sunchokes

well folks...that photo represents the last of the jerusalem artichokes i found after going back and gleaning all the trenches i dug in the fall to use for storage...doubtlessly i missed a few and i expect volunteers next month...i will cull them, but if they are not in an awkward place i will let them stand and deliver more tubers for the next harvest...so...was this a success? from the standpoint of the tubers surviiving the winter in an edible condition it was...but that could hardly have failed since they winter over to grow the next generation of plants anyway...just used a natural process and that was pretty much a no-brainer...if that were the only issue involved here there would be no real reason to harvest the tubers from the parent plant root system on anything but an "as needed" basis...clearly my experience this winter has shown that access is the key...if jerusalem artichokes are going to become anything like a perennial staple ( and they could be) you need to get at them when things are frozen rock-hard...so my storage technology has to evolve beyond digging a hole and hoping for a thaw...a few ideas are percolating through my aged synapses and they still involve in-ground storage...nobody that i can find is writing much about sunchoke storage beyond "they can be frozen and stored indefinitly"...yeah..i know...but i don't have a freezer large enough to hold what i plan to grow...so this fall i will again harvest and centrally collect the tubers to freeze naturally in soil...that soil will simply have to be in some sort of container that has yet to be defined so they can be brought indoors in batches to thaw, utilize, and return the soil to the beds...what those cantainers may be constructed from and how many i have yet to decide...that's the way my thoughts are running right now...tweak the natural system to my advantage...the story of agriculture so far...who am i to run counter to ten thousand years of experience?