Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds was started by a 17 year old named Jeremiath (Jere) Gettle back in 1998. Today he owns one of the largest heirloom seed companies in the United States. Jere also produces a seasonal magazine called The Heirloom Gardener.
Jere, his wife Emilee, & Their Wee One, Sasha
Don't know what an heirloom seed is or what all the hype is about?
Heirloom seeds are seeds that have been passed down through families and have come from varieties of fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. that are at least 50 years old. In Jere's words, "some varieties even date back to Thomas Jefferson's garden and beyond."
Heirloom seeds have not been genetically modified like most commercially popular seeds available today. They have not been messed with in some laboratory somewhere and changed from the original "Grand Design". They can be saved year to year and passed down from generation to generation--which is in fact how many of them have survived to this day--without some Monsanto police stopping by your house one day and accusing you of messing with "their" patented seeds. (It has happened, people, and continues to.) You see, you are not allowed to save Monsanto seeds. But enough about the dark side...
Once you've opened up an heirloom seed catalog and spied all the different, colorful, and whimsically named produce that you will never see on a grocery store shelf--and most important, lets face it--when you have tasted some you will be as hooked as I and a lot of my fellow bloggers are.
You just wait.
And next year, you will be the one eagerly waiting by your mailbox in late December/early January for the colorful sight of a seed catalog.
