Spring has sprung and that means that I'm well into gardening season here. I'm already fighting with the deer trying to prevent them from eating all of my leafy greens. I also likely lost a few plants (that currently aren't looking so hot) due to a few nights of colder than normal temperatures. This is all somewhat expected, but I like to gamble early in the season with the hope that all the stars will align and I'll be harvesting those luscious veggies way earlier than I should here in the northeast USA. I can relax and not worry too much because I have a small plant army waiting to take the place of these front line fallen soldiers.

I can tolerate some casualties because over the last few years, I've built a pretty sweet indoor gardening space. I use this to essentially run 'planting sprints' that allow me to get up to a month of growing lead time compared to cases where I would be forced to do everything outsdie. Check out the blog post I wrote describing my techniques.

Anyone who has spent any time discussing gardening with me knows that I acquire any seeds that I don't save myself from SeedSavers Exchange. SeedSavers is a non-profit with the mission of preserving seed diversity and heirloom food crops. They have a wide selection and amazing resources for anyone that wants to share in this mission. They're also great if you're just interested in finding seeds for some of the best tasting varieties of your favorite vegetable! I've been a member of the exchange for over 10 years!

SeedSavers Exchange also runs Citizen Science Corps . I've been participating pretty much since its inception. This group has two main goals:

• Regenerate seedstock for members by growing and saving seed from specific varieties
• Collect data for each variety grown throughout the season in order to identify trends related to geography, weather, other growing conditions, etc. that can be used to help other gardeners

Being a part of this program has been very rewarding and if it sounds interesting to you, I would encourage you to join!

Collecting data for Citizen Science Corps has never really been easy. We started out with submitting very subjective data in pretty much any format that someone wanted to use. Over time, standardized formats were created which made some things a bit better. This always smelled funny to me and it seemed that we could do much better using software and a more formalized approach. This year we've partnered with SeedLinked to be our sole portal for collecting data. SeedLinked is still in beta, but I'm excited to be a part of growing out this platform! I'm pretty sure anyone can join the beta program and if you do, you can connect with me to see what I'm growing.

This month saw my inaugural visit to J. Wakefield Brewing in Miami, Florida. JWB was so much fun! From the Star Wars themed artwork, to it's location in Miami's Wynnwood district, to their beers perfectly suited to be enjoyed in equatorial sun, everything about JWB made it guaranteed that I'll be back on my next trip to Miami. One of the most unique things I had while there was the Mjöd House Boysenberry. You'll want to be careful about sipping this in the sun anywhere though... This apple brandy Barrel-Aged Braggot with Boysenberries brewed in collaboration with Superstition Meadery out of Prescott, Arizona clocks in at 18% ABV!

I'm out of here like a TIE fighter... but first, from one fantasy universe to another... let me tell you what my mind is currently wrestling with. My 10 year old kids have finally caught the Gloomhaven bug. For anyone who hasn't played this game (or doesn't play with 10 year olds), let's just say keeping things on the level and organized during a scenario and across a campaign can pose a challenge. I started looking around for things I could 3D print to ease this burden, but haven't really found anything that's perfect for me yet. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this in a future issue 🙃

Questions?? Want a deeper dive on something discussed here? Drop me a line to continue the conversation.

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