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We’re still blessed with a genuine feed ‘n’ seed store around here, and the thrill of threading one’s way up and down the almost impassable aisles is surpassed only by the thrill of a genuine hardware store. I dare say, the feed ‘n’ seed is better than a hardware store this time of year. I love to go in and buy something like a mattock, something solid and purposeful, something that—if I don’t lose it—I will own till I die. (In all candor, I have owned several mattocks. Losing something as large and visible as a mattock is no challenge at all for me.) Even the aisle of herbicides and insecticides is permeated with a seductive musk that casts a poisonous spell: “with the knowledge of men in laboratories, you can control everything.” And speaking of haphazard biblical allusions, outside are the plants. Eden! I’m going there today. I can’t wait.