There was a tease of spring in the air yesterday as I sat on the porch in delightful 58 degrees and sunshine talking to Barb in Florida.  Sunday afternoon was spent writing up my seed orders from Annie's Heirloom Seeds and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

I so enjoy the images from Baker Creek Catalogs. 

 I order online but still need to hold the catalog, touch the pages and  flip them back and forth, dog-ear them, and jot notes along the margins.  I've ordered a few of the same reliables from past years and added a few new ones according to their interesting names, their history, or delicious looking images.  Cour Di Bue Cabbage forms a pointed oxheart-type head and is an old European heirloom.  Cosmic Purple carrots have a bright purple skin and a spicy sweet tasting root. Beurre De Rocquencourt Bush Wax Beans will be planted because I like the name.  And of course, my favorite tomatoes are the juicy rich Black Krim.  This season I'm adding Dwarf Bok Choy and my mantra is still plant fewer potatoes.  As of this moment, I'm thinking only thirty potatoes instead of eighty.  My brain was acclimating to the notion of not overcrowding the garden by sticking more seeds in any spot that looked it it could hold another vegetable until I visited a neighbor up the road.  She handed me a dozen different varieties of tomato seeds that she dried and froze in paper towels last season and asked me to find room in my garden to try them because she doesn't have enough sunlight for tomatoes.  Yikes!  There goes my self-control.

So far while sitting at the computer, we've had bright sunshine, 42 degrees, a blinding white-out that lasted for ten minutes laying a wet floor of snow on the porch, and the sun returns.

Posting a warming delicious winter root soup under the recipe tab.