The Search for Perfect Seed

The search for perfect seed took a friend and I to Logan, Utah. We were mostly hunting for seed potatoes and sweet pea seeds. We were guilty of breaking with the “shop local” theme to head out of state for these garden supplies. However, we were also on our way to the famed “Anderson Seed” that local word of mouth guarantees are not your common garden supplies. I’m not sure how wide--spread the store’s fame is, but a little old lady guaranteed the seed she bought there grew the best sweet peas. I have to believe what she said is true because Verda’s sweet peas (planted on Good Friday each year) that graced her fence every single summer were legend. This feisty lady was a widow for many years, never had any children, and I think she put all that unspent love into growing beautiful, fragrant blooms. She maintained it was the seed.

Anderson Seed is right in the older downtown district and when I first walked in, I didn’t realize what an experience I was going to have. We walked towards the back of the store and my heart started to beat a little faster when I saw the small green garden plants in their little four and six packs. Then, when I spied the beautiful blooming ranunculus my heart went wild. The search for seeds were forgotten as I walked up and down rows and was lost in dreams of beautiful summer gardens.

Thirty minutes later, I realized that my friend was checked out and waiting for me. She had bags of seed potatoes and packets of seeds. I had a basket full of small green plants. I walked to the seed counter. I was about to ask for sweet peas when I saw the giant pumpkin seeds. “I’ll take some of those.” Jared, the man behind the counter counted enough pumpkin seeds for two hills. I asked for double. Then I bought baby pumpkins, white pumpkins and Cinderella. Jared told me that an LDS bishop in Providence, Utah had given each family in his ward three giant pumpkin seeds for a fall contest. Jared had seen a steady trickle of people come in to the store from Providence, all wanting to know the secrets of growing a giant pumpkin, and one happy customer after another left with the secrets. Then Jared shared the same secrets with me that he had with all the Providence families. I left Anderson Seed with $20 worth of pumpkin seeds and a lot more than that spent on green plants. Early tomatoes! Early flower blooms! Lincoln County Fair, here I come! And, I was going to have the biggest pumpkin anyone in my family had ever grown. These were the thoughts as I headed home. I forgot the sweet pea seed and I overspent but it was going to be worth it!

The next day, my children left the front door open and the icy Wyoming wind howled in my front door all day, right onto my little plants. Pumpkin contest, anyone?

"The Search for Perfect Seed" originally published in my Love.Life.Politics. Column in the Kemmerer Gazette, 2007.