Happy Christmas, end of 2015, or whatever you are celebrating yourself

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your support in 2015.

It has been a great year here, I am so thrilled to have my daughter Holly working at Brown Envelope Seeds two days a week. She is also studying for a Masters degree in Organic Horticulture. The knowledge and experience she will gain will be invaluable to business. She has organized our new logo, which was designed by David Fitzpatrick It gives the seed packets and gift boxes a wonderful new look. 

Although summer was slow to get going it seemed to go on until November and we harvested the last of the tomatoes this week. The sweetcorn which is always a challenge in an Irish summer, survived the slow spring, and the donkeys, and went on to produce a good crop. We did have some crop failures like the Trombonchino squash which didn't have any seeds in them. Here is Holly with one of them. Its the last one to ripen so we haven't opened it yet.

However the fridges are packed full of seeds including some new peppers, heritage cereals, and over sixty tomato varieties.

In an effort to protect the seeds from corporate greed we have signed up to the OPEN SOURCE SEED INITIATIVE, and pledge, which you can read more about on the website.

It really feels like winter now, and with all the rain and wind it is nice to be inside beside the range, putting the catalogue together. There are still a few things to germination test, but we are nearly there. As soon as a batch of seeds passes its test it goes up on the website. So it is nearly all up now. We will be doing a paper catalogue too, so if you would like a copy do let us know. 

We will be posting out orders right up to Christmas, so if you are still Christmas shopping, do check out our gift boxes and vouchers. If we sell enough, we will go to the wonderful ORGANIC SEED ALLIANCE conference in Oregon, in February. I have been before and it is such an an inspiration, to meet other seed savers and plant breeders who are working with organic seed. 

Wishing you all a peaceful and happy Christmas, and a bountiful 2016.

Madeline