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Persimmons

22 Jun
12 seeds planted. These FOUR sprouted.
Fresh native persimmons (fall 2021)
Persimmons Fall 2021 Central Indian

Back story and the reason for celebrating FOUR persimmon seedlings.

Fall 2019: Content and failed trial inspired by

“How to Grow Oak Trees from Acorns” Shelly Wigglesworth Oct 16, 2018, published in New England Today, Living

I like the idea of refrigerating with peat and barley in a sealed container over winter.

Shelly recommended discarding acorns with pin holes.  They are made by “inch” worms exiting the hull.  I believe the worms enter under the cap.  After checking closely and drying  about two weeks, I discarded 20 acorns of the 60+ I had gathered from our backyard.

Here we “grow” again…today March 11, 2020…

Responding to the loss oak seedlings ruined by squirrels going for the meat of the acorn…I have turned the table!  Using a small cage to keep wild life out and protect future tree…rather than keep animals IN.  45 acorns in peat pots.

Hmmmm…what yield will we have? ZERO 😦

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Strawberry 🍓 Surprise

2 Jun

2021 we had aspirations for planting a fair size strawberry patch. After hearing the passion wildlife has for ripe berries, we scaled down, planted what was already ordered near the breeze way. We netted three of 20 plants.

2022 we let the survivors stay in place near a retaining wall. Surprise! Surprise! We have had enough ripe berries to have parfaits for two….five days in a row.

Runners have stretched out to start several more plants.

Great flavor!

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Book Review: The Winter Harvest Handbook

24 Feb
GREAT READ on the potential and possibilities of four season gardening with unheated greenhouses.

Imagine scrolling Instagram posts and being grabbed by a Martha Stewart post referring to Eliot Coleman’s long time enterprise: organic gardening in Maine year round using unheated greenhouses. This beautiful book has many photos to support the reveal of his family’s passion: life and times growing vegetables for restaurants and markets within a 25 mile radius. Ingenuity emerges in every chapter. Crop rotation, green houses, tunnels, developing custom tools, historical research of Paris in the late 1800s, importance of facing south in the northern hemisphere, custom seeding applications and much MORE. The illustrations are outstanding.

Several years ago my curiosity was peaked by Instagram posts of a longtime friend on the launch of vegetable and flower business supporting the Jonesborough, TN farmers market. Planning involved minimal acreage and a three season planting rotation of most areas. Closed for winter months. Tilling the long time pasture area was challenging. I only briefly saw a map designating plan for plant location and seasonal rotation. Starting from scratch, I wondered how one planned compatible combinations and timing of planting/harvest…so, this Winter Harvest Handbook answered many or most of my questions and more (given the different growing zone). EF

When inspiration hits dirt

22 Apr

Back ground: Winter 2021. When will pandemic end? Seed catalogs: Shumway and Jung. Delightful dreams of spring planting. Adventure! For the first time I ordered strawberry, raspberry and asparagus roots.

The good news (maybe) is that I reconsidered where to plant strawberries and asparagus to prevent them from becoming snacks for wildlife. These are my trials/experiments…what’s my vision?

Veg in One Bed by Huw Richards, Wales

The Family Garden Plan by Melissa Norris, Oregon

Both are excellent! Great photos.

Several years ago, I followed the Instagram account (grandoakfarmtn) of Grand Oak Farm’s launch of a three season three acre project to supply farmer’s market with fruit, vegetables and flowers. I could see what they were doing, but I did not comprehend how it was orchestrated. Some areas of the field were planted with three different crops. What? How did they go together? Veg in One Bed (with photos) discusses three season gardening plan. However, as helpful as the plan is, it did not include examples with my favorite produce.

I turned to The Family Garden Plan which focuses on “likes” and growing quantities to supply the home kitchen year round. Very well done. Bible verses introduce each chapter. Illustrations and planning charts are outstanding.

My long term memory (40 years ago) of the kitchen gardens of Colonial Williamsburg Virginia kicked in. Ah! Ha! Charming. Fruits. Vegetables. Herbs. Flowers. Right out the back door. Narrow paths. Three season. Less than 1/2 acre.

Hmmmmm. There’s a future post on this subject. 😉

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Makes cents!

18 Nov

“Regenerative agriculture claims that the solution doesn’t lie in new technology or mass machinery. It may be right in front of us: livestock.”

Check out this article from the Huffington Post:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/meat-save-planet-regenerative-farming_l_5d261f7ae4b0583e482b0192?guccounter=1

 

Check out this article from Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group:

https://www.ssawg.org/ssawg-blawg/2019/8/15/the-impossible-pasture

“We have this huge planetary food system enhanced by synthetic fertilizers and chemicals, but there are ways to balance that out now, and that’s through raising animals in balance with the ecosystem’s restoration. Nothing else can do what a cow or sheep or buffalo can do.”

– Jack Algiere, farm director at Stone Barns for Food and Agriculture

 

 

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Update Kiwi story

25 Jun

June 2022

After 5 years, is it possible to produce fruit???
Vines reaching for garden shed.

June 2019:  Woo! Hoo! In this photo…blurry, baby kiwis!

Baby kiwis

Apparently, I focused on the the one top-left of center.  Three in this photo!

It has taken two years for this perennial plant to mature and bear fruit.  Also, we have had significant rain fall this season.  The vines have grown over ten feet long.  Hopefully, the vines will meet the arbor between the house and garden shed…may not be this year.  (I would have planted if closer, if I had understood how it grew.)

May 2018:  Last year’s great expectations deflated.  Here we “grow” again!  Our perennial kiwi vine has a strong start for this season.  It is front and center in the photo below with four vines.  So far, the longest one is over three feet long.

May 2017:  Yesterday, we were pleasantly surprised to find potted “Hardy Kiwi” for $12 at Cox’s Plant Farm.  I thought kiwi grew on trees like apples or cherries.  It is a vine that prefers a trellis to support perhaps 100 fruit.  We’ll let you know how we did.

http://ediblelandscaping.com/careguide/Kiwi/

 

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2019 Garden Expansion: May Update

8 May

 

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https://www.rhshumway.com

  1. Gourds (future crafty bird houses and dippers) started in egg cartons on the kitchen counter…they started sprouting I moved them to larger biodegradable containers.
  2. Hummingbird plant and zinnia seeds have been in an outdoor container for a couple of weeks
  3. Trial for fruit trees started with 1 persimmon, then 2 apples and 2 pears, 1 peach and 1 fig.
  4.  More Annual flowers:  Snapdragon, Bells of Ireland, Cockscomb to be planted

Expect future posts on my garden expansion project.

 

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Kiwi for gardening

24 May

May 2018:  Last year’s great expectations deflated.  Here we “grow” again!  Our perennial kiwi vine has a strong start for this season.  It is front and center in the photo below with four vines.  So far, the longest one is over three feet long.

May 2017:  Yesterday, we were pleasantly surprised to find potted “Hardy Kiwi” for $12 at Cox’s Plant Farm.  I thought kiwi grew on trees like apples or cherries.  It is a vine that prefers a trellis to support perhaps 100 fruit.  We’ll let you know how we did.

http://ediblelandscaping.com/careguide/Kiwi/

 

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A Swedish holiday tradition

23 Dec

St. Lucia crown holiday tradition

Merry Christmas

Carol, is this the 20th year you have made the St. Lucia Crown bread?

Background information from the web:

https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/sweden.shtml

 

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Friday Photos: Cake

8 Dec

Heavenly!  This year’s Christmas decorations at The Cake Bake Shop in Indianapolis  feature pink roses and swans.  Gail and I shared a pot of Afghan Chai tea in real cups and saucers.  The owners are American entrepreneurs at their best…service, style and quality!  The press release is out announcing the opening their second shop in Carmel, IN.

Carol and Gail

Our December birthdays tradition at the Cake Bake Shop in Indianapolis.

https://thecakebakeshop.com

Check this out:  The Cake Bake Shop makes Oprah Winfreys O List!

http://www.bakemag.com/Trends/News/News-Home/2018/1/Indianapolis-bakery-to-be-featured-in-Oprah-Winfreys-O-List.aspx?cck=1

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