Catching up

 Wow, this blog still exists. I apologize for dropping off the face of the Earth for so long. I was so disheartened by some losses and failures that I completely missed out on chronicling my journey to becoming a "real" farmer. It did happen eventually, just not the way I imagined it. 

    My dreams of becoming a vegetable farmer were more or less dashed after that last season I wrote about here. By 2014 the weeds became overwhelming in my lazy no-till scheme (I still whole-heartedly believe no-till can work, just not the way I was doing it). The need for soil improvement was (and still is) so great and it's hard to know where to even start. What happened is I gave up on trying to be a "real" farmer and eventually I became a seed farmer of native wildflowers and medicinal herbs. I started a food forest with drought tolerant native fruit and nut species and improved my pollinator habitat. I started making salves and tinctures with the plants in my yard--including the weeds! Last year I started experimenting with ecoprinting and botanical dyeing, which yielded some fruitful results! 

    I also returned to school since my last post. My thesis research is on the sand cherry, Prunus pumila, and its pollination biology. I have struggled with finding a rewarding career that pays enough while living in a rural area, so I hope that improving my education will assist me with that. I feel lucky and blessed to be getting paid to go to school (yay STEM fields!) and to have that guaranteed income at a time when so many people are struggling or out of work. I hope to graduate at the end of this year and then start a new career in the spring of 2022. I really want that 2-3 months off in between to a) replenish my adrenal system after all this crazy stress and b) spend some time turning all my beautiful plant-dyed fabrics and yarns into cool stuff I can sell. 

    I also started a family since my last post. I am so excited to try gardening with my kid this year. I made some new beds by piling peat, compost, and straw on top of cardboard and we planted some cover crops and cold weather crops in them. Nothing has come up yet, so we may need to try again. I took an inventory of my seeds and discovered I have way too many of them. I have begun to transfer them from my closet to other growers so they don't just die here. It's a difficult process, deciding which ones I'll actually plant someday and which ones are better off in someone else's care. I have some cool seeds because in 2013 I invested quite a bit in heirloom varieties and I compulsively bought rare seeds when I encountered them. So far a Romanesco broccoli and a Russian kale from 2013 have sprouted with really good germination rates, so I am hopeful for the rest. 

Tough Summer Followed by Magic Fall

      This wonderful extension of the growing season has been quite a miracle! It is October 8 and we have yet to experience a hard frost! I like to think the cold is waiting on my Glass Gem corn to mature. It has silked but so far I don't think there are any mature ears yet.

      This has been a really tough year for Magic Summer Minifarm, which is why I haven't been posting flower or produce availability. There is barely enough for me and the bees! I have heard that other growers in the area had a rough year also, with stunted, yellow crops. Some folks even tilled in their gardens in July when they realized they weren't going to produce much. I can't attest for anyone else but for me there have been several factors contributing to the poor production at Magic Summer.

      First, the summer was slow to warm up, and then it was very warm and very dry for long stretches. I am growing in very sandy soil that doesn't hold much water.

      Second, the garden was overrun with animals. The rabbits have been nuisances, but less so since my mom helped me put up a little rabbit fence around the garden perimeter. The doe who lives in the woods behind the property had triplets this year, and the four of them kept the peas about two inches tall for the first half of the growing season. More recently they have eaten the majority of the sunflowers and beans.

      But the main issue is that I have pushed the sugar sand soil too far while waiting for my compost to be ready. This is the third year I have asked for produce without giving much back to build the soil. The compost is ready now, though, and I plan to spread it this fall once the hard frost does hit. I have also been building the soil with cover crops and mycelial inoculations from Fungi Perfecti. I will be spraying 500 (biodynamic horn manure preparation) and barrel compost (another biodynamic preparation--this one is made from cow manure, egg shells, and basalt) later this week, and I will use the straw from my straw bales to mulch the garden and help keep down the weeds next year. The recent rains have really brought out the mushrooms in the field, the garden, and the compost. It is sort of jarring to see them in the soil I normally think of as much dryer than I would like it to be, but in a good way. It makes me hopeful that maybe what I am doing actually is making a difference and healing the land. That was definitely not apparent two months ago.

      The produce that I have been able to harvest this year includes several varieties of hot peppers (none of the peppers I grew from seed survived to produce--those that did produce were given to me by some friends), a few ears of Lindsay Meyer blue corn, American Tonda pumpkins, Iran squash, Bountiful beans (which are beautiful as well as bountiful--a great decorative and highly productive dry purple bean), shogoin white turnips, Spanish black radishes, Spacemaster bush cucumbers, and some volunteer zucchini from last year's compost pile. Oh yes, and there was also a delicious bounty of strawberries and raspberries. And a few peas. I tried growing the purple podded peas but they didn't hold a candle to the sugar snaps I planted last year that were both extremely prolific but also wonderfully sweet and tender. The purple podded peas are pretty but the pods are too tough to eat and they didn't do so well in the hostile conditions of the garden. They are recommended as a "soup pea" rather than a fresh eating pea.

 Here is one of the few sunflowers that didn't get eaten by deer. Bumblebees love sunflowers!

 At the top of this photo is the Glass Gem corn. In the middle you see a row that contains watermelons, okra, and zinnias. At the bottom there are lots of weeds. I hardly weeded at all this year. Part of the reason for that was I was burned out and a little lazy, but another part was allowing useful weeds like evening primrose to flourish.

 Man, this photo is just depressing. even the weeds are struggling to survive. Those stick-looking things are last year's sunflower stalks. I never cut them down or pulled them out.

 Here is a squash vine creeping into the strawberry patch, which is spattered with more evening primrose.

 These gorgeous flowers are Persian Carpet zinnias. They are surrounded by moon and stars watermelon vines that did not produce any fruit.

So something ate almost all of the Kabuli black garbanzo beans. I was so excited about those things. I planted some more in July or August but I think they need to be planted in the spring to have enough time to mature. I will be planting fava beans this fall though. And some garlic that my late grandmother grew, thanks to my great aunt!

 Lindsay Meyer blue corn with asparagus in the background. The purple flower spike is from vetch, which I planted as a cover crop in the spring.

Here is another shot of the zinnias and watermelon vines, with the scrappy nest of weeds in the walkways.

Catching Up

This week's flower availability: yarrow, valerian, iris, and bee's friend
Thanks to everyone who made it out to the bedding plant sale! I have planted all the leftovers from the sale, aside from the native perennial fruits. I may use some of those to replace trees and shrubs that didn't take off once they were planted in the orchard, but there are quite a few left if anyone is interested. The inventory includes high bush cranberry, lilac, basswood, Juneberry, chokeberry (Aronia), and American wild plum. I am selling them for $6 each or 2 for $10. I also plan to bring whatever is left to the Fond du Lac Resource Management division's Ganawenjigewin Maawanji'idiwin (Taking Care of Things Gathering) farmers' market on September 6 at the pow wow grounds behind the Fond du Lac Ojibwe School. I will also bring cut flowers, winter squash, melons, tomatoes, and whatever else I have by early September.
So far this year's garden is off to a good start. A big buck has been sneaking in occasionally to eat the tops off the peas. The grasshoppers are everywhere for the third year in a row, but once again they mostly don't bother the crops I planted. They destroyed some small, young tomato and pepper plants and skeletonized my rhubarb again, but for the most part they stick to the weeds and the compost when feeding. The fava bean plants all came up but suffered a bit from being splashed with dirt. The dirt seemed to damage the lower leaves, and that combined with the poor, sandy soil has resulted in few flowers on the plants. The fava beans in my work garden are doing better, and the bumblebees seem to love the flowers. I picked two different corn varieties to grow this year. I am hoping they will flower and silk separately, but I have corn condoms in case they don't. The varieties I picked are Lindsay Meyer blue, the corn that matured fastest at work last year, and Glass Gem, the most beautiful corn I've ever seen. I don't think I would mind if they crossed, but I prefer to have "pure"ish seeds if possible (John Navazio's book, "The Organic Seed Grower," stresses that there is no such thing as "pure" seed) .
I mentioned my poor, sandy soil. This year I finally have finished compost, but I have not yet made time to add the biodynamic preparations to it so I can add it to the garden. I will have to get on that soon. I have been spending so much time at work that it has been hard for me to get my butt out to my home garden when I have some free time. I haven't sprayed 500 or 501 yet either! i am thinking I may spray the barrel compost I got at the biodynamic farming conference last fall soon, and spray 500 in the fall. I have also tried using cover crops this year. They are only planted in about 1/4 of the garden, but I have more to plant as the season progresses. Currently there is crimson clover and bee's friend, plus a few volunteer buckwheat and vetch plants.
I just transplanted my sweet potato plants today. They arrived from Sand Hill Preservation Center last week with a note stating that it is in fact okay to plant them so late, and that they would catch up to sweet potato plants that were put in the ground up to a month ago because the warmth of the soil helps the plants grow more than the length or number of days it has to grow. I am trying a few traditionally southern crops this year, including okra, melons, and cotton. I had meant to try peanuts, but put it off for too long and now it is too late to plant them. My work garden got some, and those are doing well. Sand Hill Preservation Center sells black peanuts that have a maturation time of only 100 days, which is about all we have here.

My strawberries are ripening finally also. Are there many other places in the US where strawberries ripen in July? Some animal helped itself to the first few ripe strawberries but I got a handful this morning. Last year only 3 strawberries grew on the plants but there are scores more this year, which is exciting. I also have some alpine strawberries growing, in three different colors: red, yellow, and white. Those probably won't flower this year, but next year I will have some cool treats.

Spring arrives just in time for summer

The garden is coming to life despite the persistent cold weather. Peas, fava beans, garlic, turnips, and cover crops have emerged and I'm still holding off on planting my warm season crops. The elderberries, irises, honeyberries, asparagus, catmint, and other perennials are returning, and the honeyberries especially look vibrant. They have flowered already. Ground nesting bee nests abound, probably more this year than in the past two because the garden wasn't tilled this year. Despite that, the weeds haven't been too bad. I think the weather has helped keep the weeds at bay more or less, so I have actually had time to pull them occasionally.

 I put in over 100 new perennial fruits in the backyard behind the garden, including grapes, Juneberries, American wild plum, Aronia/chokeberry, blueberries, a red fleshed apple, a peach, more sand cherries, elderberries, currants, and raspberries. I am looking forward to 2015, by which time all the perennials from this year will be "running." I've heard people say that in the first year a perennial "sits" and doesn't grow much, and the second year it "crawls"  (grows a little). The third year it "runs" (grows a lot). Right now they don't look like much--just a bunch of sticks in the ground. Some have leaves, but no flowers yet. I have potted up the extras for sale. Contact me if you are interested in purchasing some native superfruits. They are $6 each or 2 for $10. I also have purple lilacs, basswood, shrub roses, and hazelnuts. Tulips are available for $5 per dozen.

 The compost failed to change much over the winter, even though I put it in a sunnier spot than 2011's compost and covered it with a black tarp. I think the problem is too many "browns," or too much carbon, and not enough "greens," or nitrogen-rich materials. I will mow the lawn this weekend before I turn the compost and add the grass clippings to it before I apply the biodynamic preparations.

 I am growing some new things this year, like garbanzo beans, fava beans, lentils, cotton, and peanuts. The photo on the right is of a Kabouli black garbanzo bean. I purchased them from both Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and Irish Eyes Seeds. Perhaps I did something wrong, but so far it seems like the germination rate is a bit low for the Baker Creek Seeds. I have tried to fill in the bare spots in garbanzo beds with seeds from Irish Eyes, so we'll see if the germination is any better for those. I have direct seeded the lentils, but haven't seen them sprouting yet. The favas are coming up. The grasshoppers may be chewing on them a little. They seem to like sheep sorrel, which grows around the garden perimeter and creeps into it every chance it gets. So I am tolerating a dense patch of sheep sorrel in the garden to feed the damn grasshoppers so they don't eat the fava beans or anything else I plant. Depending on how pesky they get this year, I might try eating the grasshoppers this year. Someone suggested it at a work meeting recently.

 Here is one of the honeyberries I planted last year. There are 8 in the garden, and all of them have come back looking so much better than they did last year, and certainly bigger. They seem to have nearly finished flowering, and I'm looking forward to having my first taste of honeyberries once they ripen.
I tasted a few spears of asparagus. I ate them raw less than 5 feet from where they grow. Delicious! It's hard not to eat all of them, but I want the asparagus plants to grow big so I have to restrain myself. I have been checking every day to see how many spears are up and if any plants might be able to spare one or two spears for me. The ones I let go are growing tall. I can't wait for the asparagus to "run." I planted it last spring, and I think it was 2 year old crowns (maybe 1 year old crowns? I have only recently started to keep better records).
I mentioned above that I put a red fleshed apple in the back yard. I just heard about red fleshed apples a couple of months ago. I found them by looking through Southmeadow Fruit Gardens catalog. Southmeadow Fruit Gardens is a company in Michigan with an enormous collection of heritage and commercial varieties of apples. They sell other fruits too, as well as rootstocks. I wanted the apple called Hidden Rose, but they were out so I asked for the red fleshed apple with the reddest flesh they had left, and they sent Almata. It had red flower buds about to burst when it arrived, but unfortunately the uncouth four-legged neighbors ate them all. Now the tree is sprouting beautiful red leaves and the vegetarians in the neighborhood seem to have found other sources of food (though I'm pretty sure they are the ones chomping the strawberry leaves). My uncle in law dropped off some straw bales and fence posts and short rabbit fencing. I will be installing a fence soon to try to keep at least some of the critters out.  The straw bales will cover up the insulation in the front of the house, catch rain from the roof, and grow some cucurbits. So much work to do still! But it is a labor of love.
As for the heirloom bedding plant sale, let's wait until next Friday and Saturday, June 14 and 15. By then the starts will look better and the soil might even be warm enough for planting.
Friday & Saturday, June 14 &15 from 9 to 3. Email me at the contact link above for directions.

SALE POSTPONED UNTIL JUNE 14 & 15

Due to bad weather and overextension of my time and energy, I have decided to postpone the heirloom plant sale until Friday & Saturday, June 14 & 15. The native edible perennials are ready to go but some of the annuals need a little more time to develop. I will stick around the farm in case folks show up anyway. Sorry for the short notice. It has been a crazy week, and it seems it will probably get worse before it gets better.

Heirloom Vegetable and Native Fruit Sale Saturday & Sunday, June 1 & 2

Spring is off to a slow start but the bulbs I planted last fall are starting to pop up. Tulip leaves and crocus flowers are starting to dot the front yard. So far there is nothing available for sale from Magic Summer Minifarm. However, I have been preparing for the June 1-2 heirloom vegetable and native fruit sale and I have listed the varieties that will be part of the sale below. Depending on the inventory left after the June 1-2 plant sale, I may add a second weekend sale in June. Or I may let it dictate, to some extent, the contents of the garden. Fond du Lac Reservation is starting a monthly farmers' market this year in July. Look for Magic Summer Minifarm produce there (more details to come).

Vegetables:
artichoke: Tavor
cucumber: Lemon
                  White Wonder
eggplant: Black Stem (orange fruit)
                Rosita (pink)
                Thai Green (green)
                Thai Yellow egg (yellow)
gourd: Loofa (vegetable sponge)
            Thai Bottle (used to make containers)
 melon: Ananas D'Amerique
             Tigger
             Valencia Winter melon
             Yellow Canary
pepper: Maule's Red Hot
             Pasilla Bajio (long, brown, mildly hot)
             Thai Yellow Chilli
             Wisconsin Lakes (sweet bell)
summer squash: Rugosa Friulana (wrinkled yellow crookneck)
winter squash: American Tonda (pumpkin)
                         Knife River
                         Musquee de Provence (AKA Cinderella pumpkin)
strawberry: Everbearing
tomato: Black from Tula
             Tigerella
             Silvery Fir Tree
             Purple Russian
             Super Sweet 100 (not an heirloom, I know, but they are delicious)
watermelon: Cream of Saskatchewan (white flesh, short season)
                      Golden Midget (yellow skin, red flesh, personal size)
                      Orangeglo (orange flesh)

flowers: Cosmos
              Marigold
              Sweet Pea
              Zinnia

native fruit trees: American Plum
                              Chokecherry
                              Juneberry

native fruit shrubs: Aronia (chokeberry)
                                 Sand Cherry
                                 Elderberry
                                 Highbush Cranberry

native nut trees: Hazelnut

native ornamentals for pollinators: Lilac
                                                          Shrub Rose (pink)
                                                          Basswood (AKA Linden)
            

Beginnings

As Easter was a fruit day, I decided to sow the seeds of some of the longer season plants I hope to sell in a few months at the Magic Summer Minifarm heirloom bedding plant and native perennial sale June 1 & 2. I sowed 4 heirloom varieties each of eggplant and pepper, 7 tomatoes, 3 wild strawberries, and luffa gourds. I cleaned out the dead and dying lavender and rosemary I was attempting to overwinter in the kitchen after discovering mites on them and  a few whiteflies on my fuchsia. I prefer to avoid excessive insect infestation if I can avoid it. The poor fuchsia is quarantined in the bathtub where I keep forgetting to leave the light on. As a control measure for whiteflies, I sprayed the undersides of the all the leaves with neem oil diluted in water. Next I will prune off any leaves that appear to be harboring juvenile whiteflies, throw them outside in the bitter cold(*), check for more bugs on the other plants, spray neem if necessary, and return the fuchsia to the big kitchen window. I am hoping to avoid the insect problems I had last year at this time. I need a larger growing space. I have been hearing from friends about their high tunnels and their warm, thawed soil, getting a little jealous. Finances permitting, I will probably put in a basic high tunnel this summer to accommodate the developing nursery business and expand the existing growing space.

left-right, top-bottom: Phaelenopsis orchid, Dracaena, Huachuma, Dracaena, fig, fig, coffee, Algerian ivy,  lavender, pitcher plant, tomato trays, aloe

left-right, top-bottom: African violet, African violet, strawberry tray, 3 Cattleya orchids, vanilla orchid, thyme, Hawarthia, Huachuma, starfish flower (Stapelia sp.)

onions, artichoke, luffa gourd, peppers, eggplant, vanilla, future bee bath (shallow dish filled with stones and water--bees can drown easily because the surface tension of water is a challenge for them)

 
(*)Speaking of the bitter cold, I don't actually mind it as much as I mind the more than foot of snow still chilling in the backyard. I made my first trip to the compost pile in months (most of our compost has gone to worms or wildlife since the snow got deep) and it was pretty difficult. The Ojibwe name for March translates to "hard crust on the snow moon," and that hard crust is exactly what I was stomping through to reach the compost pile. The pile is apparently not warm enough to melt the snow on top of it. I haven't had great success with compost so far--still trying to figure out how to mix things in the right ratio to make it cook. One issue may be that I covered the compost pile with a black tarp, and now it is dry because the melting snow can't penetrate the tarp. The microorganisms that help create compost require water for their metabolic processes. Once the snow melts I could replace the tarp with black landscaping fabric to allow moisture in. I might turn the compost, depending on how it looks, and I'll add the biodynamic compost preparations to it either way. Some animal is living (or scavenging) in the compost pile. I saw a mouse- to rat-sized hole dug into the snow on top of the pile. I'm hoping whatever made it hasn't chewed through the tarp, but I'd be surprised if it hasn't. Oh well--this is a learning process and I am still figuring out many things. And at least I still have my awesome gardening job to help support and develop the minifarm while I figure those things out.

MOSES Organic Farming Conference

I went to the MOSES Organic Farming Conference last month for the first time and it was really great! I learned so much! My two favorite classes were "The Art & Science of Organic Seed Production" and "Restoration Agriculture."
 The organic seed production class was extremely helpful for my new interest in seed saving. It saved me at least a year of mistakes because I learned about the population sizes required for adequate genetic diversity in various crops. I also learned that many of the supposed "selfers" --like tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, beans, and peas--are routinely cross-pollinated by insect activity; and that time, distance, and/or physical barriers are required to ensure pure seed even for selfers. I bought so many different varieties of corn in the past few months, and now it seems that for most of them I don't have enough seeds to constitute a proper population size. When growing corn for seed, you want to save seeds from at least 200 plants. But those should be the best 200 plants, so really you should plant at least 400 seeds. What I may end up doing (next year) is trialing all those varieties to see who grows best, and then pray that I'll be able to find enough seeds the following year to grow them out. This year, I plan to grow out the oldest corn seeds I have, which happen to also be the corn that grew best in my work garden last year (Lindsey Meyer blue corn, a stout, super-early, delicious, beautiful heirloom corn that is surprisingly difficult to find). I will also be growing all the Glass Gem corn seeds I have. I picked up some Glass Gem seeds at the Biodynamic Farming Conference seed swap in November. Before I took the seed production class, I gave half of them to a seed saver who had made a very generous donation to our developing Fond du Lac Reservation seed library. But then I was able to purchase a few more Glass Gem seeds from Native Seeds/SEARCH recently. I still don't have 400, but I may try saving the seeds anyway and perhaps try to rejuvenate the gene pool in a year or two by purchasing more Glass Gem seeds and growing them all out. Apparently Glass Gem corn was an internet sensation last year--pictures of the unbelievably beautiful ears went viral and Native Seeds/SEARCH sold out for several months. Google it if you haven't seen this corn yet.
Restoration Agriculture was a class on North American permaculture taught by Mark Shepard, author of a book by the same title. Mark talked about the fact that every other civilization that has relied on annual crops for its main food staples has collapsed. The reason for this is that in order to plant and maintain annual cropping systems you have to destroy ecosystems. This destruction leads to other problems, like decreased biodiversity, erosion, and loss of fertility. Annual systems are also less productive than perennial ones, and they require infinitely more work. Mark advocates replicating the oak savanna that once dominated the area now known as the United States, planting tall nut trees (oak, pinyon pine, chestnut), shorter fruit trees or sugar maples (apple, apricot, pear, cherry, plum), vines (grapes, passion fruit, hardy kiwis) and fruit- and nut-producing shrubs (hazelnut, sand cherries, chokeberries, Juneberries, brambles). For a groundcover, you can use mushrooms, medicinal perennial herbs, asparagus, strawberries, etc.  This is an intermixed, multi-story system that replicates Nature. And in a younger system, you can grow annuals between rows of perennials to increase the variety of food produced, make use of the space, and/or feed livestock. He has a maintenance plan that even my husband can follow. He calls it STUN: sheer, total, utter neglect. Mr. Shepard suggests that we plant way too many trees and shrubs, and let Nature select the best ones. While we may not plan to "STUN" our plants, it is effectively what happens sometimes when life gets in the way and we fail to pay as much attention to the garden as we may plan to initially. Mark also discussed the importance of water management using a keyline system to direct all the water that enters the farm in a very intentional manner. His aim is to cycle all water that comes to his farm either through crops or livestock. This system requires some technical assistance and professional measurements, but it should eliminate or at least significantly reduce the need for irrigation. Taking that class and reading the book makes me feel like I am on the right track with Magic Summer Minifarm by planting so many trees and shrubs last year (with at least twice as many more coming in May!!!). One thing that definitely needs improvement is the multi-story aspect of the minifarm's permaculture plantings. I plan to amend it this year by training grapes onto the American plums and planting a wild strawberry groundcover. Also I need to do the keyline water management system to capture more water for the dry sandy soil. I really can't wait to get started!

an abundance of seeds

I have been buying seeds like a maniac lately and now have far too many to be able to plant all of them this year. I admit I did get sucked in to the 2012 doomsday hype a little, and felt I should be at least somewhat prepared for a societal collapse or other disaster. I have also been searching hard for Ojibwe heirloom crops for work and for the community I live in, for my husband's tribe. I have been thinking quite a bit about seed saving, and preserving crops for war-torn countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, as well as traditional indigenous crops that are becoming rare. For some reason the word "rare" seems to be a cue for me to click on "add to cart." I guess that's not a bad thing. I will take care of the seeds, propagate them, and distribute them to other seed savers, so they are certainly in good hands. Inexperienced hands with good intentions, anyway. Actually, I have been advised by more experienced seed savers to buy what I can of the rare seeds because they will not always be available. I joined Seed Savers Exchange, which comes with the added benefit of access to the Seed Savers Yearbook, an enormous catalog of seed savers across the world (but mostly in the USA) offering thousands of rare varieties. Unfortunately I haven't been able to use my 10% membership discount with Seed Savers Exchange much because I have found that I'm more interested in the seeds offered by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and I have purchased the majority of my seeds from them. I have also found some gems sold by Turtle Tree Biodynamic Seeds, Trade Winds Fruit, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Native Seeds/SEARCH, the  Museum of the Fur Trade, and Renee's Garden. I feel like the $35 membership fee is worth it just for the access to the Seed Savers Yearbook, though. In browsing the yearbook I'm drawn to anything with Ohio in the name (Ohio Pole Beans, Ohio Cutshort Beans, Ohio Calico Corn, Ohio Pink Tomato, Ohio Blue Clarage Corn...) probably because I'm homesick. I am also drawn to purple or blue vegetables, pretty dry beans, varieties from the northern Native American tribes, endangered varieties, and novelties. It can get expensive fast, though, especially for "unlisted" members who don't have any seeds listed for sale. For example, one packet of corn, with around 50 seeds, costs $5 for unlisted members.
Since I have encountered a dearth of Ojibwe heirloom varieties, I have been seeking out seeds of the crops grown by their neighbors, like the Mandans, Arikaras, Hidatsas, Lakotas, Menominees, Oneidas, and Ho'Chunk, and their relatives the Potawatomis, Odawas, Lenape (Delaware), and Algonquians. Also, since climate change research suggests that Minnesota summers are becoming hotter and dryer, I want to trial some dry farming techniques from the southwestern tribes. The Hopi techniques are particularly unusual to me. They entail very deep planting of many corn seeds in one 12-inch hole. I want to plant the seeds of plants who have grown this way successfully, so I want to use Hopi corn for this experiment. I think I already expressed my excitement for the success I had with Hidatsa Red beans in the 2012 growing season. They are amazingly drought tolerant, prolific, and low-maintenance, and they matured faster than any other beans I grew. I'm hoping the beans from the Hidatsas' allies, the Arikaras and Mandans, are just as rugged.
I started saving seeds last year but I meant to save a lot more. I learned quite a bit about seed saving, though, so I certainly feel more prepared. I bought corn condoms so I can grow several varieties and hand pollinate them. I will also be twistie tying Curcurbit blossoms to hand pollinate those. I can't wait...

and here comes the tundra

The hard freeze came to my neighborhood a few hours after I got home from the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association's Sacred Agriculture conference and visiting friends and fam for Thanksgiving. The temperatures dipped down around 0F. That was disappointing because I didn't get a chance to harvest everything I could have, plant the rest of my tulips and camassia, or mow the future bee forage area. At least there is snow to insulate all the new perennial additions to our homestead from the harsh Minnesota winter.

At work I became an official University of Minnesota Master Gardener. State Master Gardener director Julie Weisenhorn drove up to Fond du Lac Reservation to give my cohorts and me our name tags, certificates, calendars, and some huge, beautiful, red velvet cupcakes! We completed our training earlier this year and then racked up 50 or more volunteer hours each by planting culturally significant plants with clients and staff at an addiction treatment center, assembling plant identification cards for Ojibwe ethnobotanicals, and creating a 4H garden and holding junior master gardener classes at a local community center. I've been wanting to become a master gardener for a long time, but haven't really lived in any place long enough to take the classes and volunteer and all that until now.

So now that it's cold outside I'm focusing on the indoor garden. I have amassed some pretty cool plants this year with my extra income, like a Vanilla orchid, coffee, figs, several Cattleya orchids, and a tea tree. I've had a bit of trouble with the tea tree because of an assumption I should not have made. I figured tea trees prefer dry conditions because they are from Australia. But they actually live in swampy areas in Australia, which I learned a few days ago after I came home from my vacation to find my little guy's leaves all shriveled and dry. He was even infested with mites, which is rare for tea trees because the oils they produce are fairly strong and repellent to most insects/arthropods. My tea tree must have been under quite a bit of stress. I feel bad but now I know how to take care of him a little better and hopefully he will grow back soon. To make use of my mistake, I trimmed off all of the branches with dead leaves and I'm currently infusing some grapeseed oil with them. I rinsed the mites off, but if any were remaining the grapeseed oil would have smothered them. And I'll strain them out later, before I use the infused oil to make salve.  Mites are hard to get rid of, and with a large plant collection where many plants are touching or close, they can spread fast. You can physically remove the mites or at least keep their numbers low by spraying regularly with lukewarm water (spray them in the shower once a month or so--and turn the leaves over to get those creepers hiding out on the bottom). You can also cut off the affected plant parts, kill the mites with neem oil, or smother them with horticultural oil.
My biggest insect problem in the house at the moment, and probably since we moved in, is with fungus gnats. They are small flies, about the same size as vinegar flies (AKA fruit flies, the ones that hang around your dirty dishes, recyclables, or compost) but less robust and darker. They don't do much harm, they are just annoying. Their maggots live in soil and consume dead and decaying matter, including plant roots. They persist in large numbers around our house, alighting on the television at night and swarming the windows in the morning. They are attracted to yellow things, just like other common greenhouse pests like whiteflies and aphids. So you can make a simple trap by spreading something sticky on a yellow piece of paper and hanging it or staking it near your plants. I use Tanglefoot, which is an inexpensive natural product made of gum resins and vegetable wax. It is messy to apply because you want to cover as much as you can on both sides (or tape it to a window) and it is quite sticky. I spread it with a compostable knife so I could just toss it in the compost afterward. Another option for controlling fungus gnats, which I haven't tried yet, would be to make a Bt (Bacillus thurengiensis) soil drench. Bt is a bacterium that is ingested by immature insects that kills them. There are three different strains, and each one is specific to a different order of insects. Bt israelensis kills flies and is the active ingredient in some mosquito dunks. Bt kurstaki kills caterpillars, and Bt popilliae kills beetles.
I read on the Perelandra website (www.perelandra-ltd.com) about the cycles of energy that occur with the changing of the seasons. Machaelle has a special relationship with her garden and she says that she marks the exact moments of the equinoxes and solstices with a simple ritual like lighting a candle. She says the garden cycle starts in the fall, when the plan for the next growing season forms, and it solidifies at the winter solstice. The plan is put into action at the spring equinox, and it comes to fruition at the summer solstice. After reading that (well, what she wrote is much more poignant), I decided to start acknowledging the passing of the seasons by being present and awake. This year that means waking up at 5:00am on what could be a very important solstice.  I will also hold off on developing any sort of plan for the garden and homestead until after the winter solstice when the devas who care for the plants will have their own plan, which I hope they will share with me.

Siberian squill

A few weeks ago I had this intense introduction to Siberian squill, a very hardy, early spring flower. I had been reading the book, "Attracting Native Pollinators," which recommends planting Siberian squill for native bees foraging in early spring. Its vibrant blue flowers are a great source of pollen, and observers will see bees carrying the blue pollen from the flowers in their pollen baskets and scobae. Siberian squill is extremely hardy and can survive in zone 2 (-50F)! I found Siberian squill on sale online so I promptly purchased 200 bulbs for my yard. Then I googled Siberian squill to learn more about it. I found an entry on www.minnesotawildflowers.info that calls Siberian squill invasive and advises readers to eradicate it! The website claims Siberian squill spreads rapidly and crowds out native wildflowers, and is therefore undesirable. Other folks say it forms a beautiful blue, ephemeral carpet of flowers over decades, that it is a welcome sight after a long winter, and that all traces of Siberian squill are gone by the end of May.
So I decided to go ahead and plant the Siberian squill I ordered this afternoon. I certainly don't want to propagate problematic plants, but to me the potential benefits of planting Siberian squill far outweigh the risks. Just in case, though, I decided to plant the bulbs in the gravelly, sandy, nutrient-poor fill dirt surrounding our house. That way its vigorous tendencies will be curbed a bit. I am definitely looking forward to seeing those pretty blue flowers popping up in the frozen Minnesota March and watching all the visitors who will come to visit them!

catharsis

The garden is so beautiful as the gladiolas and cosmos continue to bloom and the gorgeous sunflowers come into their full glory. Many of the squash plants succumbed to powdery mildew but even in their decay they look pretty in contrast with the green hues of their neighbors. I didn't do anything to combat the powdery mildew because it is usually not a serious problem. I have heard, though, that milk can help to curb the spread of powdery mildew. Baking soda is also commonly recommended for powdery mildew control. Despite the proximity of the infected squash vines to the ageratum plants I am growing for varietal research for the University of Minnesota (they are the purple flowers on the right center of the second picture), the ageratum has not been infected at all. This is good news for the proprietors of Aloha Blue, Blue Mink, Pink Mink, Blue Planet, and Fields Blue ageratum.

Six watermelons live in the garden, and three are as large as basketballs! Those three are a heritage variety called Moon and Stars. I am so impressed with the beauty and size of these watermelons that I would like to continue growing them indefinitely. That is, as long as they taste good! I haven't tasted them yet because I want to pick them at the perfect time. There are three indicators of watermelon ripeness that I know of. One is that the blossom end (the end furthest from the stem) blushes yellow. Another is that the curly tendril on the vine near the stem will turn brown. Also, when tapped, the watermelon makes a hollow sound like a drum. So far the Moon and Stars watermelons meet only one of these criteria (the hollow sound). The top photo was taken about a month ago and this watermelon has grown even bigger since then (I'm not exaggerating when I say it's as big as a basketball).

I put my rain barrel in a rather inconvenient place, next to a clump of stinging nettles. I was trying to move it when I noticed a couple of insects hanging out on the nettles. If you are not familiar with stinging nettles (Urtica dioica), it is a plant in the mint family that will make your skin burn anywhere it touches you. Stinging nettles are one of the biodynamic compost preparations. They are high in iron and will increase the iron content of your compost if you add them to the pile (wear thick gloves!). The biodynamic preparation is made by burying nettles in the ground for several months. As I tried to move the full rain barrel to move the spigot away from the nettles I noticed a tough, spiky, goth-looking caterpillar chomping away on the leaves. I was impressed with what a bad ass this guy was, and then I saw a grasshopper chomping away on a neighboring stinging nettle plant. I reluctantly conceded that my sworn adversary is also quite the bad ass. This grasshopper and I "had a moment together" and I decided to stop killing its kind. Humans can eat stinging nettles too, but we need to cook them first. This apparently takes away the sting.

I have heard from some of the elders on the reservation that our yard was once occupied by a car mechanic. He made a really nice garage with an oil change pit basement and a drive-through stall, but he also used to store cars in the back yard on their sides. One elder used to have tomato fights with a friend as a boy, using tomatoes from a neighbor's yard and shielding himself behind the upturned cars. I wouldn't be surprised if some of those cars are now buried under the garden. Every time it rains, I find more glass in the soil. I also find random pieces of rusty metal from time to time. I'm not especially worried about this since I am using biodynamics to help heal the soil, and I know that the soil will always have enough iron in it!

I started making lip balm this week using some of the herbs from the garden. There are a few upcoming events where I will have an opportunity to sell my wares. I have been wanting to make a cold sore-fighting lip balm for years now and I finally learned how to make lip balm a couple of months ago. It's actually pretty easy. I used olive oil and beeswax as a base and added antiviral superstars ginger, licorice, goldenseal, and lemon balm. Fortunately I don't need to test its efficacy, but now I have a new line of defense and I'm excited for that. I'm also excited to share it with others who may find it helpful. Other products I will have for sale include catmint cat toys, reusable cloth maxipads, herb bunches, several varieties of winter squash, flower bouquets, and chocolate mint lip balm. I would like to find a product that works and sells well, and narrow my focus a bit to increase the quality and quantity of what I produce. Currently I'm in the trial and error stage, but fortunately I still have a job outside the home.

best raspberries growing out of cement

A walk around the garage yesterday revealed an exciting crop of wild (?) raspberries growing on the north side of the garage (with 4-ft tall stinging nettles!) and through a crack in the cement in front of the older side stall. There are other wild raspberries growing under a stand of mature pine trees, plus some more that grew out of a wood and trash pile back where I planted some bare root raspberry plants that haven't fruited. Those others have small fruits, though, and these ones growing by the garage have big, juicy, luscious fruits on them. I put a question mark on wild up on that first sentence because of the size of these raspberries. Whatever they are, they're impressively persistent. They have been sending up shoots inside the garage as well.

I'm working on pulling up more grass in the garden today, harvesting my peas finally, and putting in a fall crop of carrots, spinach, kale, and romanesco broccoli. I still haven't gotten around to mycoremediating the soil in front of the house with the oyster mushroom spawn. I guess I should get on it soon or I'll have to wait until next year. I harvested a reishi mushroom from my Fungi Perfecti indoor mushroom kit. More are growing.
I want to cultivate those outside too. I need to do more research on that first.

how my garden grows

It rained today for the first time in over a week, and like most areas of the United States, northern Minnesota has been rather hot as of late. Still, miraculously, the majority of the plants in my garden show no signs of water stress. I credit this to evening shade and tough love. I have found that most plants adapt to a lack of supplemental water, and that if watered too often, plants will begin to depend on it and wilt if the watering isn't kept up. Our high temperatures have remained in the double digits, so that has certainly helped as well. There were some casualties, though. Some of the peas died, and the rosemary I overwintered from last year and recently replanted in the garden is looking pretty bad, and a couple of the hardy kiwis (including the only male) have lost all their leaves to drought. Perhaps the rain falling now will bring the kiwis back (they seem to be rather tough--the ones I planted at work have survived trampling and neglect) and the rosemary.

I harvested two sunflower seed heads yesterday after working on staving off the invading grass. I saw some bees crawling all over the yellow wood sorrel (Oxalis stricta) flowers so I decided to let them remain in the garden. The peas are finally starting to form. The plants are growing so tall and erect, full of pretty white flowers.

The grasshoppers are abundant again this year. At first they weren't so bad, and the crows were showing up to eat them regularly (hopefully they still are--I just haven't noticed any). Then they started eating stuff I don't want them to eat. They have nibbled my rhubarb and turmeric down to nothing, they have bitten half-moons into many of the gladioli, and they have probably finished off my last remaining chamomile plant by now. Something--I'm not sure what--has eaten two of my rosemary plants entirely. I didn't think anything would eat rosemary.
I sprayed the biodynamic preparation 502  on the garden a couple of weeks ago. 502 is supposed to help plants maximize the energy they absorb from the sun, and it can be used to regenerate leaf damage. I was hoping it would give the watermelon radishes and red Russian kale the boost they need to stay alive after a brutal attack from the grasshoppers. Their frass (droppings) are visibly littered all around what is left of the poor plants. I don't notice much of a difference, but I remain hopeful they will pull through (um, long enough for me to eat them...)

The garden truly does feel magic this summer. I love having so much space and freedom to help facilitate the creation of this beautiful, edible landscape, and I feel energized by it and lucky to be its caretaker.