By Analiese Paik

Comstock, Ferre & Co., located in historic Wethersfield, CT, is the oldest continually operating seed company in New England. The company celebrated its 200th anniversary this past summer thanks to a recent acquisition by Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company of Missouri. Baker Creek has kept Comstock’s retail and catalog heirloom seed business under the Comstock brand rather than merging it with the Baker Creek seed business, making good on its promise to conserve and restore the business to its former glory.

Illustrations of vegetables from antique seed packets found in the company archives now grace the covers of heirloom seed packets and decorate the newly minted 2012 catalog, all of which are sure to become collectors’ items. The Comstock 2012 seed catalog is now available for ordering online (free) or viewing online. Of course you can skip the catalog altogether and just click on the vegetable and fruit categories on their website that strike your fancy to find tantalizing seeds, like the banana melon, a variety I am very tempted to try despite my dismal luck at growing melons.

An heirloom seed is one that is at least 50 years old and has been selected to be saved and passed down from generation to generation because it grew well and tasted good. Heirloom seeds, unlike hybrids or GMOs (genetically modified seeds) will reproduce true to the parent strain. Rewarded with the same excellent vegetable they remember from past years, gardeners would again save seeds for the next season’s planting. You can save seeds too!

Many of the heirloom varieties sold by Comstock are at least a few hundred years old and trace their roots to the founding of our country. Squash and pumpkin, so-called New World varieties, are native to the Northeastern US and the seeds were originally acquired from Native Americans. Others were introduced to this country by the Pilgrims and other European immigrants, including the bulb onion (not to be confused with native wild onions).  The legendary Wethersfield Red Onion served as a major cash crop in the 1800′s and today remains “an icon and logo of Wethersfield” according to the catalog where it is sold in packets of 300 seeds.

Visiting Comstock Ferre

Seed packets and local craft items are available for purchase at the retail store in Wethersfield, CT, just 5 minutes south of downtown Hartford. Comstock, Ferre & Co. is located at 263 Main Street in Old Wethersfield, and is open Sunday through Thursday from 11-4. Phone: 860-571-6590 or visit them online at www.ComstockFerre.com.

One of the easiest ways to celebrate Earth Day every day is to green your kitchen. Here are some delicious and fun ways to reduce your family’s “foodprint” while also eating well.

• Bring your own bags wherever you shop. Try keeping a soft, collapsible bag in your pocketbook so you always have one handy.

• Reuse grocery store vegetable bags as liners for your kitchen compost pail. You’ll save money on composting supplies and give the bags and second life.

• Use recycled products. Choose from post-consumer recycled aluminum foil and paper products (napkins & paper towels), phosphate-free dish-washing liquid and dishwasher soap, and biodegradable garbage bags.

• Recycle #5 containers and cork at Whole Foods Markets instead of throwing them in the garbage. Whole Foods collects #5s and cork for recycling (feel free to pop in just to drop off your recycling). Recycling costs you nothing but is a huge gift to the environment.

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  Lunch Skins are eco-chic, reusable lunch and snack bags that are cute enough to give as a gift.

  Use reusable bags instead of single use plastic lunch and snack bags. There are many on the market and they have become so mainstream that they are now available at Linens ‘n Things.

• Use thermoses instead of buying water bottles. Ditto for kids’ single serve milk and juice boxes. Plastic water bottles are made from petroleum and are designed to be used once, resulting in a product that is thousands of times more expensive than tap water and no safer, according to a report by Food & Water Watch. Most of these bottles wind up in landfills where they take hundreds of years to break down and can leach harmful chemicals into the ground. Carry a stainless steel thermos instead.

• Compost your food waste. Food that’s thrown out instead of composted releases methane gas, contributing to global warming and climate change. Compost is a fantastic soil amendment and it costs you nothing, so you’re saving money in the end. Use an empty flour container, bowl or other receptacle to gather your food scraps in the kitchen (or a dedicated kitchen compost pail) and empty them regularly into your compost pile. Not sure how to compost?  Visit Rodale’s web site for some immediate expert advice.

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  This pre-World War II photo shows just a few of the 11 historic buildings and barns that date back to the 1700s when Comstock was founded. Amish crews from parent company Baker Creek have begun to restore the buildings and preserve the antique equipment, transforming the campus into a living agricultural history museum. Photo c/o Comstock, Ferre & Co

  Grow some of your own food. Seeds are very inexpensive, and if you make your own compost, you’ll likely wind up saving money by growing your own. A fantastic source of inspiration and advice for home gardeners is Kitchen Gardeners International, the group behind the campaign to replant a kitchen garden at the White House. Comstock Ferre & Co., a 200-year-old seed company in Wethersfield, CT, offers a wide variety of heirloom seeds via their catalog or online store. Read more about Comstock here.
  

• Buy locally grown food from a farmers’ market or farm stand, CSA, or online ordering and delivery service. A complete list of Fairfield County farmers’ markets and farm stands can be found here, CSAs here, and home delivery services here.

• Choose locally produced food from specialty or grocery stores. The Double L Market in Westport, Palmer’s Market in Darien and The Pantry in Fairfield all carry some local food.

• Choose organic whenever possible to protect the environment and human health. There are over 40 certified organic farms in Connecticut, and many more that meet or exceed the National Organic Program’s (NOP) standards but do not carry the certification. That means a lot of choice for the consumer! Click here to read more about what the NOP standards mean as well as other eco farm and food labels.
  

• Choose organic and biodynamic wines. These so called “natural” wines rely on low impact methods for solving common problems that plague vineyards. For instance, birds of prey are brought in to control for varmints. Organic wines are cultivated without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides so they do not deplete the soil, damage the environment or pose threats to human health.

• Choose organic, Fair Trade coffee, chocolate and tea. Fair Trade means farmers are compensated fairly for their work, no child labor is used, and farms employ sustainable growing practices.

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  Whole Foods Markets stores started using a seafood labeling system for their wild caught products based on Seafood Wach's ratings to help the consumer at point of purchase.

  Choose sustainable seafood. Download the Sustainable Seafood Guide or iphone app from Seafood Watch and commit to limiting your consumption to sustainable seafood choices under the Best Choices and Good Alternatives categories. Whole Foods Markets stores have started using a seafood labeling system for their wild caught products based on Seafood Watch’s ratings to help the consumer at point of purchase. You can learn all about sustainable seafood in a fabulous new exhibit called Go Fish! at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk.  It’s perfect for adults and children.

Happy Earth Day 2011! Please add your suggestions for greening your kitchen under comments below. Looking forward to seeing you at Wilton Go Green’s Expo on May 1.

Seed-to-Seed Library Kickoff Events

The Fairfield Public Library Woods Branch in partnership with Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm is kicking off their new Seed-To Seed Library on Wednesday, April 13 with a free community event.

The Fairfield Public Library Woods Branch in partnership with Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm is launching their new Seed-To Seed Library on Wednesday, April 13 with a community event.  This event, featuring a talk by gardening author and speaker Tovah Martin, will take place at the Pequot Library, 720 Pequot A venue, Southport, CT at 7 p.m.  The doors will open at 6 p.m. for the public to meet with vendors.

Tovah Martin, one of this country’s best-known garden writers and lecturers, will speak about Garden Stewardship.  This is a lecture about horticultural preservation, stewardship, and how gardeners grapple with change.  She will address the challenges of bringing landscapes into the next generation.  Tovah will also discuss plant preservation and heirloom varieties, honoring the people who have worked to preserve vintage ornamentals so those plants with a past can become the superstars of future gardens.

Funding for this program was generously provided by Fairfield Earth Day Committee.  Seeds for the Seed-to-Seed Library were graciously donated by Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., Mansfield, MO;  Comstock Ferre in Wethersfield, CT, oldest continuously operating seed company in the U.S.; and Renee’s Garden—Gourmet Vegetables, Kitchen Herbs, Cottage Garden Flower in Felton, CA.  A grant from New England Grassroots Environment Fund has helped to establish the seed library.

Registration is required.  Please call 203-256-3160 or visit us online at: www.fairfieldpubliclibrary.org
Follow the Fairfield Public Library on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fairfieldpublib and Facebook:  www.facebook.com/fairfieldlibrary.  All events at the Fairfield Public Library are free of charge.

The Seed-to-Seed Library Orientation will be held on Saturday, April 16 from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Fairfield Woods Branch, 1147 Fairfield Woods Road where patrons will learn how to borrow vegetable, herb and flower seeds from the new Seed-to-Seed Library.

Mission:  “The Fairfield Public Library, our community’s gateway to the world of information and discovery, inspires the lifelong love of reading and learning.  It offers free access to varied collections, stimulating programs, leading-edge technology, and a responsive staff in a welcoming environment.”