Wow.

I just had to note how impressed I was regarding my order from Territorial Seed Company. I placed my order on Tuesday night and just received my seeds today. Usually, I expect seed orders to arrive in two weeks, sometimes more, even if I order online. They don't pack any auxiliary information with their orders, just a packing slip and the usual garden related ads. Even so, the service is impressive.

Looks like I have a company to add to the regular list.

Also, I mentioned before that they specialize in organics, but they also have biodynamic seeds, which I've not seen any other catalogs carry. For those who are unaware, I've mentioned this method of agriculture before. It was developed by Rudolph Steiner, who was also responsible for Anthroposophy (a splinter of Blavatsky's Theosophy) and Waldorf education. It's essentially organic and treats the farm (or garden) as an organism. According to the Wikipedia entry, it has never been shown to substantially differ from other organic methods. Some of the preparations are just plain weird, like yarrow blossoms stuffed into deer intestines and buried underground.

Some Odds'n'Ends

Last Wednesday, we got temperatures below freezing and a mild snow. Not much stuck on the ground, but it was bad enough to turn the broccoli and cabbage limp. While we were gone for 4 days visiting family for Thanksgiving, the squirrels gnawed on some more plants and knocked our suet feeder loose. So today I ended up doing some minor maintenance, pulling up the plants that probably weren't going to make it much longer and harvesting the tender broccoli heads. Maybe we'll get a couple heads of cabbages before it gets colder; it's hard to say.

I am doing a lot of indoor herb gardening right now and reading what I can. Current picks from the library include:
Carrots Love Tomatoes, Louise Riotte
Bob Flowerdew's Organic Bible
English Herb Gardens, Guy Cooper, Gordon Taylor, Clive Boursnell
I've flipper through all three, and I'm sure I'll discuss them all later.

What I'm really wanting to learn more about, which I could find no books on in the library, is permaculture. I know a little about what it is and already apply aspects to my gardening, but I'd like to develop a more detailed understanding of its practice.
I might just have to buy a book on the subject, but I'm not quite sure where to go. If anyone reading has suggestions, please let me know.
Don't know what permaculture is? Wikipedia has a fairly comprehensive article on the subject.

Another thing that fascinates me is biodynamic agriculture, which is another type of alternative agriculture, which in this case derives from Rudolf Steiner, founder of Anthroposophy. It's one of those odd practices that segues into a full range of non-garden interests of mine.