The Past and Heirlooms

The past is not a package one can lay away. ~Emily Dickinson


But today it was.  In my never ending quest to organize my treasures,  shit, stuff, I dug out some boxes and started going through them.  One box I opened had belonged to my aunt.  She was an avid gardener, crocheter and seamstress and when she died, we cleaned out her house and I "inherited" some of her belongings.  Today's box had Flower and Garden (now defunct) magazines from 1970-74.  As a gardener I love to look at old seed catalogs and magazines which is why I had stashed this box away.
 
Looking through them was quite enlightening.  Back in 1970 Don Adams (aka Secret Agent Maxwell Smart) was touting the magnificence of a garden hose manufactured by Monsanto.  In my gardening lifetime, I have only associated Monsanto with GMO's, Roundup, Agent Orange, PCBs, DDT, Bovine Growth Hormone and Aspartame.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have associated them with anything as innocent as a garden hose!

 

Then there were vegetables that I grow because my mother had grown them.  Some I thought of as heirlooms.  I was shocked to know they had been introduced after I was born.

 

In 1971 Cinderella pumpkin and Better Boy tomato was first introduced. I knew Better Boy to be an F1 hybrid but though it was older than that.  Also new to the gardening world in 1971 was Green Isle Beans and Blue Lakes 141 beans which I have grown a time or two.

 

In 1972 Silver Queen corn was introduced as were Beefeater tomatoes and Ebony acorn squash.  I thought my parents had grown Silver Queen fooooorreeeeeevvvverrrrr.  I know prior to 1974 she sold enough corn (at $1/dozen) in one season to buy herself a freezer which still runs!

 

In 1973 Patty Pan squash, Wonder Boy VF tomatoes, Green Arrow pea, Golden Zucchini, Green Ice lettuce and Giant Beefsteak VF tomatoes.

 

So needless to say by this time I am feeling my age.  If I considered seeds heirlooms when they were only introduced in 1971-74 (when I was 7-10) then I am heirloom also!  But then this advertisement sent me over the edge...

8 track tapes, records and cassettes offered by RCA Music!  And I knew almost all the artists Loretta Lynn, Porter Wagoner w/ Dolly Parton, Engelbert Humperdinck, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Charley Pride, Brenda Lee, Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Conway Twitty, the soundtrack to the Sound of Music, Jimi Hendrix, Three Dog Night, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby Stills Nash AND Young!

 

OMG I do believe that package should have stayed in the past.  I am too old to garden this year.  I think I will just wrap up in a shawl and sit in the shade and take a nap.