Slogging into spring

We are still a long way from the first morning with a promise of spring.  The good burghers of Punxatawney will probably have to drag the resident groundhog out of his burrow on Sunday.  Still, the days are getting longer and I'm about to send my first seed order of the new year.  I haven't added it up yet, but my impression is it will be significantly more expensive than last year.   Not so much because the quantities are larger.  The seeds are more expensive.  A packet of seed cost around 40-50 cents when I started gardening in the 70s of the last century.  The same packet (with less seed)now costs around 4 dollars.  Many packets contain 25 seeds or less.  While the casual gardener is probably not deterred by this inflation, it seems to me the cost of the seed is outstripping the price of the finished vegetable.  Certainly for commercial growers, the cost of seed has gone from an afterthought to one of the larger inputs when figuring costs/acre.  Enough seed to plant an acre of spinach in 1980 cost in the neighborhood of $20.  the same amount of seed now costs closer to $400.  Closer spacing for baby spinach can push the price to $1000.00 or more.   But, enough of the gloom and doom.  The descriptions in my catalog promise firm, juicy, delectable vegetables and that is what I will keep thinking about as February drags on.