Sand Hill Preservation

[orloff]

I decided that I am going to fax in an order from sand hill preservation center. All organic and I like ordering from small places.

I was going to order some chicks a few years ago but didnt want St. Run chicks

http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/

 

[lesa]

That site is really awesome. I just bookmarked it. I will definitely order seeds from them. Thanks for the info.

 

[4grandbabies]

Thank You Orloff!!! You lead me to as web site that has old varieties I have not been able to find, as a young bride(47) yrs ago..I grew Stone tomatoes.. no where to be found in recent years,Ruby Red lettuce, priizehead lettuce (which is available some places now. I am so excited!!

 

[orloff]

You cant order till January though.

 

[4grandbabies]

I can wait to order in Jan...just so happy I know it still exists. I always had success with Ruby lettuce!! then all at once all I could find was red sails, which just was not the same. I dont think the Stone tomatoes were anything out of the ordinary, just one of my first garden successes.

 

[Rosalind]

I have had better luck with their seeds than with any other heirloom seed company. Best germination rates ever!

Only thing I would suggest is to buy more than one variety. There is not enough detail about each individual type of plant to make a decent judgment call about how well it will do in your climate. My red cabbage (Red Acre) was a bit hit-and-miss, while the Copenhagen Market cabbage was so prolific that the chickens are tired of it now. One of my tomatoes, Lillian's Yellow Heirloom, really did not germinate well, and damped off quickly--but the other 12 varieties I got from them had 90-100% germination rates.

But overall, looking back over my notes, the seeds I got from them germinated and grew better than the ones I got from Seeds of Change, Seed Savers Exchange, Johnny's, etc.

I didn't like the lack of descriptions at first, but since everything turned out pretty well (or would have if the blight hadn't got my tomatoes) I'm okay with it.

Edited to add: I did order chickens & turkeys from them. Never again. Doesn't matter how early you get your order in, I think their flocks are just not big enough to supply demand and they cut their inventory too close. Also, you get exactly no communication about whether or not they can even fill your order. Was left scrambling in June to get a poultry order in from a couple of places, and you know you're not going to get what you really want in June. I realize running a small business that's not your day job means you can't keep a lot of inventory, that biology doesn't always cooperate, that if a particular type falls out of fashion they can't have a whole bunch with nowhere to go, but it's just frustrating if you're the customer.