Will They Grow...?
Throughout the year we pay many a visit to our very tiny, very rural Canada Post Office (La Have, Nova Scotia) and have become well acquainted with the women who work there. This past Spring, one of them said, “Have I got a story for you...”
In the mid-1980s Lunenburg County (Nova Scotia) posted for a job entitled “Weed Inspector”. This ominous title worried our flora-loving post mistress and her gardener friends. Concerned about the possibility of over-zealous, “trigger happy” use of toxic chemicals and the extermination of “weeds”, aka. wild plants, one of these friends applied for the job. She got it! After a few years on the job, an elderly gentleman paid a visit to her office bearing a gift; a “Reference Collection of Economic and Weed Seeds”, put together in 1912 by the Branch of the Seed Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, Dominion of Canada.
This community heirloom was treasured for years and in 2007, upon the tragic passing of her dear friend, our lovely post mistress inherited it. It feels so special that she has chosen to share it with us!
Stay tuned... We’ll be posting pictures and information on each species in the collection soon. We’ve also taken very small samples of each specimen and hope to begin germination trials next year! Exciting!