Market Farming

[Jennifer Albert <jalbert AT cybermesa.com>]

I got two beds ready to plant buckwheat cover last week, went to the farm 
store to get seed, and was told that there's a shortage of buckwheat seed 
in this area (which must mean northern New Mexico and southern Colorado) 
and there's no seed available!

It usually sells for 60 to 80 cents a pound and I buy a 50 pound bag so I 
always have some. Calls to stores all over the area (including southern 
Colorado) didn't find me any seed, and no one had an explanation for the 
shortage. Finally I started calling home garden centers in Santa Fe, and I 
managed to find a little seed at two nursery centers, and they were both 
charging over $2 a pound for it! I asked one why it was so expensive, and 
they replied, definitely snottily, that "it's organic seed and we pay a lot 
for it." I did NOT buy it there, but still paid $2.19 a pound for five 
pounds, and I'm managing for now with that.

Anyone experiencing a similar shortage? I'm not sure what I'll do if I 
plant another round after plowing this one in . . .

Jenny in northern New Mexico
Zone 5