Time to Start Thinking About The Garden.............
Yeah, I know it's cold outside and all that, but now is a good time to begin getting organized.

You DON'T want to end up like I did last year when I didn't Start My Own Tomato Seeds and bought plants that turned out to be nothing like what I wanted.

So I've been looking over seed catalogs for the last couple of weeks and getting an order together.

I really don't need a whole lot, as I save a lot of my own seed and have two 5 gallon buckets (w/ Gamma Seal Lids) full of seed in the closet of my "Man Room" now. Mainly need Green Beans and I'll order 2-3 times what I need so I have plenty in reserve.

Most Vegetable seeds will stay viable for years if kept properly. There are exceptions to that of course, Onions being a prime example. But if stored in a stable temperature and humidity environment you should have no problems.

I found a bunch of old coffee cans full of seed out in the barn a few years ago. Most of those seeds were 8-12 years old and the barn is neither temperature or humidity stable. I germinated a bunch of corn, beans, melon, tomato and peppers and was amazed how many of them were still viable. Some better than others, but it was surprising that any of them sprouted at all.
Keep 'em in a good place and they'll be good for a long time.
And learn to start Saving Your Own Seed Too. The Web is full of info on this and other Gardening stuff. Use it.

You can look into some posts here That May Be of Help.
Here's a couple more.

Here's a few Links to interesting Garden/Farm stuff you may find helpful or entertaining-

Gene Logsdon the Contrary Farmer. I love this guy and I must own at least 15 of his books on different subjects. For Gardeners, I recommend The Contrary Farmer's Invitation to Gardening. There are a couple of free books available at his website and a lot of good articles.

Acres USA. Lots of good stuff.

Backwoods Home Magazine I've had a subscription here for years and it's the one magazine I will not do without. The web site has a HUGE archive section on many topics and anything by Jackie Clay is worth reading.

National Sustainable Ag Project. I used to get a ton of info from these folks on a lot of different topics.

That will give ya a bit to think about for now.
Despite what Government says about we not having any inflation, food prices keep going up. A garden is a good way to help with that.
Storing and Saving what you grow is another aspect of Gardening that you will want to look into eventually too.
Just makes sense and gives you a nice feeling when you see a pantry full of stuff from your own garden.

So start figuring what you want this year and get with it now. It'll be seed starting time before long so get 'em ordered now and then look into where and how you're gonna start 'em in the house.
If you don't have a garden now, start thinking about where you can put one, how much space you have available and all that.
It takes some work getting a new garden going so plan accordingly.

I firmly believe that everything you do now to reduce your dependence on others is a good thing and the sooner you get started the better.
I'll be hitting the Garden issue and overall preparedness a lot this year as I think it's gonna be important to more folks as the economy continues to sink along with the purchasing power of our dollar.

Suggestions, questions, comments, etc are welcome.

Gratuitous Picture for a Wednesday Evening-