Homesteader Variety Pack

This variety pack is full of nutritious plants that store well and flourish in cool Canadian climates. It includes edible and medicinal plants with multiple uses that provide long, large harvests. This pack is also designed to reduce labour; these plants establish quickly, need little weeding, and no pruning. Also included are perennial, self-seeding, and pollinator-friendly plants. Varieties included:

1) Druzba Tomato. This is an incredibly reliable and productive variety that produces deliciously sweet, thin-skinned tomatoes. Highly versatile in the kitchen- slice, can, freeze, make paste, sauce or salsa. I was passed this variety by a market gardener who has relied on this variety for years to keep his stall full at the market. Indeterminate and open pollinted. Minimum 30 seeds.

2) Green Curly Kale. The Canadian homesteader's best friend, this green produces nutritious leaves throughout most of the year that can be used fresh in salads and smoothies, or cooked in soups and curries. Kale freezes well to provide a punch of seasonal freshness in winter recipes. Kale can survive the winter to offer fresh greens in early spring. Minimum 50 seeds.

3) Lazy Housewife Pole Beans. As the name implies, this delicious green bean is extremely easy-to-grow. Give it space to climb and it will simply keep growing- they've grown well above every lattice I've ever given them. Beans can be harvested from 3-6 inches long; regular harvest will encourage productivity. Freezes well. Minimum 30 beans.

4) Burgundy Amaranth. This striking plant offers both nutritious grain and edible purple leaves. It grows at an astonishing pace. Plant amaranth closely, and pull most of the tender plants for eating early on (leaves become bitter and woody as the plant matures). Leave a few to grow to full height and harvest seed heads for grain. Amaranth can be used as a cover crop to enrich soil health. Minimum 50 seeds.

5) Purple Coneflower Echinacea. It is important to grow medicine in the gardens we live of off. This herbal perennial flower is native to the central and eastern United States, but has naturalized across Ontario. It grows comfortably amongst native plants and is often included in semi-native species gardens throughout Canada. Various indigenous nations traditionally use Echinacea purpurea for herbal purposes, including the Choctaw and Delaware people. Roots are chewed or prepared as tea to treat various diseases. Minimum 30 seeds.

Grown organically with love and tenderness in the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada, in the summer of 2023/24/25. All open pollinated. Germination tested.