how you think about food.

Gettle started his business, which was originally mail-order, after becoming interested in, and starting a collection of, rare and old varieties of seeds.   Since most seeds available at the local hardware store are manufactured and/or hybridized GMO seeds, and pure seeds are harder and harder to come by, his company quickly developed a loyal following.

Today, it operates out of this cool space in Petaluma, where each seed is given a detailed description and is packaged with these cool retro graphics.  The owners had the seed shelves seen above Amish-built on site according to custom designs.  

I like a company that wants every detail to be exactly right.

In the middle of the store, design*sponge noted, were bags of heirloom tomatoes, still covered in dirt, with signs denoting their varietal.

And of course since it's design*sponge, they then went home and organized their seeds into these airtight cork vials, labeled with the varietal and date.  Pretty clever if you're not going to plant them right away-- seeds are actually alive and have a life span, so it's a good idea to know when you bought them.

The cool at-home packaging makes this whole thing even more appealing to me.

Now I'm feeling the spring fever more than ever...

See the whole post here on Design*Sponge.