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Mike S's avatar

Bill,

Thank you. The positivity and the excellent history of Johnny's seeds were a welcome early morning read. I appreciate the effort.

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Ellen's avatar

^^ Ditto what he said. And I loved the bonus ear candy. 😀

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Bill Alstrom (MA/Maine/MA)'s avatar

The song took me back to another tumultuous time. Seemed hopeless then. But here we are...

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Ellin VanLeeuwen's avatar

You wowed me again, Bill. Amazing story of the seed Company… And sort of equally amazing of the old Home Depot. I did not know that about the original company. Thank you. A reminder of how things can be done. Just need to somehow reduce greediness.

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Bob Morgan's avatar

Great story, Bill. Very uplifting with a tie-in to current events. The musical extralude at the end was really nice (and well-produced).

I was a little confused by the photo of Rob Johnston and crew. I thought they were your crew. I assume Rob is “Johnny.” Maybe adding that to the caption would help, unless it was intentional.

Happy Holidays All,

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Bill Alstrom (MA/Maine/MA)'s avatar

Bob, Dave and all you substackers, hope your holidays go well!

This year they will extend as Hanukkah continues the celebration period here. Our Christmas Trees have a Star of David on top. My wife embraces all of it - more opportunity to shower the grandkids with little goodies. Me? I enjoy the food. Probably too much of it :)

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Dave Conant - MO's avatar

Happy Holidays Bob.

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Judy Heit's avatar

Hi Bill,

I remember your home very well.

Enjoying your posts as we all cope with what lies ahead. Happy Holidays to you and Bonnie.

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Bill Alstrom (MA/Maine/MA)'s avatar

Thanks Judy! Very nice to hear from you. And now...an explosion of fond memories from working together. You made my job better in so many ways. Miss your laugh !

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Fay Reid's avatar

Thank you, Bill. This story reminds me of the happy days when I could still get down on my knees to weed mulch and grow plants - AND - then stand up again !!! Today, both my knees are shot, if I am on the floor it takes two strong men to get me back up. But you are right I loved seed catalogs, even those on line.

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Bill Alstrom (MA/Maine/MA)'s avatar

I used the paper versions to teach the grandkids the names of vegetables. They loved the pictures. Sorry about your knees. But keep writing. Your brain is working VERY well :)

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Fay Reid's avatar

You're right, Bill I shouldn't complain about broken parts when I still have a functional brain, thank goodness in my family there is no history of Alzheimer's or dementia. Count my blessings instead of sheep (:-)

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Ilona Goanos's avatar

I read somewhere that growing a garden is a sign of hope. Keep planting those seeds, Bill.

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Mike Wicklein's avatar

THANKS for the feel good piece Bill. I had a friend who worked at Home Depot back in the day. She did well with their employee benefits and then had cancer and they took VERY good care of her. Chaka Khan had one funky band...nice way to start this day.

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Dave Conant - MO's avatar

Great story Bill, and outstanding comments on the value of employee stock ownership. When I worked for Marriott, the company was very supportive of their ESOP, and I worked with some restaurant and cocktail servers who retired as millionaires thanks to their investments. With the advent of a venture capital economy with Congress as a wholly owned subsidiary, the tax rules have changed to make it less advantageous to corporate managers (bean counters) to advocate that and, for Merger & Acquisition types, large blocks of employee-owned stock tend to delay or prevent takeovers. There are too few people in the business world like Rob Johnston and Bob Moore (Bob's Red Mill) who care at least as much about their employees and co-workers as they do about their personal fortunes.

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Liz Horton's avatar

Thank you for an uplifting read. I’ve already got my garlic in, covered by straw to overwinter. I will check out Johnny’s Seeds as I plan to use gardening as a healthy balm against our new unelected President Musk and the whole Maga crowd.

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Bill Alstrom (MA/Maine/MA)'s avatar

Ah, you understand garlic. I target Halloween to get ours planted. I have been using pine needles for protection. Seems to work well. The variety is called "Georgian Crystal "- very large cloves - 5 or 6 per bulb. A little milder in flavor.

Johnny's seeds are not cheap. But they are excellent. One of our favorite items is the Zephyr summer squash/zucchini. Very productive and especially tasty. And the Monte Gusto pole bean is wonderful. Not your typical veggies.

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Liz Horton's avatar

I planted late, but we ae still especially warm in Central coast of California. I planted for Garlic, Purple Italian, German Red, and Siberian.

Good Luck with your plans.

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Robert Rubin's avatar

Fantastic!! Hope you had a Merry Christmas. Let’s all of us have a happy New Year!!

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Mike Wicklein's avatar

Good red Bill, Thanks

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