Worth a thousand words...

I did get sidetracked from the seed order froglog (January 25) by those winter tomatoes. In the meantime, the order was completed and the seeds have arrived. We did order a small selection of seeds from a company that distributes seeds from Franchi Sementi spa of Bergamo, Italy, "seedsmen for over 200 years!" The variety descriptions are intriguing and offer a glimpse into the Italian appreciation of vegetables and/or food in general. They say the Inuit have at least 25 words to describe snow; well, I counted 16 different varieties of zucchini in this one small catalog! And each described with a loving nuance, some popular in Northern Italy, some preferred in the South, some most common in the markets of Venice. This speaks to a traditional and regional cuisine, and I suggest that the regionality of the food preferences stems from an inherent connection to the locality of the vegetables grown and consumed.

When the order arrived, the large photos covering the entire face of the seed packets underscored the Italian appreciation of their veggies. These pictures made your mouth water. Can't you almost taste the crisp sparkle of the Rossa Savonese onions pictured? I can and can't wait to grow them!