Spiffy Seeds

Please, Come Dine in my Garden and Help my Seed Business Grow…

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Here’s a little look back at some older photos of my garden, Campiello Maurizio… I want to tell you a bit about the dinners I had before the pandemic, and why I’ve chosen to host three more this summer to raise “seed” money for my online seed shop Spiffy Seeds.

Back in 2015 I started a series of fundraisers where I cooked for family, friends, and strangers in order to raise money to pay off my $5000 debt after an emergency spinal surgery in 2014. This effort took years to complete. Along the way, I cooked a lot of meals for a lot of people—and for the most part, it was a ton of fun!!!

It was incredibly difficult work. It took a lot of my time and energy. It was difficult when I disappointed guests, or I was disappointed in my efforts, but overall, I cooked a lot of Italian meals even my Sicilian relatives would have enjoyed—even if they weren’t Sicilian recipes lol…

I loved my great-grandmother Rosaria very much—even though I learned to show affection for her in a way that was different than my more American family. I regret I was too young when she passed away, but I spent enough time in her kitchen to know she knew what she was doing.

When I cook these multi-course dinners, I can say now with certainty that I channel her—that assuredness, and that focus. I know my cooking talents come from her. Of the many Amato family members in the old neighborhood, she was known as one of the best cooks, and I believe that.

My paternal home culture is all I knew growing up since we were never very close with many of my mom’s relatives until I was older. This is why my Sicilian heritage brings me such comfort, and it’s why both of my marriages have been to others who share the same heritage.

My “current husband” lol was born in Italy and moved to the US during grade school. Italian is John’s first language. While he is Venetian, he was born and raised in Genoa. We’ve visited Italy twice and I’m grateful he helped me achieve the dream of stepping first on Sicilian ground before heading north.

Whenever possible, he helps to decipher some of the recipes I cook since we hope to create menus with traditional foods often cooked at home that many Americans have never tried. We genuinely enjoying having these dinners even though we’re both introverted in very different ways.

This year’s plan is not very complicated. I’ve planned three dinners.

Saturday August 5: Lombardia

Antipasti: Torta Salata di Zucca (Squash Cake), Polpette di Melanzane (Eggplant Balls), Sciatt con Insalta di Cicoria (Buckwheat Fritters with Chicory Salad)

Primi piatti: Risotto alla Milanese (Milanese Risotto) or Ravioli di Magro (Ravioli with Ricotta and Herbs)

Secondi piatti: Pesce Fresco in Salsa Verde (Fresh Fish in Green Sauce) or Manzo All’Olio (Braised Beef with Vegetable Puree)

Dolce: Torta Sbrisolona con Gelato (Sbrisolona with Gelato)

Saturday August 26: Sicilia

Antipasti: Caponata di Carciofi (Artichoke Caponata), Pane e Caponata (Bread and Tomato Salad), Arancini (Rice Balls with Meat and Peas) 

Primi piatti: Pesto alla Siciliana (Casarecce with Sicilian Pesto) or Pasta ’Ncasciata (Sicilian Baked Pasta)

Secondi piatti: Seppioline Ripiene (Stuffed Squid) or Castrato con Fave Verde (Lamb with Fava Beans)

Dolce: Cassata Siciliana (Specialty Sicilian Cake)

September 2: Veneto

Antipasti: A Wide Selection of Venetian Cicchetti 

Primi piatti: Riso e Fagioli alla Feltina (Feltre-style Rice and Beans) or Polenta Bianca con Funghi Selvetici (White Polenta with Wild Mushrooms) 

Secondi piatti: Ravioli di Baccalà e Gamberi con Salsa al Burro e Salvia (Baccala and Shrimp Ravioli with Butter Sage Sauce) or Madrone D’Anatra con Marasche  (Duck Breast in Cherry Sauce)

Dolce: Crema Rosada (A Venetian Crème Caramel)

If you’re are interested in making reservations, all of the information can be found here. Dinner is a $60 prix fixe donation and payment is made at the time of your reservation. No seats can be held without it. There is a 24-hour cancellation policy.

Sadly I can’t make substitutions, and the meals will have meat and dairy. As someone allergic to black pepper and anything in the ginger family, I know how hard restrictions are, but this needs to be a set menu so that I can create the dishes with greater ease. I’m sorry if you can’t make it because of this. If you can gather 10 of your closest friends to reserve me for a night, I can consider a private dinner based on your needs, and I’ve actually created several dinners this way, but it requires a lot of advanced warning.

And lastly, this fundraiser is really all about the seeds. I’m looking forward to using the funds raised to work with an accountant to get everything setup, and to help pay for the new seed storage fridge I just purchased.

Every little bit helps and thanks so much… (The easiest way is to send donations is to send them to @Ann-Amato on Venmo. Just look for the cat.)

I was a Seed Seller once… And I will sell seeds again!!!

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Just about a year ago I closed the Etsy shop where I’d sold seeds for just over a decade. Nearly 1/4 of a million views on my products (mostly seeds), just over 3,500 orders, and so much work—almost all on my own. (I must confess though that many friends helped by growing seeds and passing them on to me to sell. Organizing this kind of thing is complicated to say the least, but I love being a seed grower.)

Felix going through my old seed shop cabinet. This is what’s left of what once was a very full space from whence I shipped so many packets of seeds.

The shop started when I could barely move, and I wanted to feel like I could do something with my life energy, and now, well, it’s difficult to believe all that I’ve learned and accomplished. Best of all, I’ve met so many wonderful people along the way. I’ve had a family of mentors and it just warms my heart in a special way during the coldest months of the year. Maybe because this is when so many of us rest, and talk to one another about seeds? We order seeds, and those of us who work with seeds, get to be the busy little garden trolls that we are using our magic to bring plants to life. I can’t imagine living any other way.

At the end of November I was struggling a bit. I was going from job to home, to other job to home, writing up talks, planning events, and I felt like I was slacking on the leadership of our local Gesneriad Society chapter. So there I was in my car after work one night. It was dark and cold. I was freezing, and part of me felt dark. I’m the happiest cynic you’ll ever meet and I’m always filled to the brim with my own unique blend of hope and love which I carefully guard. I recall feeling very unlike myself. It was a combination of being unsettled and simultaneously uncomfortable about it.

I just felt like I’d been spinning my wheels and I wasn’t sure what the point of it all really was anymore.

So I turned the Jeep on, cranked up the heat, blasted some music, and looked to my iPhone for some kind of contact with the outside world. I hoped that my overpriced device would be my oracle when I needed one so badly…

That’s when I found this message in my mailbox…

And just like that, I awkwardly sucked in a long deep breath and then exhaled and nearly choked a bit as I giggled. I’m forever the serendipitist. Leave it to my superstitious nature and belief in chance encounters. I needed that message so badly at just that moment.

I drove home smiling and life has continued on. I decided that when it was time, I’d get back to my Spiffy Seeds site that I’d started working on during the summer when it was hot and smoky outside.

Yes, “Never give up on seeds.”

A classroom door at the OSU Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture in Corvallis, Oregon. I think the message here “spoke” to me a bit lol.

Shortly after that grounding moment, I was at Oregon State University giving a presentation about houseplants. It was an emotional day for me. Though it’s not far from Portland, I don’t go there often. It’s where I would have studied botany and/or horticulture if I’d stayed on the track I’d wanted to be on. My life changed, I switched from a BS to a BA.

A graduate degree in horticulture is not in the cards now, but it is tempting and I am considering a “creative” option. I just don’t know if that’s a good choice since I’m feeling old and tired—but I may just get inspired for such a task.

Let’s just say that the seed has been planted, and now we wait to see if it’s a dud or not.

My childhood horticulture mentor back in maybe 1990 not too long before he passed away. A graduate of OSU, Linus Pauling was both his classmate and sometimes his instructor. We spoke frequently about seeds and plant science. He really helped my interest in the natural world grow.

Either way, I made it to OSU to speak to the Hort Club. It was fun to see several friends during my overnight trip, and to make a few new ones. Again, plant people are so much fun.

My childhood mentor would have been proud and it was quite a milestone for me. I look forward to visiting OSU again in the future while continuing to build connections there.

A little slice of seedling life. I can’t recall just how many flats of primrose seedlings I’ve potted up over the last nearly 4 years out in Canby, but it’s a lot! I get so excited when I see them for sale in the retail area, or being prepared to be mailed out to mail-order customers.

So this is the soft launch of a site with very little for sale right now other than gift certificates. I will continue to build up Spiffy Seeds and I look forward to growing with friends again in the year ahead. This means sometimes I will come to you to collect things, other times, you may send me sealed bags of things, or else you’ll be writing to me about seeds you may have and are wondering if I can sell them. There are a lot of things that I won’t be interested in at all. With so many large growers and wholesale providers, I have to be careful about what I think folks might buy because it’s already out there and I want to be keeping things in cultivation for my own reasons. I don’t want to sell the usual seeds.

Also, funds from this effort, as well as the newly installed Tip Jar can be used from my trips. I don’t work for large nurseries that pay to send me places. I both lose work AND pay out of pocket when I don’t go to work so I think it will be fun to focus all funds towards my “continuing education” trips. Based on my experiences, this, combined with my consulting work, and saving up from my nursery jobs should turn out to be quite helpful.

Then again, I may be a deluded dreamer, but I think you could call me worse.

I had wanted to make my life easier next year, to rest more, to take care of myself, but the heart knows what it wants.