Hanging by a Shoestring

I received a gift in the mail today. My brother in North Carolina sent me some homemade Prickly Pear Jelly, a book on CD about food preservation, and some seeds. Christmas comes early sometimes. I was pleased to find heirloom tomato seeds in the box. These seeds are passed on from gardener to gardener. Rarely will these seeds be available from a commercial grower. Actually, if gardeners didn't pass them along, the genetic variety would be lost. We have lost many plant varieties because no one passed the seeds on. United Plant Savers make it their mission to keep medicinal plants alive:

United Plant Savers' mission is to protect native medicinal plants of the United States and Canada and their native habitat while ensuring an abundant renewable supply of medicinal plants for generations to come.

I believe I will join in their mission and plant medicinal plants in the garden. I would do this on a greater scale, if I owned my property. Until then, I will devote a few square feet of garden to preventing some native medicinal plants from being eliminated through neglect and destruction of habitat. There are too many plants and animals hanging tenuously by the shoestrings.