So you think the Christmas season starts earlier every year? Look what was in my mailbox yesterday - the first seed catalogs for 2017!

I remember waiting in January for the first seeds catalogs of the season. The holidays had passed - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Day. There was a stillness and time for contemplation. Often, snow covered my gardens and frozen soil made for few chores. Well, there are always chores - pruning trees and shrubs, building bird houses and nests for solitary bees, sprouting microgreens, neglecting my houseplants. But compared to other seasons, quietude ruled.

And there was anticipation. Anticipation of the stream of seed catalogs that would be delivered into my mailbox. That anticipation started in childhood.

As a kid, each seed catalog arriving in the mailbox was announced by my dad. "Burpee's is in! Shumway is here! Jung's! Park's! Gurney's! Field's!" I would snuggle into a blanket on the couch and read each catalog - cover to cover, over and over. I would make lists of all the seeds I wanted my dad to order. Those seed lists were as long as my Christmas lists. No, my dad was not going to order $400 of seeds, including every kind of lima bean that existed.

In adulthood, those parental controls are gone. I still make long lists. And I do sometimes order too many seeds - OK, I always order too many seeds. But I have learned to keep the costs down pretty well. I save a lot of my own seeds to replant. But there is more than a lifetime of plant varieties to try - and new varieties are always appearing, too.

So here it is -- Thanksgiving only 4 days past. And here are two seed catalogs for the coming year. One from an old stalwart - Johnny's Selected Seeds. A great company that I have watched develop over the years, through their catalogs, from a small operation driven by the passion of the young company founder, to the sophisticated employee-owned powerhouse of today. Johnny's has developed some great plant varieties. And they have small commercial grower in mind, as well as family gardeners.

The other catalog is from a company I have never heard of. It looks suspiciously like the over-hype of garden catalog hucksters. There are more exclamation points on the cover than I use in my own posts and comments - and that's saying a lot! But I know I will read it cover to cover, over and over. Just like Johhny's. And just like whatever seed catalog arrives in my mailbox.

But when? Should I read them now? I know the companies want me to order Christmas gifts from these 2017 catalogs. And isn't a gift of seeds or gardening gear appreciated by any gardener? How about a fun collection of beans, squash, and sunflowers for a niece or nephew to have their own garden patch?

Bu still, it seems too early. I want to hole up in the long nights, with the rain or snow blowing outside, all warm and cozy in my house, reading catalog after catalog, and making long lists, and dreaming of great gardens springing forth. Or maybe I do both. I probably will do both. It's inevitable I will do both.

Do you look forward to getting seed catalogs in the mail? What are your favorite catalogs to look at, or to order from? Let us all know the first ones that come to your house. Be sure to use the tag #Gardening, so it can be curated for the SteemTrail @gardening-trail! Here's to great gardens for everyone in 2017!

** Haphazard Homestead **

*** foraging, gardening, nature, simple living close to the land ***

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I participate in Operation Translation. All my posts are available for translation under the rules listed on the linked post from @papa-pepper. Logo provided by @oepc85. Post goes 100% to Steem Power! Logo provided by @merej99