Joel Salatin is a third generation alternative farmer in the Shenandoah Valley who attracted national attention after being featured in Michael Pollan’s book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”

The second day of the 15th Annual Water Conservation and Xeriscape Conference in Albuquerque was not only enlightening, uplifting and educational–it was a lot of fun.

The day started off with two keynote presentations, one by Dr. Robert Glennon, the Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Arizona and the other by Will Swope, the Vice President and General Manager of Corporate Sustainability at Intel. I plan to recap their talks, and others from the conference in future blogs, but tonight I wanted to write about Joel Salatin’s presentation and “A Sustainable Farmer’s Point of View.”

Joel calls himself a “grass farmer” on his family’s farm called Polyface or the Farm of Many Faces. He’s also an engaging  speaker and author of several books with titles like “You Can Farm,” “Family Friendly Farming,” and “Everything I want to do is illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front.”

Jean Ann Van Krevelen is continuing the long tradition of sharing gardening tips and home-grown recipes with her new book called “Grocery Gardening.”

It may be difficult to decide where to keep your copy of the new “Grocery Gardening” book. Some of you will certainly want to keep it with your other gardening resources, but others will want to keep it handy in the kitchen.

Maybe you need to buy two copies.

Edible gardening is in fashion again and there are more new gardeners planting seeds and growing gardens than ever before.

“We’ve seen a resurgence of interest in edible gardening, but many new gardeners aren’t sure what to do with their bounty,” says author Jean Ann Van Krevelen.

“It’s very different to grow a couple of zucchini vines and harvest the squash than it is to pick up two at the store.”

For the first time, Botanical Interests has produced a print catalog that features all of its seed offerings with its signature botanic illustrations.

I’ve been keeping up with new developments at Botanical Interests by following @BotanicalSeeds on Twitter. And I’m so glad I did.

If I hadn’t been following along, I wouldn’t have known the Broomfield, Colo., online seed company produced its first print catalog this year.

The catalog arrived in the mail this week, and I have to say it’s one of the prettiest catalogs I’ve ever seen. Each of the catalog’s 28 pages is filled with full-color botanical illustrations–the same ones the company uses for its one-of-a-kind seed packets.

A new line of seeds being introduced this year is called “The Botanic Gardens Series Seed Packet” line. Botanical Interests is working with botanic gardens throughout the country to protect native North American species that are rare and potentially endangered. The seeds from this new line will help prevent plant species from being lost to us forever.

Chioggia beets are an Italian heirloom beet first introduced to U.S. gardeners in 1865. (Image provided by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.)

The January issue of Sunset Magazine features 10 feel-good foods for adding a little zip to menus for the New Year. Along with fresh sardines, artisanal tofu and bison are veggies like Chioggia beets, scarlet runner beans and quinoa.

The article promotes the feel-good factors of adding these new tastes to our diets, but doesn’t mention an added benefit: each of these can be grown in home gardens.

For example, Chioggia beets (pronounced KEE oh gee ya) are a small, pretty beet that can be grown just about anywhere.

Jere Gettle, owner and founder of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, has offered the beet seeds in his catalog for the last 10 years.

“They are so beautiful and taste so good, we grow them here every year,” he says.

Parsnips are now in season and every kitchen can find a use for this very versatile vegetable.

If you planted a fall garden with vegetables grown for their roots and shoots, you’re probably now harvesting the fruits of your labor.

As for the rest of us (who dragged our feet on planting until it was too late) we’ll have to satisfy our need for winter veggies by stopping by the produce department at our local grocery store.

But after paying nearly $2 a pound for organic parsnips this week, you can bet I’ll be making room in my garden–and time in my schedule–for some fall planting this season.

Actually, it’s worth it. Cold-weather vegetables are high in fiber, low in calories and loaded with vitamins and minerals. Some favorites, like broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, feature cancer-fighting phytonutrients, too.

The 2010 Seeds of Change catalog offers seed for both the home gardener and the market grower, including the new All Lettuce Mix pictured on the catalog cover.

From an organic gardener’s point of view, there’s a lot to like about Seeds of Change.

Since 1989 the company has supported sustainable organic agriculture and all of its flower, vegetable and herb seed are 100% certified organic–1200 varieties in all.

The company has a large seed donation program and it also donates 1% of net sales to help organic growers around the world.

The Seeds of Change catalog is filled with heirloom, traditional, medicinal, rare and new seeds. New introductions this year include 6 salad mixes, White Sicilian Garlic, Dark Star Zucchini, Totem Strawberry and Fordhook Giant Chard–to name just a few.

Unusual varieties, like Red Swan Beans, share catalog space with old favorites like Kentucky Wonder green beans. Heirloom tomatoes include dependable growers like Stupice, tasty Brandywine and rare black tomatoes like Paul Robeson.

Fingerling potatoes are narrow little tubers shaped like fingers or crescents and have colorful names like Swedish Peanut, Rose Finn Apple and Russian Banana.

When I posed the question to readers about their favorite seed catalogs, I learned about the Wood Prairie Farm in Maine from TheYarden’s LaManda Joy.

She mentioned she likes the Wood Prairie Farm catalog for its graphics, but she loves the potatoes, too.

Wood Prairie Farm is a family farm in the small town of Bridgewater in the northeastern corner of the state, population 612.

All of its food and seed items are certified organically grown, with most of the crops grown right there on the farm.

The farm has a lot to offer, but organic gardeners will certainly appreciate that owners Jim and Megan Gerritsen have signed the Safe Seed Pledge to not buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants.

Tomato Growers Supply Company sent the seeds for my Giant Belgium tomatoes as a free bonus offer for ordering last year. This nearly two-pound tomato lived up to its name.

If tomatoes are the most popular “vegetable” grown in home gardens, then the Tomato Growers Supply Company catalog must be one of the top catalogs in the country.

Although technically a fruit, tomatoes are grown as a vegetable and just about every gardener I know will go to great lengths to ensure a hearty tomato crop.

Tomato Growers Supply Company is based in Fort Myers, Fla., and carries about 400 varieties of tomatoes, including 10 new varieties for 2010. Despite its name, the Tomato Growers Supply catalog also carries many kinds of peppers, eggplants and tomatillos, too.

Last season I ordered 1 packet of Poblano peppers and 5 kinds of tomato seeds: Marianna’s Peace, Green Zebra, Sprite, Black Cherry and Paul Robeson.

Brian, the Garden Gnome, will no doubt bring good luck and more wild birds to my organic garden this year.

Happy New Gardening Year to you! I hope your year is off to a great start.

If you’re like many other gardeners, you spent some of the cold days of December thinking about your 2009 garden and planning ahead for the 2010 growing season.

Some of the resolutions gardeners posted here for our resolutions contest in December, appeared on the Baltimore Sun Newspaper’s website in Susan Reimer’s “Garden Variety” blog on January 1.

I think every gardener can relate to other gardener’s resolutions. Who hasn’t vowed to set a garden budget and then blow it at the first garden sale in spring? I’m also guilty of going plant crazy, buying too many beautiful plants and then searching for a spot to plant them.

In 2010 Lisa Gustavson resolves to spend more time teaching and helping others grow their own gardens. Lisa’s organic cottage garden (shown below) will surely serve as inspiration.

Thanks to all the gardeners who took a few minutes to contemplate their 2010 gardening resolutions and share them here.

The randomizer selected Lisa Gustavson’s number as the winner of the gardening gift grab bag.

Lisa gardens in Chili, New York, a town just outside of Rochester. She says her yard is in the process of being transformed into a series of gardens and plantings, but that it’s far from complete.

Her focus for the last two years has been a large organic “cottage style” heirloom vegetable garden filled with annuals, perennials, herbs and veggies all mingled together.

Lisa’s gardening resolution comes from the number of visitors to her garden who express surprise at what she can grow in an average backyard.