Fruition Seeds

This morning, potting up peppers, we paused for a moment. Let's pause together, Friends. Imagine all the people sowing seeds...... ...right now Potting up tomatoes. ...right now Planting out seedlings, tucking in each one with gratitude & perhaps even compost. ...right now Feel that joy of all these people at this moment... ...feel that hope amplified across counties & continents... ...feel that love amplified across generations... ...we are so not alone, Friends Sending love from our gardens to yours! Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra & the whole Fruition Crew ps Join us! Here are 5 opportunities to learn & laugh together this week: 10 Easy Seeds to Sow in May Monday, May 3rd between 6 & 7 pm EST, free registration https://docs.google.com//1FAIpQLScn0EZP1Dv8xjNJz/viewform thanks to the greater Rochester libraries for hosting 10 Keys for Container Gardens & Raised Beds Tuesday, May 4th between 6:30 & 7:30 pm EST, free registration https://us02web.zoom.us//tZwsf-CgqT8tGNUEAUS9skCu2ooUvhWY0 thanks to the greater Rochester libraries for hosting Potting Up, Hardening Off & Transplanting Tips Wednesday, May 5th between 6:30 & 7:30 pm EST with ASL interpretation! Even if you aren't able to join us live, you'll receive the replay when you register https://www.myfruitionseeds.com/Sowing%20&%20Growing Live Q & A! Join us Sunday, May 9th live on insta between 8:30 and 9, on facebook between 9:10 to 9:40 am EST Fruition’s Garden Store We’re open each weekend through the end of May between 10 & 2, sharing gorgeous organic transplants (yes, tomatoes are available now!) as well as seeds, scoop your own compost ($7/5-gallon bucket) & some fine company, we can’t wait to welcome you! You’ll find full details, including all the varieties we have available here https://www.fruitionseeds.com/fruitions-garden-store

Hooray! It’s Live Q & A! Jump right in, don’t be shy & hope to see you here on the farm one day, too!... We’re open each weekend through the end of May between 10 & 2... ...and we’re officially sharing our organic tomato transplants! You’ll find us at 7921 Hickory Bottom Road in Naples Sending love from our gardens to yours! Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra

Happy May from the Finger Lakes! Hail fell on the farm yesterday, warm soil immediately melting the ice, peas & yarrow undaunted by the cold as we planted our dahlia tubers into flats of deliciously rich potting mix, cozy in the greenhouse What are you growing this weekend, indoors & out?... And now! For the perennial note on our Plant Now lists Rather than offering directives, we share these lists as delightful invitations to accompany you, food for thought & reflection, sharing what we've learned the hard way so you don't have to Also, Fruition's Garden Store is open weekends now through May between 10 & 2! You'll find seeds as well as soil blockers, fish emulsion as well as potting mix, compost ($7/fill your own 5 gallon bucket!) as well as our company, looking so forward to fielding all your garden quandaries. Organic seed potatoes are ready to come home with you, as are our gorgeous cold-hardy transplants of broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale & cabbage! Oceans of (small) tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, basil, zinnias & beyond are ready for you now, too...& please only bring them home if you have a gorgeous grow light to sustain them a few weeks longer indoors. Come find us at 7921 Hickory Bottom Road in Naples, with masks & ready to dance from a social distance! Here’s the full scoop, including the list of exactly the varieties we grew forward you https://www.fruitionseeds.com/fruitions-garden-store/ And Friends, our free Sowing & Growing webinar continues with Potting Up & Hardening Off: 5 Steps for Gorgeous Tomato Seedlings! Join us Wednesday & register here https://www.fruitionseeds.com/fruitions-garden-store/ Last week was all things Beet! When you register, you receive access to the replays of our whole series, it’s true Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra & the whole Fruition Crew

Potting Up: Our Favorite Fish Emulsion Trick! Giving before receiving is deep wisdom across human cultures, so easily forgotten... ...especially by me in the whirlwind of everything spring on the farm ... We love slowing down, just a moment, to offer of dilute fish emulsion to each seedling as we're potting them up... ...it's like packing your favorite snack for when you reach the mountain top https://www.fruitionseeds.com//contain/fish-kelp-emulsion/ Also, if fish emulsion isn't your jam, compost tea is not second fiddle In other news, we're officially offering all of our organic transplants at our Garden Store this weekend between 10 & 2, Friends! Except for our tomatillos (who can't self-pollinate, so always grow 2!) & ground cherries, which are just too small to share yet. It's true, our cool-loving broccoli & brussels sprouts are the ideal size to be planted out now (!) & our heat-loving tomatoes & beyond are available though small, so they'll be the perfect size to plant out by Memorial Day, perfect timing here in Zone 5. You'll find a beautiful wall of seeds, our go-to potting mix, fish emulsion, seed potatoes, soil blockers & more in 'the mill,' our rustic & dusty seed cleaning shed beside the pond. Just outside the mill is a small mountain of compost, $7/scoop your own 5-gallon bucket! My father's corn hole will be all set up and the bluebirds are nesting in the willow over the pond! For a full list of our varieties available, hop on over to https://www.fruitionseeds.com/fruitions-garden-store/ Sow Seeds, Sing Songs & See You Soon! Petra & the whole Fruition Crew

Once daffodils are past peak blossom, the soil is finally warm enough for beets to leap out of the ground! Here in Zone 5, the moment has arrived So here are 3 common mistakes to avoid when growing beets & ohhhh there's (always!) so much more to share ... We'll dive deep into the nitty-gritty details of growing beets tonight as Fruition's free Sowing & Growing webinar series continues with Beets & 5 Roots to Sow in Spring Our entire series is ASL-interpreted & even if you can't join us live between 6:30 & 7:30 pm EST, you'll receive the replay & growing guide when you register, see you soon https://www.myfruitionseeds.com/Sowing%20&%20Growing 3 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Sowing Beets: 1. Direct Sown is Best All root vegetables strongly prefer to establish their roots without disturbance. With beets, you can transplant them though it's *not* recommended nor foolproof. We'll share the strategy with you in our webinar 2. Thin Early & Often Most seeds have one plant emerge from them; one radish seed, for example, will grow one radish. Beet seeds are 'multi-germ,' sprouting 2 to 5 beets from a single seed, making thinning key if you're hoping to harvest a beet larger than a wisp of spaghetti. The earlier you thin your beets, the less stressed & thus more abundant they'll grow. We thin once beet seedlings are a scant inch tall, munching the delicious thinnings (they're essentially microgreens!) & since we love beet greens (almost) as much as we do beets, we thin them only so their leaves aren't overlapping so we'll harvest all the more roots & greens as the remaining beets are sizing. You can also thin them initially leaving 4+ inches between plants & though you won't have as many greens & baby beets to harvest, you'll also be on your knees thinning less. There are as many ways to garden as there are gardeners! But not thinning beets is not really an option 3. Sow All Season We succession sow beets all season long, beginning once the daffodils are passing their peak of blossom, about one month before final frost. For a continuous beet harvest, sow every few weeks until 6 to 8 weeks before final frost. There's so much more to share, see you tonight ! Join us here https://www.myfruitionseeds.com/Sowing%20&%20Growing Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra & the whole Fruition Cree ps If you’re looking for organic beet seeds, we share six varieties we love here https://www.fruitionseeds.com/product-category/vegetables//

As seed growers, we wait all season for this moment... ...this moment when no pepper will ripen further, will mature any more seed... ...and now, we eat peppers by the bushel!... What is your favorite pepper recipe, Friends? We can't wait to try it It's true, all summer long we've enjoyed eating red peppers, saving oceans seeds (like it's our job, hooray!) while bringing some fruit home for supper (how amazing is it to have an organic red pepper fruit as your 'by-product?!!) but now there are just hundreds & indeed thousands of glorious green peppers we all are bringing home to roast, grill, savor & preserve. I'm always especially excited for the mild heat & rich flavor of deep green poblano peppers, which we truly wait all season to enjoy since their red ancho style is so much spicier. We'll be grilling them for hours this evening before sending many bags long, succulent strips (winter tacos, yes!) into the freezer along with gallons of luscious dairy-free sunflower + poblano crema (which sounds fancier than it is & no less delectable)! Can't wait to share farm meals with you all again In the meantime! Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra ps The final pic is a brand new variety coming into being & soon to be with YOU! It's time we all played a more active role in our food, in our democracy, in our plant breeding & we're cooking up some really delicious ways to play with our food , growing ourselves as our gardens grow us. There is a hot pepper family & a sweet family! I can’t wait to share more Stay tuned & if you want to be among the first folx to be involved, be sure you're on our email list. If you're not already, send us a message with your email, we can't wait to share more soon! And if you really want to dig in deeper faster now, you know just send me an email, [email protected], and know we look so forward! pps Peppers in order of photos: Aji Dulce, Ancho poblano, Aji Crystal (new variety coming soon!!!), Padron (shishito, step aside) and a new pepper, the cross of Aji Dulce and Habanada, the lusciously heartless Habanero. Just a few of the peppers we love & seeds we share

If you can grow bush beans, you can grow peanuts! And once it frosts, the moment to harvest has arrived If you would love the deep dive of how to grow & harvest peanuts, hop on over to our blog ... https://www.myfruitionseeds.com//harvesting-curing-enjoyin It's true, my childhood experience of growing peanuts once and harvesting seven peanuts convinced me for two decades that growing peanuts in short seasons was extravagantly futile. Yet seeds, again & again, remind me that our imagination is the limit, that regional adaptation is the language of resilience, that we can grow so much more than we think possible. When we started Fruition Seeds, Matthew & I were gifted a small bag of 'Northern Hardy Valencia' peanuts from a family on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who had selected them for over two decades. Skeptical as I was, they thrived against many odds, including cold, close spacing & a family of groundhogs. The second photo is from that first planting If you garden in short seasons, as we do, regional adaptation makes a difference with any seed. This is especially true crops that need more heat, like watermelon, peppers, peanuts. We are delighted to share our seeds, and such joy, with you. If you're hungry for more details, peanuts are sown at the same time as beans (after final frost) and similar spacing (six inches between plants). Unlike beans, which are harvested in summer, peanuts are harvested after first frost. After frost we sow them, gently removing each seed from each pod. All summer long they produce darling little orange flowers (third image) which send down purple pegs, or peduncles (fourth image) which form peanuts underground when they reach the soil. They'll continue to mature more & more peduncles and peanuts until the first frost finally freezes the leaves. All the juicy (crunchy?) details are in our blog https://www.myfruitionseeds.com//harvesting-curing-enjoyin If you have a peanut story, share it below! And if you’d love to add your words & photos to our new website gallery celebrating all the folx who bring Fruition to fruition (lol!), email [email protected] and thanks for making our day Sow Seeds & Sings Songs, Petra

Hooray! Its Live Q & A! If you’re looking for our garlic, floating row cover, organic fertilizers, our free online garlic course or seeds to sow in the fall, hop on over to www.fruitionseeds.com, link in profile ... Til next time, don’t be shy! Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra

My mother is brilliant and made countless scavenger hunts for my sister and I, whisking us out into the forest for hours at a time. Could we find a Blue Jay feather? Where will we find a coyote footprint? Could we find a sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rock? A red oak acorn and a white? A salamander? A bone? I'll always be grateful for my mother's genius, getting us out of her hair (!) while encouraging us to finding peace, purpose & beauty in all seasons, just outside ...our door Today I'm making a scavenger hunt for myself so I can go find myself, amid the everything, among the radiant leaves and final snatches of meltingly warm sunshine. What's on your list? Do share below! Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra ps Join Kira (@avery.apiary) & I Saturday morning for Live Q & A with ASL interpretation! We'll hop on Insta at 9 and wave goodbye at 9:30; I'll then hop over to facebook from 9:45 to 10:15 am EST. If not then, hope to see you another Saturday soon! And one day on the farm, when the world is new :) pps My offerings will resonate with those with privileged proximity to fields and forests just outside their door; I cannot WAIT to hear what is on the lists of folx who nest in other spaces! Feathers always, I hope

Saving & Savoring Pumpkin Seeds! Also, for more details on saving squash seeds, enjoy our blog sharing 3 Things to do with Your Winter Squash Seeds https://www.myfruitionseeds.com//Squash%20Seed:%20On%20See and join our weekly email newsletter for lots more of the love Sow Seeds & Sing Songs,... Petra

Happiest of days, radishes and BiRTHDaYs, Dad! Thanks for sharing what you love so abundantly with the world gardens, caves, bats, cactus, pickle ball! and thanks for always being ready to smile & laugh with everyone around you Thanks especially for sharing with me your love of plants, food and the world around us! It’s impossible to describe how much connection, understanding & joy these gifts have shared across the seasons ... I grew up in your gardens and I continue to go to your garden to learn, be nourished and be inspired... ...thanks for growing all that you do and loving all that you do! I am so grateful we get to grow together in so many ways Many happy returns of the day! And delightful radishes Heart, Petra ps Sending love to all of you gardening with the next generation! Even if they're not zealous every moment (or any moment, lol!), never doubt you are changing their lives and our world for the better

Just a little reminder: Stay curious! And taste everything As we're harvesting the last of the scarlet & chocolate runner beans, resplendent seeds in golden pods, there are thousands of pods still green on the vine with the most wildly fluorescent pink & purple seeds inside! Which are delicious as shelling beans and too, that green succulent pod is filled with a sweet, marvelously crunchy yet creamy snack. The outside of the pod is too fibrous to endorse (!) but the soft, l...ight green flesh between the pod and the seed is *such* a treat Which is all to say, stay curious! Lament the passing of joy and let it unmask a new joy. We live on the most succulent blue-green planet I've ever seen! What unexpected snack awaits just outside your door? Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra

Hooray! Its Live Q & A! Thanks for joining us, Friends ... If you’re looking for garlic, shallots & organic fertilizer, hop over to www.fruitionseeds.com You’ll find our free online Garlic & Shallot Academy with dozens of step-by-step video tutorials, as well! Cuz we love to share what we love with people we love Enjoy this glorious autumn weekend & don’t be shy! Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra

Turn You Gold Sunrise rolls the shadows... Down hillsides into Autumn. Every color you could imagine, Held within the darkness. Be present into grief and this dawn Will turn you gold. ~digger

Ohhhhhh, Friends! If you love Braiding Sweetgrass & Robin Wall Kimmerer, please exclaim your love in the comments below! And thanks for sharing the indigenous authors, poets, podcasts, films (& don’t stop there!) who have accompanied your journey, we can't wait to weave them into our own ... To start us off, I’d love to thank Caitlin for opening my eyes, ears & heart to the All My Relations podcast Here are a few of Robin's words from Braiding Sweetgrass that are feeding us these days: . . . . . . . If gifts & responsibilities are one, then asking What is our responsibility? is the same as asking What is our gift? It is said that only humans have the capacity for gratitude. This is among our gifts. . . . . . . A teacher comes, they say, when you are ready. And if you ignore its presence, it will speak to you more loudly. But you have to be quiet to hear. . . . . . . What happens to nationalism, to political boundaries, when allegiance lies with winds and waters that know no boundaries, that cannot be bought or sold? . . . . . . Thanks for sharing what you love & your learning/growing edges below Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra & the whole Fruition crew ps If you’re wondering if that copy of Braiding Sweetgrass is as velveteen as it looks, you’re right

Shaggy mane season is here, Friends! As delectable as they are ephemeral, Coprinus comatus is often spotted in lawns. Not just one but often dozens! Like we did yesterday We almost always find them within a day or three of pressing cider or making applesauce & indeed, the day before, we made ~10 gallons of applesauce from naturalized apples around our pond ... How do we know what to look for? How do we prepare them? Hop into our stories to join the journey I hope you find some you can sample... ...because foraging is one of the strongest balms for our times. Wild foods nourish us in so many ways beyond calories, deepening our relationship with the world around us.... ...and let's step back: for millennia before the FDA, millennia before farming, we foraged. For a moment, let's pause. Let's be filled with awe for indigenous brilliance. Indigenous resilience. Indigenous dignity. Indigenous deliciousness! Traditions older than memory, older than these hills, there are gloriously beating hearts carrying this blood memory deep into our present. This wisdom & these pathways are still being erased, extracted & stolen from our indigenous brothers & sisters who have survived centuries of genocide. Rather than pandemics we now disseminate pepsi. And so much worse: oppression doesn't end, it evolves. From no fault of my own, the systems that benefit me perpetuate these systems of oppression. How will I accompany my indigenous brothers & sisters as we liberate ourselves from the sweet deceptions of colonization? As we sat among & brought home exquisite shaggy manes for supper, we these were a few of our thoughts What wild foods are you eating these days, Friends? We are are what we eat & the thoughts we think Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra

Happy Indigenous People’s Day! And Friends, tune in now Thanks to @agrowingculture for organizing an incredible free day-long event amplifying so many voices on the frontlines of indigenous sovereignty across Turtle Island ... Find them live & well as after-the-fact on YouTube here https://m.youtube.com/channel/UClVwQZOR067FPbLUeuygFxw/ And enjoy their entire Hunger for Justice series, it is simply magnificent We’re tuning in all day here at Fruition as we clean seed, fill orders, share apples under the tree & re-commit ourselves today & all days to the wise words crafted by a group of Aboriginal rights activists from Queensland, Australia (often attributed to one of the members, Lila Watson): ‘If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.’ We’re here to learn, to stumble, to get back up & keep leaning in with all the love we can muster on the journey to liberation, Friends Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra & the whole Fruition crew

Hooray! It’s Live Q & A! If you’re looking for our organic garlic seed & free Organic Garlic & Shallot Academy, look no further https://www.fruitionseeds.com/organic-garlic-seeds/1917.htm ... Sow Seeds & Sing Songs, Petra