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Haven't done much, but I'm starting to look through seed catalogs and dream. I need to do a seed inventory first, I've been known to order things I already had if I don't.

A word of warning: Don't order seeds through Amazon, unless it's from a company you know and trust!

I needed $5 more in order to get the free shipping, so I decided to browse their seed selection. Lots of cool-looking stuff! I ordered some black strawberry seeds, and some kiwi seeds. The strawberry seeds got here fine. The kiwi was seized by Customs. I got a very creepy letter letting me know that I was getting off with a warning because they were pretty sure I didn't know what was happening, but that they were going to be alert in case I tried it again. It seems the company I ordered from is in Taiwan, and they didn't have the documentation or quarantine procedures for importing plant materials into the US. I did manage to get a refund from the company, but I'm officially on a watch list now. (As opposed to before, when I was just thought I might be on a list.) That is the last time I ever order seeds from Amazon. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, hinting that the seller was not in the US.

After all that, I realized I had forgotten another source of seeds that I'd used before: GRIN the government seed bank! Possibly the only thing the government has ever done right, and I'm quite sure that's because most politicians don't know it exists. I browsed through and made a list of potential kiwi seeds to order, then added juneberries, seaberries, and other assorted fun stuff to the list. I'll wait until after I do an inventory before I order, just in case there's stuff I missed.

Heck, if I'm on a list already, I might as well get some seeds out of it!

That has been my adventure this week.

Gee Whiz. Who knew that ordering from Amazon could get you on a list!

I had forgotten about the government seeds. Have fun ordering from them.

I too have to make lists, because, I have CPR (Can’t Possibly Remember).

Merry Christmas.

I did manage to get a refund from the company, but I'm officially on a watch list now.

More than 30 years ago, I had to haul a couple mares from NY state to Michigan. Going through Ontario province was much shorter. WEEKS prior to my departure, I contacted my veterinarian, who contacted Albany and got the straight word on all the required paperwork to take horses through Ontario (they would never leave the trailer). Paperwork was generated, tests made. Just short of Canada, I stopped at a USDA stop and had the papers checked and the mares inspected. All was fine.

Then I crossed into Canada, and the Canadians DID NOT like my paperwork (and there was a lot of it). It was HOT, HOT, HOT, the kind of weather where you sweat so much much you can hardly keep up drinking fluid. The mares were dehydrating; I pinched the skin on their necks and knew they were not wonderful. Horses WILL NOT drink water in a trailer. I've never seen it. I eventually threw myself onto the trunk of my car (yes, I had a car with a BIG engine in the early 1980s)....

The Canadian vet took pity on me, and sent me through...warning me that the Sarnia crossing would close at 5 PM...I drove across and made it in time, presented my pile of paperwork to the Americans...who didn't want ANY OF IT, and they waved me through without looking at anything!

Weeks later, I got a letter in the mail, an irate one, from the Canadians about ILLEGALLY IMPORTING HORSES INTO CANADA!

I went back to Canada in 2004 to see some plays in Stratford, Ontario, and showed my passport at the crossing (how things have changed!) and glided through. I must not be a wanted woman in Ontario...

It seems that you can't get away with anything anymore........... I recovered viable kiwi seeds from store bought fruit. Just spoon out the seeds from a ripe fruit, then wash and dry the seeds. Not all will sprout, but I have 3 kiwi plants growing in pots. You can use the same technique for Dragon Fruit

I've never ordered from Amazon, but it was either Burpee's or Gurney's that sold my email address and I was inundated with spam. I avoid both now.

Do you have a web address for the government seed bank? I couldn't find it on a google search.