"Breaking Fennel" ~ My love for my Italian family culture, gardening and vegetables.

My love for gardening began to shape as a toddler where every Sunday  through out my child I sat at the dining room table set for 20 to 30 in my grandfather's NYC apartment.

My maternal grandfather immigrated from Italy to the USA in his teens.  He came here alone with very little setteling downtown NYC on the outskirts of Little Italy. He made his keep by starting a business selling fruits & vegetables on the streets of NYC with a pushcart.  He grew his fruit & vegetable business to the point where he rented a storefront to sell his produce.  He took deep pride in what he purchased and sold to his customers ~ quality, freshness and only the finest were displayed in the vegetable and fruit bins. Vegetables were handwashed in big aluminum tubs before they were put out for purchase.  Fruits were hand polished with tissue paper. Sawdust sprinkled the floor to absorb the water droplets from the moistened fruits and vegetables.  Bruised or wilted were not put out for sale. He saw that as a reflection of himself as a businessman, a man of value, honesty, quality and loyalty to his customers.  My grandfather achieved financial success allowing him to bring many of his family members over from Italy.   

Italian Sunday dinners and Holidays always included a feast of vegetables from my grandfather's store that were prepared by my grandmother.  The conversations always included dialogue about how fresh the vegetables were & viewing them as masterpieces of  beauty from mother nature's art.  After the main course, a salad would  be served as a solo entre.  I remember the shared sounds of delight with each bite and taste of the crunchy cold lettuce.  Salad was served last because they believed it helped with digestion of the meal. After time to allow our bellies to settle, an hour or so later a tray of fruits, nuts and fennel was served. Grapes would be picked off the tray and eyed closely then popped into your mouth savoring its flavor, tangellos peeled with mindfulness and gratitude for its jucieness, pears accompanied by a paring knife  on your plate and carved one slice at a time until you were ready to enjoy another piece while indulging in conversation.  Some families "break bread", my Italian family "broke fennel;" to end the gathering of love for each other and love for earth's bounties.

Back home in New Jersey known as "The Garden State", my parents always had a vegetable garden.  As a little girl some of my fondest and most heart filled memories were when I helped tend to the backyard vegetable garden.  Visitis from my grandparents always included a tour of the vegetable garden.  My grandfather inspecting the plants and fruits of their labor. 

As a woman today, gardening is still my passion.  I am soul-filled when I am connected to mother earth, her dirt and the plantings of my vegetables and herbs.  As my hands touch her soil, my grandparents' presence is often with me as their essence digs in the dirt with me too. 

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Landreth Seed Company is the oldest seed house in the USA.  They have become the oldest seed house in America because they are passionate in their quest for excellence in quality, service and innovation.

The D. Landreth Seed Company is America's Company. It was founded near the time of the birth of this Nation and has grown with this Country through its ups and its downs over the course of four centuries: the 1700's, the 1800's, the 1900's and now the 2000's. We are honored to have been a part of this Nation for so long, and we have a deep commitment and feel a great responsibility to this Country. We could have this catalogue printed overseas, and the printing costs would be 1/4th the costs of printing the catalogue in the United States, but we are not going to take American business overseas. The catalogue is designed by a small, Baltimore-based and family-owned business, Victor DiPace Associates and it is printed by a family-owned local printing company. Producing this catalogue is far more expensive than it is for most companies who are outsourcing their printing requirements overseas. We charge for our catalogue to help with some, but not all, of the costs to produce and mail. Each catalogue that you purchase from Landreth is helping to keep an American employed and therefore making this country stronger.  

I selected this picture from Landreth Seed Company because of their mission and purpose of quality in service and product which is what my grandfather stood for.   Support them through your seed purchases. 

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