Yeah, if you’re leaving town soon, mailing it sooner than later is definitely a good idea. @Ermarie, are you ready to receive the box now, or would you rather have @markwkidd go in front of you?
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I don’t know her–I just checked her stats.
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If Ermarie is not available, I can accept the package next.
She has had a week and hasn’t responded, and I leave town next week. So, @markwkidd PM me your address!
Is this okay @UnicornEmily ?
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Yes, that’s fine! My only recommendation is that you edit your post to remove your e-mail address after he’s sent you the e-mail. (So that spam-bots don’t find it.) 
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Got the box picked up today, so its in the mail and on its way to Mark!
FYI, if you order the label online, you can get commercial base prices, you can print it up at home, tape on, and even set a pickup for your carrier to pick up when they deliver your mail. Ground Advantage gives insurance and tracking, and the shipping wasn’t all that bad. Not everyone knows this, so thought I’d pass it on.
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Yes! I always use Pirateship, and I highly recommend it. They’re well-designed and easy to use, while also maintaining a whimsical sense of humor, which I find charming.
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Hi @Naomiupland would you be interested in receiving the box soon? I expect to be ready by about this time next week. Send me your address if you are ready.
Edit: I received the box on Tuesday and I plan to be finished with it by the first of this coming week. There is so much awesomeness!
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@Naomiupland Have you recieved the box?
The train did not leave the station. I have to drive to town to send and receive mail, and I didn’t make it last week. I will make sure it gets on its way by Tuesday.
I will take this opportunity to mention a few things about what I’ve added. One small consolation for the long wait is that I’ve also been able to add some awesome seeds contributed by a neighbor who is a long term seed saver.
Cushaw squash
There are two groups of cushaw seeds. One is a rare old local variety called “sweet hardshell” that has elite winter squash genetics for Cucurbita argyrosperma/cushaws.
New mild mustard landraces
There are two new mild leafy mustard varieties developed here with a landrace approach, and inspired by Dietrich’s Broccoli Raab and Mark Reed’s Broccolish. One is a green mustard, probably B. rapa and one is purple, probably B. napus. Both survive here year round without assistance, and the purple exhibits perenniality.
Cucurbita pepo summer squash crosses with wild gourd
I have included some new crosses between C. pepo summer squash and a wild egg gourd collected in Missouri. The seeds I have sent are likely to have between 10-25% wild gourd DNA. One cross has domestic mitochondrial DNA, the other three have the wild gourd on the mother’s side.
Among other crosses there have been some promising nutty, buttery summer squash flavors and the potential for use raw like a cucumber. These are all exciting crosses, but I have too many to grow them all out. I’m sending them out into the world in case someone else would like to see what they find.
Contributions from my neighbor
There are a few seed packets labeled From Tricia’s which were contributed by a neighbor who has been an important source to the Commonwealth cushaw project. She operates a produce stand from which she sells seeds: some saved seeds and some purchased seeds. Like me, Tricia is into mustard, kale, and turnips. Some the genes from her seeds are likely mixed up in my green and purple mustard projects.
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Those pepo cross seeds sound very interesting. Presumably the wild gourd was Cucurbita pepo var. ovifera? There could definitely be some interesting genes in that wild population. In your experience so far, what ratio of the offspring have given you fruit that tasted good?
Because I have a one-track mind as far as wild-cross genes go (grin), have any of those tasty-fruited offspring from the cross exhibited exceptional heat and/or drought tolerance? If so, I would be very interested. That would be super valuable for my climate.
Heh, random question. I seem to recall you like growing groundcherries. Have you ever found Physalis longifolia? That’s the species I’m most interested in – it sounds like the most cold hardy and drought tolerant, as well as one of the tastiest, so I really want to try it. (Mind you, any tasty temperate perennial groundcherry species would be nifty to try. Physalis peruviana is nice and all, but there are so many other species that are way more cold hardy!)
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Love that it looks like this seed train has been going on for actual years. Would love to get on the list.
I shall add you! 
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Yes I’m pretty certain the wild genes are from the ovifera lineage, that’s my intention.
I believe the seeds I shared would acceptable to cross with other summer squash. I included a few sentences of instructions related to the bitterness genes with my seed packets with the hope that it could be crossed with an edible line.
The current generation, represented by the seeds I added to the box as well as the plants in my garden right now, should have a dramatically higher proportion of nonbitter fruit. So maybe some new flavors will emerge that I haven’t experienced in previous years but I don’t expect anything like that.
Texture: I prefer the texture of the ovifera domestic summer squash like patty pan or yellow crookneck overall to the texture of subsp. pepo summer types like zucchini. These wild egg gourd crosses have a texture similar to the patty pan. So I’ve been happy with that.
Favor: With a good patty pan squash fruit, I sometimes perceive a nutty or slightly savory flavor that comes out with gentle cooking. The egg gourd crosses are less flavorful, and come across a little bit more like a creamy raw cucumber when the egg gourd cross is eaten raw.
Tolerance: I planted last year’s crop in early July, and this year’s in mid July. I make sure the seeds stay moist until they germinate. Sometimes I water starts for a week after transplanting but sometimes not. That is the only care they get. They’re not planted into particularly good soil.
In my climate they seem to suffer most from cucumber beetles and mildews. They are among the most tolerant of light frost of the squash I’ve grown. I don’t want to overstate it, thus “light frost”. I have seen some indication that the current generation has more resistance to cucumber beetles, possibly on account of the reduced bitterness levels that attract fewer beetles.
Heh, random question. I seem to recall you like growing groundcherries. Have you ever found Physalis longifolia? That’s the species I’m most interested in – it sounds like the most cold hardy and drought tolerant, as well as one of the tastiest, so I really want to try it. (Mind you, any tasty temperate perennial groundcherry species would be nifty to try. Physalis peruviana is nice and all, but there are so many other species that are way more cold hardy!)
I haven’t had time to pursue breeding Physalis the way I am with Cucurbita and some others.
But I have been caring for two small populations of Kentucky native Physalis hetrophyllia along with another that may be P. virginiana or P. longifolia. I’ll try to take a photo later. It has almost no hair at all on its stems, which is more consistent with logifolia but it has me doubting my ID.
Maybe it’s just a sneaky local P. angulata that looks a bit like those other two keeps growing in the same spot. Northern Kentucky University took offline my favorite Kentucky Physalis field ID guide and it didn’t get saved with its photos intact in the internet archive. Dang it.
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Aww, man, losing access to a good ID guide would stink!
Remind me — how often do you get rain in summer? That will give me an idea of how drought tolerant those pepos with the wild genes may be.
The box arrived! Will work on it asap and it should be going out again by Friday!
I think @LarimarHomestead is next? Is your address the same?
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Sweet, yes, its the same. Thank you😊
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wait… why & when did the box have a hazmat sticker on it? Have I been sleeping under a rock for too long 
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Ha ha! No idea! I was wondering about it too
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I have seen 2 female flowers on my watermelons. I’m hopeful that means I’ll get fruits and be able to share more seed. The squash are poking along but haven’t spotted any female flowers.
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