Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company

This summer we took a family road trip down to Missouri to visit a sibling's farm and have a mini-famiy reunion.  One of the days we headed to Mansfield to visit the brick and mortar store of my favorite seed company. The company was started in 1998 and has grown to become the largest heirloom seed company in the US. 

This is only one side of the main seed store

Everyone picking out their seeds

We got there a little later than planned after stopping for an amazing lunch (and ice cream) at Wingo's Cafe in Mansfield but we did have time to check out the whole pioneer village. We saw the goats and chickens, checked out the jailhouse, and the blacksmith set up, cafe, herb shop and mini-stores set up around the perimeter of the beautiful landscape gardens.  

checking out the critters

The center of the pioneer village with the building around the center

The best thing was that you only checked out once at the main store and were trusted to actually bring everything there to be paid for!  I mean Wally-World makes me self-checkout while recording in a weighted area then demands to check my cart and receipt at the door, so this experience was vastly different.  The air conditioned theater about the company was a comfy way for the family to spend some time while I finished picking out my fall and winter garden seed selection.  The whole area was surrounded by their test fields and green houses. The kids and even those adults not as garden savvy enjoyed the trip.  If you ever find yourself in the area there are so many great spots with springs and museums and I can point you to an amazing Airbnb.

The main seed store

Over the years I've used lots of different seed companies but the last two years I have been ordering the vast majority of my seeds from rareseeds.com  I get great results and I'm always a sucker for free shipping- the big traditional companies always have outrageous charges.  You can order a free catalog or splurge for the big one and buy the full thing or everything is on the website as well-though I really do love looking through a catalog instead of navigating a website for anything other than the actual ordering.  

Also just a quick heads up this post was not sponsored and my husband cringed at the total I ended up spending as the credit card bill climbed...really it was only in the double digits for all my goodies including a tee shirt.