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| I lost a tree here when high winds snapped it off at the graft. the replacement is lower-left and wrapped in newspaper. The gray dusting on the ground is pulverized limestone |
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| This tree blew over but did not snap at the graft. Maybe an advantage of being poorly rooted? I topped it and then winched it back into position. |
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| Another tree with the same issue. |
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| Kale |
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| Chickweed (edible!) |
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| Peppermint |
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| Closeup of chickweed |
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| Cabbages |
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| Yellow Rocket |
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| Another example of Yellow Rocket showing glossy leaves. |
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| Onion that escaped harvest |
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| Bird-house sized for Bluebirds and Tree Swallows. The "snout" was an attempt to thwart possum and coons from eating nestlings |
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| Turnip |
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| Zeus inspecting patch of turnips, radish and rutabaga |
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| A pruned pear tree. This was grafted to a "monument" pear found on Shaytown Rd by Vermontville. Probably a Kiefer pear but I will not know until it fruits. |
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| Another pruned pear tree. There were two trees at the old farmstead. To keep them straight, I grafted the tree on the east with scion from the tree that was growing on the east and the tree on the west with scion from the more western tree. |
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| A pruned Asian pear. Scion from Bellevue Hwy approximately 1689 feet Eastnortheast of Russ Nelson's office. |
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| A quince selection from Lon Rombough's collection by way of Western Kentucky. Notable for the branches being spread. Look for the light-blue twine. |
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| Strawberries!!! Beneath the mulch. |
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| Asian radishes. |
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| Turnips |
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| Kale, looking rather battered after snow and deer browsing. |
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| Rutabagas |
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| Bittercress. Three species are found in Michigan. Only botanists can tell them apart. |
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| The 2023 potato patch, mostly unharvested. |
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| A 48" long kale plant, lounging like a WWII pin-up girl. |
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| Zeus inspecting some turnips |
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| 2024 corn patch. |
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| Lots of bittercress. I don't remember there being that much when I tilled it. Latent seeds? |
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| Catnip |
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| Ground Ivy |
Some of the plants I highlighted are barely "edible".
Historically, the challenge for this time of year was to find enough calories and enough Vitamin C. If it is green and not toxic, it probably has therapeutic levels of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is water soluble so chopping up the leaves or pine needles or rose-hips and steeping them in water is a viable way of extracting the Vitamin C.
You sure are good at remembering all those plants out there. I sure wish I was that good at it.---ken
ReplyDeleteA lot of my original apples, on M111/M9 rootstock, leaned 45 degrees, to almost lying on the ground like that kale impersonating a WWII pinup gal. Had to jack them back into position and prop them up with concrete blocks or a big chunk of Osage Orange. Eventually just pulled them out.
ReplyDeleteChickweed is, indeed edible. I ate a chickweed salad for at least one meal a day back in 2017, when I was making serious moves to lose some weight.
I agree with Ken...sigh
ReplyDeleteI am curious why the spuds went unharvested.
ReplyDeleteI found the more Kale is harvested, the more prodigious the plant. (That may not apply to all Kale species. I only grew two types. I do not remember the names.)
The short and honest answer is "Poor planning on my part".
DeleteThe lovely Mrs ERJ gently suggested that we only need 200 pounds of spuds in the pantry/root-cellar.
Not being totally daft, I respected her "suggestion" and stopped digging potatoes when I hit that number.
Should the need arise, the potatoes are still there. They might need a couple weeks of +50F to taste right. Most varieties convert some of the starch to sugar when they get cold and it makes them taste funny.
I do need to dig them. If I leave them, then the wire-worm population will explode and that is bad news.
Joe, thank you for answering. I recall your 2022 potato harvest had 'problems' too.
DeleteMay I suggest that extra be given to a food bank. Maybe have one or two select youths do the labor. Object lessons abound on top of providing nutrition.
Been in the 30's here today. Got over an inch of rain, and it snowed like crazy for several hours. HUGE flakes that almost looked like pieces of paper coming down. Good to see it's getting to be Spring out your way.
ReplyDeleteHello Dr Jim:
DeleteIt is great to see that you are feeling better.
-Joe
Thanks, ERJ! I'm still a bit stiff and sluggish until I get everything flushed out, but feeling a couple of orders of magnitude better than when I went in.
Delete