In high school, I discovered I had a green thumb when I took an interest in the small greenhouse adjacent to my grade 10 science classroom. The teacher let me try planting some tomato seeds, and every one of the 64 seeds that I planted sprouted. We ended up with a deluge of tomato plants on my parents’ farm that year, and I have had an interest in planting things since.

This year, we decided to do a number of new things. There was, of course, the usual planting of herbs (basil, chives, cilantro, dill, lavender, mint, oregano, parsley, sage, tarragaon and thyme). I have always loved corn, and decided to plant a few kernels of Ruby Queen. We are trying to grow some cactus from scratch, and planted a “variety” mixture. Then there’s a few pots of jalapeño peppers, sweet peppers and strawberries, and some sunflowers that we will plant along the side of the house.

The oddest thing I planted this year was tobacco. The very same thing they stuff in little paper tubes to kill people with. My reasons for planting it were less botanical and entheogenical, and more to do with history and culture.

North Carolina was literally built on tobacco. It was the life-blood of cities like Winston-Salem and Durham, and one could argue that Duke University would not exist were it not for the fortunes made off of tobacco.

Tobacco is a uniquely North American plant, with roots that go back to the First Nations. It’s often joked that white man brought the curse of alcohol, and the First Nations returned the favor with tobacco. True, the plant has ruined scores of lives.

All of that aside, tobacco is a beautiful plant. I love driving past the tobacco fields; the big leafy plants have an entirely different look than the corn and wheat fields I’m used to back in Ontario.

Knowing all of that, I thought it would be interesting to plant a bit of the stuff, just to see what it’s like. To be able to touch something that has brought such fortune and misery to this part of the world.

You can’t hop down to Lowe’s to pickup a pack of tobacco seeds … a friend-of-a-friend got me some Connecticut Shade Leaf seeds, and I planted the little guys last night. Twenty-five peat pellets sprinkled with the precious seeds, and they’re nestled up against my west-facing office window in their little plastic greenhouse.

There’s a lot growing in the absent.canadian’s house, to be sure. I’ll post more photos as things begin to sprout, because I know this is terribly exciting for you.

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Posted in Blog
Written on Sat, 03 March 2007 at 10:45 am
Tags: plants, seeds, tobacco
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