harvests

i was out running some errands today that took me out to the suburban/rural nexus...

i saw crops in the fields...nothing unusual about that this time of year...

and fields that have been harvested...

as well as those in the process of being brought in...and what, i wonder, is powering that combine? diesel fuel? gasoline? ethanol? whichever it is it is buring carbon..and fossil fuels planted the crop and petrochemicals fertilized it and did in the "weeds" and the "pests" that tried to makle a living in the field...

and when the combine is full it will disgorge its contnents into this truck which will use fossil fuels to haul it to a grain elevator...and when it is sold on the mercantile exchange in chicago it will be loaded onto a train or semis to go off for what? to feed cattle with acidosis in a cafo? or be fermented into ethanol to fuel more emissions? or for extruded hot pockets and a raft of processed foods including high fructose corn syrup to fuel diabetes? who knows...dense yellow # 2 is a commodity...it could end up as anything...even beer...

and on the way home i was stopped by a train...two engines ( burning diesel to generate electricty for the motors ) and two hundred and twenty-six cars of shipping containers full of vital consumer goods...stuff...and car carriers full of cars ( there goes some ethanol ) to carry it home ( or to storage ) in...humans are such habitual creatures...things are heating up and we either don't notice or are in a deep state of denial about our activities ( and yes i was driving and burning carbon...i am not innocent )...we probably won't really notice until it is far too late...i planted a mooseberry bush yesterday...i wonder if it will be able to handle the climate.

frostbite falls comes to my yard

fedex brought me a big box today with a reasonably immoblized mooseberry bush in it...

so i picked out a likely spot and dug a hole deeper than his roots...

unwrapped the aforementioned roots...shaking off the moss they were wrapped in to let him know it was okay to expand them in spring...

and planted him...

backfilling the hole with compost and some earthworms i disturbed during the digging...but we were not done just yet...

gave the roots a shot of water to make sure they stayed moist...

put a wire cage around him...

then went downstairs and got some straw from this year's wheat/rye harvest and mulched him to 1.) keep him comfortable in the cold to come and, 2.)...

to keep him under wraps so these two cannot get their hands on a key ingredient in grandma mooses fudge cake/rocket fuel recipe

october seeds

it is mid october and there has been a low that hit freezing a couple of nights ago...and still there are green zea mexicana ears that are tightly wrapped in stems and green husks...

others that have separated and are moving towards maturity...

some have been thoroughly browsed...

and some have opned and shattered...or been harvested...

the teosinte plant in the center of this photo...

has rendered me three hundred and forty-two seeds of various colors and sizes...the darker seeds would seem to have more endosperm ( they sink in the hydrogen peroxide when i break domancy...the lighter ones float ) and germinate more readily than the lighter colored ones ( although about two thirds of the lighter colors germinate as well...at least last time i measured that )...

that three hundred and forty-two includes the the nine seeds i got from the last unshattered ear i could find on the plant today...along with the seeds i have harvested from the other plants i have better than a thousand at the moment with, hopefully, more on the way...some will join last year's in the freezer...some will be kept out to germinate in spring for next season's crop...it has been a fair year for zea out back...

there are seeds coming along on the field peas as well...they seem to have weathered the recent cold alright and the temperatures are forecast to moderate...they may make it yet.

harvest with a purpose

it's october and the jerusalem artichokes...

have pretty much died back...

so i cut them down to neaten things up a bit ( and found anothe gourd on the vine while i was at it )...

i dug a shallow trench down the center of the bed...

and retrieved eighty odd tubers ( doubtlessly there are many i missed )...

of various shapes and sizes...

which i put in a bucket and covered with compost to preserve them for another attempt at rewilding the plants in any suitable location i can find...

the disjected aerial bulbs from the egyptian walking onions i found...

i moved to a new bed along with the ones that had already rooted in the path of the trench i was digging in the sunchoke bed...i have an abundance of onions...very strong onions...both in growth tenacity and flavor...

the onions and the sweet clover were not intimidated by the jerusalem artichokes shading behaviors...they are still abundant in the bed...

as are the new york import strawberries...relentless in their own right...

the chinese yam that cropped up after a dormant year had a fair season, vining and producine its own areial bulbs...some have found the soil...we will see what comes up ( if anything...they seem picky about conditions ) in the spring...next up, cleaning the ramp bed.