A project I’ve been involved in for well over a decade is something I call guerilla gardening. It consists of helping to spread the growth of edible wild (and not so wild) plants on undeveloped and vacant land. These aren’t gardens I spend hours daily or weekly weeding. Instead it’s more along the lines of finding good habitat for specific plant that’s useful to me and transplanting it or planting seeds there. Once established the plants grow without any help from me, and I can come back and harvest them when they’re ready.
A specific example is jerusalem artichokes, a perennial sunflower with an edible, tuberous root, that I’ve been working with for ten years. I use it on my land as part of my edible landscaping system, but I also transplant it in places where I think it will thrive. I’ve got a number of different patches I harvest now both near the field school and further afield. I’m also always looking for places for a new patch. The key is knowing the plant and being able to identify habitats where it will do well.
In addition to planting things in the field, I also harvest wild plants in the field and transplant them at the field school. Because they’re already growing wild in the area, I know these plants will do fine with the climate and soil conditions. They’re also usually much hardier than domesticated plants with regard to insects.
Gardens don’t have to be rectangular plots of land laid out in rows. This approach is another way of working with the land to increase the amount of usable flora, and is a great compement to an annual vegetable garden.
Even thought the days are still short and the snow is piled deep over the garden, it won’t be long before it’s time to start seedlings in preparation for the growing season. I’m putting in several fruit trees this year, as well as expanding the number of edible perennials we grow.
GALA is putting together a bulk seed and tuber order from FEDCO so if you’re in the area and are thinking of getting some seeds, do it with us and save money!
From the GALA blog:
Do you want to learn how to save money and strengthen community? Buy in bulk! Pooling resources so that everyone benefits is an age old principle of cooperative communities. What better commodity to organize around than seeds – the essence of life! I invite people to joing me in making a bulk seed order now with a company I have been using for a long time now – FEDCO seeds. I have only one catalog but am happy to share it, or you can go to the web site www.fedcoseeds.com, look through the online catalog, print an order sheet . . (or sheets, because you order seeds on one sheet, tubers on another, and books/supplies on another), fill it in and get that to me by January 31. Or you can call FEDCO (207-873-7333) and order a catalog to be mailed to you.
I find it helpful to have other seed catalogs nearby as I look through the FEDCO catalog. The artwork in the FEDCO catalog is wonderful, but if you are not sure of a new plant or flower or haven’t seen the variety listed in the catalog, there is little visual help for you from FEDCO (Burpees, Johnnys, Territorial all have lovely pictures of perfect plants).
Once I have the orders tallied, then I can figure out the discount we will get and tell each person how much s/he owes. I send in the check and the orders and they will be mailed by FEDCO to me. We can have a potluck get-together to distribute orders and/or share/split orders or seed envelopes (or you can just pick your order up at our house at your leisure). Sounds like a Seed Party to me! Looking forward to hearing from you, please email me at: balcad@metrocast.net.
Barbara
In 2008 we’re officially adding a homesteading and organic gardening component to our programs. it’s nothing new; for ten semester programs, our students have played an active role in living sustainably on the land. But now we’re making it a formal part of the semester experience. Students will have garden space to grow some of their own food during the semester, and we’ll be including more sustainability workshops as part of the semester program curriculum.
Our growing philosophy focuses on edible perennials and an annual vegetable garden.
Our reason for doing this is that a program focusing on traditional human interaction with the natural world can’t, in good conscience, ignore the realities of food production and it’s relevance to modern life. More details on these aspect of the program will follow soon.
After a weekend of solid rain that included a birthday party for my 3-year-old son, a cold front came through last night and today is crisp, clear and windy. A perfect morning to weed the garden. Everything I put in this year is doing well, and all the rain has things growing at a fast pace. The strawberries are in full bloom, and the raspberries are starting to flower. Fruits follow the flowers, so it won’t be long until they’re forming. The vegetables are similarly doing well. I’ve got a bunch of chickweed growing in one of the beds, but instead of fighting it as a weed I’m eating it as a vegetable. That’s part of my philosophy of gardening – to eat what comes in rather than label it as a weed and fight it.
I’ve been changing our video page around a little, changing the name of our show to Jack Mountain Bushcraft Journal and consolidating everything into one channel and rss feed. As the summer course gets going I’m planning on adding new video regularly, as well as get some of our older videos on the web. So stay tuned for more as it’s coming soon.
Yesterday at dusk I took my wife and son out in the canoe for the first time this year. We paddled along the edge of the pond and watched the smallmouth bass who are up the beds this time of year. We paddled into the lagoon at the end of the lake and spooked a snapping turtle, who slid into the water and slowly swam into the weeds to avoid us. Then we paddled down to the beach and my son ran and played in the cold water, but it didn’t bother him.
I’ve been busy in the garden getting fruits and perennials ready for the growing season. Yesterday I put some asparagus crowns into a raised bed and watered the new strawberry patch. The rhubarb is coming up nicely, and the areas around the garden are littered with the scat of the porcupines who have been eating the clover at night. I’ll put the annual vegetables in soon. For the time being, there are plenty of dandelion greens and chickweed to eat.
At the urging of my brother I changed all the text fonts on our website in order to make it easier on the eyes. Let me know if you like it better or worse.
The ice went out on the pond yesterday. After the torrential rains, we’re having a stretch of nice weather. Today is supposed to be around 80 degrees, which will melt some of pile of snow that slid off the roof of the barn. I’ve got some blueberry bushes, strawberries, grapes and asparagus to get in the ground, but I’m going to give it another day or two because it was frozen just a few days ago. I’m going to try some lasagna beds this year – our soil is sandy and quick to drain, and the heavy mulch on top should help it to hold more water. It’s an exciting time, with new growth ready to explode. I’m really looking forward to some fresh fruits and vegetables.
I picked up a copy of the newly-published “New Hampshire Gardener’s Companion” last week at our local bookstore, The Country Bookseller. I’d heard about the book a few months ago and have been looking forward to reading it. It’s part of a series of state-specific gardening books written with the climate, soil and general conditions in mind. When I first opened it I picked up a tip that was new to me; if you rent a rototiller, always wash the blades to make sure you’re not bringing someone else’s weeds and plant diseases into your garden. It makes perfect sense, but I had never considered it before. With that bit of knowledge now registering in my mind I felt I had made a good purchase. I’ve since read the rest of the book and picked up a few other tips, as well as improved my general knowledge on gardening. It’s designed for the beginner and the author does a good job in not talking over their heads. That being said, my guess is that even the seasoned gardener would get something out of reading it.
My main reason for getting a copy was to learn more about the soils of New Hampshire, and the book didn’t disappoint me. It has an entire section devoted to soil conditions of the state.
I’m planning on building some new raised beds next year and this book has given me some great ideas for them.
