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Earth Gardens: Edible-Medicinal-Wild Habitats (Permaculture Network)

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Earth Gardens: Edible-Medicinal-Wild Habitats (Permaculture Network)

Network-People Caring for the Earth, Sharing Knowledge, Creating Work-Exchanges & Event, Learning from the Earth, Studying Ecology, Bio-Dynamics, Indigenous Wisdom, Organic, Sustainable, & Permaculture methods & applying

Location: Cascadia Bioregion - Bellingham & Beyond
Members: 213
Latest Activity: Jan 4

Welcome Earth Garden Friends! . .New members enjoy listening in & reading our current discussions & comments.

Together we are working towards Ecological Restoration 

 and Local Nourishment In Our Community & Homes.

 -  * Creating Edible Forest Gardens  * -

 All are Invited to be a Community Volunteer at many of the home-garden work-groups & work-parties.

 

Earth Gardens...Network: People Caring for the Earth, Sharing Knowledge, Creating Work-Exchanges & Events; Learning from the Earth, Studying Ecology, Bio-Dynamics, Indigenous Wisdom, Organic, Sustainable, & Permaculture methods & applying this to our local communities. 

 

Info/Resources for New & Seasoned Member, please review this Discussion:

http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/group/organic/forum/topics/member-info-events-links

 

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All are invited to receive an excellent locally relevant email
called "Garden E-News
", that is compiled & created with volunteer time by Shannon Maris.   Each email contains a current list of the many local garden activities & work-parties that our local community creates.   Pass on your event or info to her & request it be included in her next email.

  -  See You in the Garden or Around the Fire Circle! . . . . . . (HK 12/13/10)

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Comment by Cindi Landreth on October 9, 2009 at 3:07pm
Hello everybody
I was sent this as a friendly reminder and thought you all might appreciate the heads up: (Thanks, Chuck)

So I'm emailing y'all because it supposed to get real cold at night on Friday, Saturday, and especially Sunday. So be sure to:

*Bring in all your houseplants, orchids, CYMBIDIUMS(!), and tender plants,
*Put your outdoor containers and hanging baskets in the garage for the night,
*Water your new plantings, or plants that you haven't watered for a while,
BUT WATER THE GROUND NOT THE FOLIAGE!
*At night you can cover your tomatoes or other annuals like impatiens, marigolds, petunias, etc. with frost blanket or plastic or something to insulate them from the drop in temperature.
*Or bring in all your green tomatoes and set them indoors in the dark to ripen - it will work for a lot of them.
*Also, pick all of your beans, basil, dill, peppers and other "tender" veggies cuz the frost will nail them.

Hope this helps and stay warm!
Cheers, Chuck
Comment by David Culver on October 1, 2009 at 9:15am
When I was younger, my mother cooked Lima beans for dinner and I never liked them. They were just basically steamed. All of this talk about Fava beans makes me think that maybe they are different from Lima Beans. Do you all have suggestions for recipes that use Fava beans that you really like?

I am looking forward to having a garden next year and would love to grow Fava beans if I can find a way to cook them that I really like. Who has a killer Fava bean recipe?

Thanks to all for your help. See you at the feast and tonight at BUF.
David
Comment by Heather K on September 30, 2009 at 8:46pm
Hey David P - Re the beans- even in a small garden, beans are worth their space since they can be used as a cover crop during vegi rotations to build the soil tilth.....If you have a special strain of dried beans it can be helpful to grow them not only for the nitrogen they fix in the soil (with the bacteria near their roots), but for preserving the biodiversity in the DNA of their seeds and sharing with others.
The type of dried beans I grow tend to be the ones you can also eat green and will grow will up a pole or grow verticle with rough staking. Currently my favorites are some fava beans that can be planted in the fall and survive the winter as a cover crop, and then produce beans later. It is also possible on a garden-scale to interplant your beans with leafy crops that can tolerate a little shade that the tall growing beans provide. One of the best plans for efficient use of space is to intercrop species by combining long-term growing crops with short-term growing crops, and using techniques of inter-planting & plant-successions. My favorite book on learning about this is an old 1980's "Getting the Most from Your Garden - Using Advanced Intensive Gardening Techniques" -ISBN # 0-87857-291-0 It may still be out of print but its a great book. see chapters 5 & 6.

Walter, I wonder if we have an online site yet that lists which dried beans & grains our local growers are growing or selling....Too bad lentils don't like our cool weather cause I like quick cooking earthy lentils....

Re Slugs - Walter, I think we could start a whole discussion on 'Slug Management' through a discussion thread on this group site.....I prefer to avoid killing any earth creatures, even if they are in my garden as they are all part of the web-of-life balance...I would encourage folks after they pluck the slugs from their garden to take a short walk to a wild field and relocate them there...It works for me, as long as they don't craw out my bucket while I'm plucking & walking....I also have observed that my gardens will evolve into a peaceful co-existence a small slug population as long as I don't introduce some aggressive slugs that often arrive either through nursery bought plants or through a friends plant....Some folks like the Sluggo product that is made from minerals.

Harvest Full Moon rising up soon on Sunday Oct 4th...it will look big Sat & Mon pm too if clouds clear...
Comment by Heather K on September 30, 2009 at 8:45pm
Re Edible Perennials & Medicinals: If anyone is interested in initiating a Fall Perennial-VegiVegi/medicinal Plant Swap or sale that would be great!...

Jerusalem artichokes are a great perennial crop to grow and extra yummy when baked, but raw in salad is healthy too....A few of us just got our first starts of 'Good King Henry', a perennial vegi. Great book for learning unusual perennial vegis is: "Perennial Vegetables" by Eric Toensmeier, who is also the co-author of one of my favorite books "Edible Forest Gardens -Vol I & II "

Matthew VanBoven's Feral Farm down in Skagit county would be a great place to go for a work-party and tour of his many perennial vegi's integrated into a Forest-Garden....Going there is on the wish-list-to-do-list of a handful of us permiculturist type gardeners.
David Sansone's non-profit Perennial Harvest, has written a condensed pamphlet on Edible Forest Gardening that includes a list of the many edible perennial plant species. One possible online source might be at: http://www.oly-wa.us/Terra/Sansone.php
To be inspired to plant edible plant-guilds or mini-edible-forest-gardens in urban settings, be sure to learn what Olympia resident are doing working with Terra Commons : http://www.oly-wa.us/Terra/
I am a big fan of our local Cloud Mt. Nursery! Both they & Bakerview often have the largest selection of edible perennial shrubs & trees in our area. I have some seaberry shrubs growing in pots now that are fruiting. Sam Benowitz's nursery down in Morton, - 'Raintree Nursery' - http://www.raintreenursery.com/ - is one of the best for broad selection of edibles. Our local nurseries often order from them or from 'One Green World Nursery'. You Do want to phone Raintree up now and request to receive a catalog for your "plant dreaming reference book".
If anyone plans to journey down to Raintree (southeast of Olympia) I sure would like to car/truck pool down together and bring some tree & shrubs back.

I'll be planting some more elderberries this fall. I enjoy harvesting the dark berries, and I'm currently looking for a neglected Blue Elderberry plants ( Sambucas caerulea) that now have medicinal berries ripening. They are easier to identify now since the berries are blue with a white bloom over them. I have some soaking in honey and sure would like to preserve more.
Let me know if anyone spots a healthy shrub somewhere in the county or town...the last one I saw was on Kitsap peninsula.

Walter - welcome to our dialogues- we need your perspective as a local grower here and your willingness to speak out!
(And welcome new members - Brian & Teresa & more! If your email box gets too full you can always click "Stop Following" in the center of the group page and still stay connected to this ecology/gardeners group)

Re Seed-Saving Swap this January: 'Seeds-Into The Hands of the People"- please drop me or Shannon a message if you want to join with a circle of us in co-creating this event that will be similar to the one we had last winter. Its time to come together for a gardeners tea and begin the visioning process. Most likely dates will be Jan 9th or Jan16.

Take time time to walk in the woods & the meadows!
Comment by Forest Garden on September 30, 2009 at 8:35pm
HI Heather ! Can't wait to hear about the Mountain hikes....
The swap was great & we all are going to meet again... with more seeds!
I will be there on Sunday for the feast hope to see you there. If you miss it - give a call lets get together to plan the next event.!
Comment by David Pike on September 30, 2009 at 6:16pm
Thanks Walter for the good info. Interesting that the guru Steve Solomon often debates the old standards in garden wisdom and then later revokes his conclusions. I think this is just how gardening is, sometimes one method works well, and then with a change of weather or soil or pests, the strategy has to be changed to meet the changing conditions. I've always suspected his bare soil vs. mulched soil water retention reasoning sounded a little fishy. And as for the dry beans, I do realize the importance of growing this crop for self sufficiency, but the problem for the home gardener is in scale, since I am not growing a field of dry beans, but only a row or two - the harvest at the end of the year is a bowl full of beans (few burritos or pot of chili) the work and space it takes to grow that amount of harvest could be used to grow crops with much more food value to a home gardener...

But - I love growing dry beans, I've got some incredible heirloom strains; Scarlet Emperor is so cool. I just need to plant a heck of a lot more before I can actually eat any.

Thanks again - I look forward to future discussions.
Comment by Travis Linds on September 30, 2009 at 10:49am
plus I have mint and raspberries growing out of control in my yard, I could pot a bunch of the shoots that are popping up everywhere.
Comment by Travis Linds on September 30, 2009 at 10:43am
Edible Perennials:

Sun chokes also know as Jerusalem artichokes are very low cost perennials. They often sell the tubers at youngstocks for eating, but they work just as well for planting. I also saw a posting for these on www.fourthcornerexchange.com that I can get contact info if you are not a member. I have also seen Hops for free on Craigslist. I have the guy’s e-mail, he already said he was going to give me some of the rhizomes for my garden to plant. And finally, near my work on Haverstick Road near Sumas there is a stand that sells blueberry plants for $3 each. Last I saw they were still selling them. I could even contact them and ask for donations if you like.

Travis

travis@greenconversion.net
Comment by David MacLeod on September 30, 2009 at 10:12am
Walter, your "last point" (last paragraph about calories produced from caolories expended) is a huge one, and would make for a good article. Have you looked at Howard Odum's eMergy Accounting methods?
Comment by Kate Clark on September 30, 2009 at 9:18am
Hi Walter-- any idea where we can source a bunch of edible perennial type plants this time of year? Fruit trees, nut trees, kiwi, grapes, berries, etc?
 

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