Homesteader Variety Pack

This variety pack is full of nutritious plants that store well and flourish in cool Canadian climates. It includes edible 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) Calendula. This flower is beautiful, edible, and has medicinal properties. It attracts pollinators and can self seed the following year if conditions are right. Flower petals can be eaten fresh, used in salves and lotions, or dried for tea or confetti. Calendula is wonderful way to include natural medicine in the garden. 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) Graham's Goodkeeper Tomatoes. Uniquely well-bred to be harvested and stored inside much longer than other heirloom tomato varieties. It can be harvested green and will reliably ripen indoors. Starts producing early in the season and continues until first frost, at which point the plants can be fully stripped of tomatoes for an early winter supply. 

Grown organically with love and tenderness in the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada, in the summer of 2022/2023. All open pollinated. Germination tested December 2023.