FREE heirloom tomato seeds collection giveaway!

By dramamamafive January 14, 2014 Canning, Gardening, Giveaways!, heirloom tomato recipes, Uncategorized 286 Comments

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You know what’s going on around here, don’t you, Gentle Reader? Here we are in High Winter (that’s what I call January, anyway). The ground is rock-solid; the garden is sitting quietly; the grass is brown; seed catalogs are scattered around the house, hither and non; cabin fever is beginning to poke its restless head into our business.

Sigh. Of course. It’s January in Nebraska. We’ve had plenty of cold, but not much snow yet this winter. Little Mack has a new sled, and he hasn’t used it yet. My daughter is dating a sweet young man from Hawaii, who has never played in the snow. We all wouldn’t mind some snow, but for now we’re just trying to make it through January. The holidays craziness which kept us–for the most part–distracted from the snow and the ice and the cold, has passed now, and there’s a long stretch before we can get our hands in the warm, fragrant garden soil. Not to mention the compost pile. Sigh.

Poring over seed catalogs, making my seed orders, and planning my gardens is quite a mood-stabilizer for me, this time of year. I heard bluebirds the other day. Surely they were scouts, just passing through as they looked to see if this was still a decent place to raise their young.

“Yes, it is!” I called out to them. “But not yet!”

Here’s a typical scene, say, in our kitchen, about 6:30 p.m. After a busy day, I’m trying to get supper on the table before anybody faints from hunger. A perilous time for the nerves. I slip, I drop something or run into somebody, and snap at the unfortunate soul who is Underfoot But Not Particularly Helpful. (Probably my Beloved.) You know the scenario, Gentle Reader, don’t you?

First of all, why ON EARTH would anybody snap at anybody in our kitchen at this hour? After all, there are only two dogs (one medium, one supersize), one skitterish kitty (Sammie), one hungry husband, one very tall and very hungry teenaged son, and a lovely teenaged daughter and a very wiggly 7-year-old son, who possibly are Perilously Hungry and Underfoot, too. And the kitchen is, roughly, 10 feet by about 4 feet. Not kidding. But anyway. The fact that we badly need a bigger kitchen is not what I’m writing about today.

Here the dogs are waiting for me, just outside the back stoop. I take kitchen trash to the chooks every morning, and usually throw them a treat, too, thus their diligence to dog my every step.

Here the dogs are waiting for me, just outside the back stoop. I take kitchen trash to the chooks every morning, and usually throw the dogs a treat, too, thus their diligence to dog my every step (no pun intended).

A bigger kitchen. . . with a floor drain and cabinets that repel flour and sugar and pancake batter and grease . . . a bigger kitchen with a counter top that is not bathroom tiles with that awful grout in between them all . . . a bigger kitchen that is not the thoroughfare for traffic to all parts of the house . . . a bigger kitchen . . . oh, I’m sorry. I think I’m complaining and that’s not very nice. Bad, discontented, January ME.

Amalia hears my tone, and comes to my aid. “Mom, I’ll finish up. You go look at your nice pretty seed catalogs, okay?” Did I mention that my daughter is an angel? Well, she is. She gently guides me to my big chair, by which is a tall stack of seed catalogs, a notebook, my reading glasses, and a couple of pens (in case one runs out of ink). I settle in. I smile.

Everything is going to be okay. It won’t be January forever. It may feel like January will never end . . . but it won’t . . it won’t last forever.

Besides, I have some really good news for you, my Gentle Readers. I have a present for you. Since it’s January! The really nice folks at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds sent me a very sweet collection of heirloom tomato seeds, so I could give them away to one lucky, Gentle Reader.

You know how over the over the moonish I am about heirloom tomatoes. I mean, they really put me into orbit! What I’ve found is that they are just as easy to grow as hybrid tomatoes, and the variety and the colors and the different tastes of heirlooms just can’t be beat! Honestly. If you’ve never tried them, you must! If you’ve never grown them, do yourself a favor and grow some this year! You’ll thank me for this bit of free advice.

I grow a lot of heirloom tomato plants. I harvest bushels and bushels and bushels of them, and I make up dozens of jars of salsa every summer, I dehydrate them, I can them, and I make tomato soup that is so tasty it will make you cry. I cook with them nearly every day during the summer. I simply adore my heirloom tomato patch, and I do take a bit of ribbing for how many plants I put in each summer. But no matter.

My mouth is watering right now, just looking at this picture, Gentle Readers. Not making this up. It’s worth it to be known as the Crazy Heirloom Tomato Freak Lady.

See? See? Aren’t they pretty?

So, the packets of seeds that are included in this giveaway are in all these colors that Baker Creek carries: White! Striped! Yellow! Orange, and more! (Did you realize that heirloom tomatoes came in so many colors? Well, they do!) Here’s a list of the packets that you will receive, if you enter this awesome giveaway:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is a great company, just a stone’s throw away from us, in Missouri. Their story is an inspiring one, and I greatly admire the owners, the young couple Jere and Emilee Gettle. They’ve made it their life’s mission to provide excellent heirloom seeds for gardeners, and they work extensively to supply free seeds to many of the world’s poorest countries, as well. My sisters and I traveled to their awesome Spring Planting Festival last May. It was the most fun I had had in a long time, and not just because I was with my sisters, of course some of my favorite people in the entire universe. It was just a really amazing event for us garden-hungry, heirloom seed-nutty, crazed foodie types like us. You can learn more about the Gettles and their amazing company by clicking to their website here.

But, back to those free seeds . . . I’ll tell you a secret . . . I have raised a few of these, but not all of them . . . I’m sorely tempted to keep a few for myself . . . but no! This giveaway is for YOU, my Gentle Reader, as my humble and grateful “thank you” for reading my blog, for commenting, for sharing it with your friends. I do appreciate you all so much!

It’s very simple to enter, and the more entries you plug in, the more chances you will have of winning!

First, type your e-mail address in the bitty box to the right, so you’ll never miss out on another vomitingchicken.com e-mail update! There. Done? That’s one entry. But you can enter many more times, with the super-simple Rafflecopter thing below, to increase your chances of winning!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

On the last day of January, when we’ve made it through this long and gray and bitter month, we’ll draw a winner from all the entrants, and the very next day the seeds will be winging their way–so to speak–to that lucky person! Just in time to get your plants started for your summer garden! You know, it could be you!!

So don’t delay, Gentle Reader. Enter now, and enter often! And then dream of heirloom tomatoes . . .