Messages

1

My Varieties -- Descriptions & Grow Reports / Re: Reports from Indiana

« on: 2017-November-04 09:52:14 AM »

Thanks for the grow report Reed!

If you plant the bush beans again, watch for pole beans to show up in the patch. The bush trait is recessive, so if pole beans show up in the bush patch, that's a good sign that a cross occurred.

Mospermia has been a bust pretty much all the way around. I'm thinking that I may not offer the seed this year, unless someone really wants it a lot.

2

Status of the Farm and the Farmer / Sorry about the down-time

« on: 2017-October-27 07:30:20 PM »

The forum software crashed, and I'm just now getting it operational again. Sorry about that.

My fields are harvested, tilled, and the overwintering crops have been planted. I'm working on getting seeds ready to share.

3

Landrace Gardening Blog / Re: Landrace Gardening: Promiscuously Pollinated Tomatoes

« on: 2017-February-15 09:29:36 PM »

My goals and understanding have definitely changed over the years. At first I thought that I could grab the genetics I wanted from domestic tomatoes. Then I discovered the wide variety of promiscuous traits that are available in the wild tomato genome. Then since I am already bringing in some traits from wild tomatoes, I might as well try to bring in other traits like better taste, frost tolerance, disease resistance, etc...

Some of the promiscuous hybrids that are currently growing in my bedroom window are 7 way crosses. I'm currently 3 to 5 generations into this project so I'm expecting good things for this growing season.

So far, the genetics that have been incorporated from the wild plants is very narrow. Eventually, I'll want to incorporate a wide variety of wild genetics. I expect to do most of that work after I get the self-incompatibility trait stabilized.

4

Status of the Farm and the Farmer / Re: 2016 Growing Season... General updates...

« on: 2016-October-27 08:25:03 AM »

On October 26th, yesterday, I finished harvesting the fields, and tilled. They are ready for winter!

Before snow-cover arrives, I want to plant a few winter-hardy crops like garlic, rye, wheat.

It was a great growing season. My cowpea and tepary bean landraces finally matured this growing season. I'm very happy with them. Since it was the international year of the pulse, I also grew fenugreek and lentils for the first time. The lentils did wonderful. They were a grocery store variety. Not yet a landrace, but at least I can grow them. The fenugreek made some seed, but didn't prosper being transplanted. The runner beans did well. I even found a few with tuberous roots! The common beans thrived.

I'm very content with the new flour corn I selected from the out of the hybrid swarm of North/South varieties. I'm calling it Unity Flour Corn.

I grew a patch of squash which were interspecies hybrids between mixta and moschata squash.  I'm really loving those. It would be nice to move the orange color and better taste of the moschata squash into the cushaws.


High Resolution

Yellow mustard spice and breadseeds thrived.

5

Farmer's Market / Re: 2016 Farmer's Market

« on: 2016-October-21 09:00:30 AM »

October 22nd will be the last farmer's market for the season.

We'll bring honey as always. Stock up now to save a trip out to Paradise during the winter.

I've been picking lots and lots of apples, and will make them available by the half-bushel for a great price: $10 per half-bushel.

I've also dug carrots: Huge carrots great for soups and cakes.

There is a little bit of winter squash left, and lots of decorative gourds, and some pumpkins. I'm bringing pumpkins with hull-less seeds. Carve a jack-o-lantern, and save the seeds. There are no annoying shells to remove before eating the seeds. I'm bringing some already dried pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and yellow mustard spice.

I'm expecting to pick some sage.

There are a few tomatoes left.

I'm expecting to bring turnips with greens.

Thanks for a great season!

6

My Varieties -- Descriptions & Grow Reports / Grapes

« on: 2016-October-11 09:06:35 PM »

I expanded the vineyard today by planting 13 more grape vines. I am currently growing:

Name	Description	Harvest Date
Canadice	Pink. Seedless. Small fruits. Tart	Mid-season.
Concord	Black. Seeded. Mild flavor.	Very Late.
Glenora	Black. Seedless. Tart and sweet. Vigorous. Very tasty.	Late.
Interlaken	Green. Seedless. Very Sweet. Vigorous.	Earliest.
Pink Table Grape	Pink. Seeded. Sweet and Mild.	Mid-season.
Two Mystery Varieties	Unknown.	Unknown.

I have vineyards now which are separated in elevation by 300 feet. That should help provide an extended harvest for each variety.

7

Farmer's Market / Re: 2016 Farmer's Market

« on: 2016-September-23 11:30:09 PM »

We're heading into the farmer's market in a few minutes.

We are bringing honey like always.

The truck is filled to capacity with butternut and maxima winter squash. Pricing is $10 per crate for storage squash, or $1 to $4 for smaller squash. Maybe up to $10 for some of the 60 pound maximas. There was a second crop of buttercups. I am thrilled because they are my favorite tasting and best selling squash. There are also a few birdhouse gourds and mixta squash.

I'm bringing Glenora black seedless grapes. They are my favorite tasting variety. I'm also bringing rooted cuttings.

Also bringing:

tomatoes
dry beans
sunflower seeds
apples
plums
storage onions
raspberries
yellow mustard spice
and other things

8

Farmer's Market / Re: Honey

« on: 2016-September-22 10:19:24 PM »

Here we are just before we robbed the honey a few weeks ago. Pants tucked inside boots, to avoid bees crawling up pant-legs.


The year previously, on a "check-only" day,  I thought that I'd get by with the wrong pair of boots. Bad choice. They stung my ankles like crazy!!!! Good thing that I had taken an anti-histamine prior to entering the bee yard. That year, we had some really pissy bees. The queens or the queen's mother's in two colonies may  have got impregnated by some africanized drones.


We use a leaf-blower to remove the bees from the honey boxes.


The bees march right back into the colony:


In the spring of 2016, all 30 colonies were dead. So we replaced them with packaged bees. At $100 per colony, the bees in the bed of the truck I went to pick them up in were worth more than the truck.

9

Farmer's Market / Re: 2016 Farmer's Market

« on: 2016-September-09 09:45:01 PM »

The truck is loaded and ready to go to market first thing in the morning.

It contains:

Honey,
Red Curie winter squash,
An orange pumpkin,
cucumbers,
tomatoes, including some really tasty yellow/red bi-colored ones,
the last of the yellow plums. They are very sweet this week. Purple plums will be ready next week,
tomatillos,
sweet corn,
raspberries,
And perhaps a few things I forgot to mention.

No tobacco this week.
Dry beans may be ready to harvest next week. I just started picking the earliest of the early.

With frost expected any day now, I expect that I'll start bringing winter squash next week.

 

10

Landrace Gardening Blog / Re: Saving Corn Seed

« on: 2016-August-29 03:37:12 PM »

corn seeds are viable by the fresh eating stage, even if they are not yet fully mature, so you could pick and taste cobs then dry out any that taste great to save for seed.

I taste sweet corn by chopping off an end of the cob with a pair of secateurs (or more dangerously with a knife)... I can taste it a number of times during a growing season. It looks like this after a few tastes. Also, corn plants often produce multiple cobs per plant.

11

Farmer's Market / Re: 2016 Farmer's Market

« on: 2016-August-28 10:48:05 AM »

We took the following to the farmer's market on 2016-08-27:

Honey,
Tomatoes,
Cucumbers,
Crookneck,
Zucchini,
Tobacco,
Apricots,
Yellow Mustard Seed Spice,
Tomatillos,
Onions,
Garlic,
Broccoli,
Cabbage,
Sweet Corn,
Dry Beans, (the earliest of the early harvest)

We expect to have about the same sorts of things next week. I'm working today on getting the breadseed poppies ready. I think that I'll get one more harvest from the juicy apricots.

Also for the market on September 3rd, I'm expecting to have crates of sweet corn for freezing. Price will be $10 per crate. It was the best seller last week.

12

Farmer's Market / Re: 2016 Farmer's Market

« on: 2016-August-19 08:38:19 AM »

For the farmer's market on August 20th, I am expecting to bring:

Honey
Ambrosia, sugary enhanced sweet corn
Garlic
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Apricots
Crookneck
Zucchini
Sage
Thyme
Spearmint
Tobacco

There will probably be other things....

As always, we don't apply poisons to the garden. We eat this stuff too, and one of the rules that I live by is "Nurture yourself with vibrantly healthy food".

Here's what last week's market table looked like:

13

Status of the Farm and the Farmer / Re: Major Life Modification

« on: 2016-August-15 07:44:46 AM »

It's the one year anniversary of my new living arrangements. I feel great. People are telling me that I look great. My garden has been cared for really well. One of my long-time friends says, "This is the the best garden you have ever grown." I agree with her.  My weight is down 60 pounds from my maximum weight. I'm hovering around the lowest weight that I have been in decades. It's easier to move. Phantom aches and pains are greatly diminished. I am rarely congested these days. I haven't had a cluster-headache for a year.

I'm eating a mostly paleo-like diet containing few grains.

I have really been enjoying visiting with friends and family. Every day of peace and tranquility seems like an excuse to celebrate life and the rich bounty that surrounds me.

14

Landrace Gardening Blog / Re: Summer Squash Seed Saving

« on: 2016-August-15 07:04:11 AM »

I typically allow summer squash to get very big before harvesting. That is more than a month after they are at the tender-eating stage. By then, crookneck will have a hard shell around them. Zucchini will be huge! I typically time my harvest to coincide with the fall frosts. By then, a typical green zucchini will be turning orange. In other words, I allow them the maximum time possible on the plants.

Mature Zucchini Fruits:

15

Farmer's Market / Re: 2016 Farmer's Market

« on: 2016-July-15 11:02:45 PM »

Long time, no post. Sorry about that.

This week daddy is bringing honey, and garlic. He usually brings a bouquet of flowers as a table decoration. Offer him about $5 for it and he's likely to let you take it home with you.

I'm bringing the first pint basket of tomatoes: almost full...

Bringing lots of fava beans. I really like them sautéed in butter, or added to a stir-fry. The pod is fibrous, so they should be shelled first like shelling peas. Some people like to shell the individual beans, but I like eating the skin. To me, it's part of the charm of fava beans.

Also bringing culinary and medicinal herbs:

Yarrow
Parsley
Spearmint
Oregano
Sage
Thyme

Sorry that I forgot to harvest Mullein. If you are into wild-crafting, you might check to see if it's starting to flower. That's a perfect time to pick it.

I'm bringing a few potted plants: Toothache plant, spearmint, thyme. And the last older potted grape vine. It's Interlaken, a green seedless that does very well here. I'm expecting to bring more varieties of grape vines next week, or the week after, depending on how they grow between now and then. I'll bring Egyptian Onions if I remember to throw them on the truck in the morning.

I thinned the carrots and beets, so I'm bringing a few small ones. The beets are beautiful colors. The greens are very luscious right now.