it has been above freezing for a few days here so ithought it might be a good time to try to recover some jerusalem artichokes...forty-three days hve passed since the last time i could get at them...my storage system needs tweaking...i would like to find a system that allows me somewhat more consistent acess not dependent on the weather...a rudimantary root cellar has appeal and i am looking at various types i could use...the biggest issue with jerusalem artichokes is that they will shrivel in a dry environment...so thet msut be kept moist or frozen...burying them is the most convenient way of doing that ( for me ) so it will have to be in ground...i am thinking along the lines of a compartmentalized trench ( rather than just chucking them in the ground ) that will keep them in soil and frozen above the frost line, but will allow the removal of cubes of frozen soil to be thawed inside and used as desired..summer will allow time to develop a prototype and next season can be the test lab... i tapped into a vein that seemed to conatain a large number of smaller tubers so i brought in about one hundred and fifty of them...they filled the sink this time...but it took me an hour and fifteen minutes to peel the little devils..i will be frying them in canola oil at lunch to serve as a side dish for something or other ( photos later)...i still have around five hundred of these to utilize before they begin to infest my back yard with new plants...i have planted eighteen of them in known spots as it is...which should yield more tha a thousand tubers if the condidtions are good, i don't need volunteers...along with the ten or so plants in the garden on campus the second generation of sunchokes seems promising.
the campus garden has begun to emerge form the snow...the mulching has held up as well as it did last season so the yams and asparagus should be good to go...the mulch comes off at the end of next month...the teosinte goes in...spring wheat sometime in april...and then the annual root crops...i weary of being inactive beyond the apple trees ( i've lost one and another never really started after i germinated...that leaves ten doing well...photos and an update later this weekend) and am ready for the season to start...it will be good to DO something beyond planning and reading...this stuff is addictive.
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