This and that (and waterlogged soil)

There were two or three tasks from yesterday that I did not write about.

I excavated the lid to our septic tank. The tank is scheduled to be pumped out on Wednesday. The last time the thousand gallon tank was pumped out was in 2019. 

With just the two of us living here, I thought six years might be a little bit soon, but Mrs ERJ reminded me that for most of that time we had between one and three additional residents.

I also picked the cucumbers. EVERY gardening book tells you to not "work" garden plants when the leaves are wet, especially beans and cucumbers. That has been an impossible requirement this year. Three of the cucumber were overly mature. Two were close. I had enough cucumbers to put six quarts of refrigerator pickles in the refrigerator.

Running notes

I ran one mile on Sunday and 1.5 miles on Monday. Not impressive distances, but I am feeling my way along. I want to get up to three miles and that might be my maintenance level.

I did not take a stop-watch and had a very pleasant run. To my surprise, cardio-pulmonary were not the limiting factors. My lower legs, especially my left lower leg were an issue. Secondarily, my core muscles that "torque" were talking to me.

Weight lifting can make in-plane muscles strong while running involves throwing opposite-corner limbs forward while their mates travel rearward. Basically, you are energetically twisting your trunk clockwise/counterclockwise 800 to 1000 times per mile.

Today my shoulders and upper arms are pleasantly tired and heavy. I can see why weighted blankets are calming.

Grape arbors

Markshere2 suggested pergolas or arbors covered with grape-vines for quick shade.

That is a great idea.

I did that an the house I lived in before we moved to Eaton Rapids. I was ignorant and planted an early, seedless Concord hybrid that split badly after a rain. The variety was a raccoon and Yellow Jacket magnet. In fact, we had a raccoon start to enter our bedroom through the window screen one late-summer night. Nothing like having an intruder push through the screen to ruin the mood.

If I were to go that way, I would stick with very late ripening grapes with outstanding resistance to splitting. I would take a hard look at the Munson hybrids because many of them are noted for vigor and crack/dropping resistance. Champanel and America would be a couple of the varieties I would strongly consider.

There are other vines worth considering. Kiwis and hops come to mind. Many kiwis require a male plant to ensure pollination. Trumpet vines have glorious flowers and there are "improved" varieties. Climbing roses are also used for that purpose although the most vigorous cultivated rose varieties struggle with Zone 5 winters.

Food plants for wet situations

I encountered a gentleman who is building on a two acre parcel. One acre of his parcel is about 6' above the water table. The other half drops down rapidly to the flood-plain of a small creek and is between 12" and 30" above the usual, low-water level of the creek. The flood-plain portion is cut by an old, pre-channelized ox-bow that has some water in the bottom of it.

The forest canopy over the floodplain was mostly ash. The ash died due to Emerald Ash Borer so now that acre is filling up with pucker-brush. 

Due to circumstances that I am not going to discuss, the gentleman wants the property to be capable of sustaining him with minimum inputs of money. His timeline is to have everything buttoned down in less than fifteen years (when he anticipates retiring).

While there are many species of plants that thrive in spite of occasional wet-feet, there are not very many that can take THAT much wet.

Possible candidates to get the most use out of the waterlogged acre.

Wood products

Plantation grown Gray Alder. Nice, straight stems

• Gray Alder (Alnus glutinosa) fixes nitrogen, wood products
• Bald cypress
• Catalpa 
• Purple osier willow (Salix purpurea) 

Fruit 

• Marge European Elderberry
• Low acid Vitis riparia like "L-50s"
• Other grapes grafted onto V. riparia rootstock
• Currants
• Some gooseberry clones with Ribes hirtellum ancestors
• Aronia 
• Raspberries, phytophthoria resistant varieties  ‘Bristol,’ ‘Dundee,’ ‘Jewel’, ‘Latham,’ ‘Boyne,’ ‘Killarney,’ and ‘Nordic’ (St Lawrence Nursery has some of these varieties)
• Persimmons (on the slope)
• Pawpaw (on the slope) 
• Mayhaws (Crataegus opaca and maybe Crataegus viridis)
• Selected clones of Viburnum oplus, lentago, rufidulum
• Highbush blueberries on hummocks 
• Swamp rose (Rosa palustris) 
• Cranberries 

Other 

Hibiscus moscheutos, all parts are edible. The flower petals make a striking garnish

 

• Hibiscus moscheutos
• Apios ("Groundnuts")
• Cattails
• Wild rice
• Chuffa, not cold hardy (added July 31) 
• Hops (they seem to associate with willow)
• Watercress
• Ipomoea aquatica 
• Chives 
• Mint (added July 31) 
• Muskrats
• Beaver
• Ducks
• Geese 
• Fish 
• Clams, suitable substrate (added July 31) 

I intend to make this a dynamic list and to add updates.

You might notice that there are very few "improved" fruits on this list. Picking these unimproved fruits tends to be slow, tedious work although there are various rakes that can be used. 

Swales: a Permaculture design exercise

Just to put some meat on the bones of the previous  post, this essay will make a stab at what species might be appropriate for planting on each aspect, north-facing, east-facing, south-facing, west-facing and bottom.  Keep in mind that this exercise is specific to Eaton Rapids, Michigan and that more options will be listed than can be fit into any one swale.

The first issue is to select four cities that are approximately 400 miles away.  I chose Louisville, Kentucky (370 miles), Dubuque, Iowa (388 miles), Brimley, Michigan (297 miles) and Geneseo, New York (407 miles).

Design priorities:

1. Species will be "signature species" for their area.
2. Species will produce hard mast, or soft mast, or fix nitrogen, or have high biomass potential.  Listed in order of desirability,
3. Species that, if not endangered, could use a helping hand.No need to put Cottonwood or Box Elder on this list.
4. If the signature species will not thrive, then is there a close substitute that will thrive?

Jerusalem Artichoke.  Variety not known.  All photos taken in Eaton County on September 10, 2015.

North-facing aspect
Brimley, Michigan Signature species
Northern Red Oak Quercus rubra
Quaking aspen Populus tremuloides (notable because the male catkin buds are the primary winter food for Ruffed Grouse.  Male clones preferred)
Eastern White Pine Pinus strobus  (See notes on Eastern White Pine "Ridge species")
Beaked Hazel  Corylus cornuta
Bracken Fern Pteridium aquilinum 
Tag alder Alnus incana (Gray alder A. glutinosa is a Eurasian species that produces a more useful trunk.  Both species fix nitrogen) 

Black Walnut.  Leaves removed to show clusters of nuts.  This variety is Emma Kay

East-facing aspect
Geneseo, NY signature species:
American Chestnut Castenea dentata (Replace with Chinese chestnut due to issues with blight)
American Beech Fagus grandifolia
Black Walnut Juglan nigra
Wild Sweet Crab (apple) Malus coronaria   (Designers might want to substitute other apple species or hybrids)

A persimmon tree, branch bending under the load of unripe fruit.  This is a variety called Morris Burton.

South-facing aspect
Louisville, Kentucky signature species:
Persimmon Dioprosia virginiana
Chestnuts (repeat)
Black Locust Robinia pseudoacacia  (Fixes nitrogen, biomass)
Swamp Chestnut Oak Quercus michauxii
Shellbark Hickory Carya laciniosa
Red Mulberry Morus rubra

Staghorn sumac.  This is the cutleaf form.  Female clones preferred.

West-facing aspect
Dubuque, Iowa signature species
Northern Pecans Carya illinoensis
Shagbark Hickory Carya ovata 
Bur Oak Quercus macrocarpa
Jerusalem Artichoke Helianthus tuberosus
Staghorn Sumac Rhus typhina 
American Plum Prunus americana

Bitternut Hickory are a poor excuse for an edible nut, but as trees they are second to none.  They are the ballerinas of the bottomlands.  Photo taken at The Historic Green Cemetery, Eaton County, Michigan.

Bottom
Butternut Juglan cinerea
Bitternut Hickory Carya cordiformis
Swamp White Oak Quercus bicolor
Shingle Oak Quercus imbricaria
Silver Maple Acer saccharinum (Locally, 90% of Wood Duck fledgling diets are Silver Maple seeds.  Female clones preferred)
Winterberry Ilex verticillata (Female clones preferred)
Succulent Haw Crataegus succulenta (Many, many other species available)
Pussy Willow Salix discolor (Prime bee forage species at a critical time of the year.  Male clones preferred)

Ridge species
The cusp of the berm is very dry and exposed.  It is also what the public will see.

Ridge above north-facing aspect:  Tall grass prairie species.  This aspect is already starved for sun so tall shrubs and trees should be avoided.

Ridge above east and west-facing aspects: Staghorn sumac.  Produces glorious fall color when starved for moisture and nitrogen.  It is also very drought tolerant and displays ornamental clusters of berries during the winter.

Ridge above south-facing aspect:  Tall species are OK here because of mimimal risk of shading. Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is very picturesque when windblown but it raises hob with apple trees because it is the alternate host for a species of rust.  Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) also has the potential to form awesome specimens in windy situations but it is vulnerable to White Pine Blister Rust.  Two close relatives of the Eastern White Pine are the Korean Nut Pine (P. koraiensis) and the Swiss Stone Pine (P. cembra) are highly resistant to the rust.  Although neither of these pine species are native to North America, their relative disease resistance and the bonus of pine nuts makes them a good "Permaculture" choice.

This is my first day of retirement. 

Writing a blog is one of the items on my bucket list.  Like many, I see blog writing as a way of keeping family posted on the minutia of my life.  Writing can be therapeutic as long as I am mindful of my audience.  My final reason for authoring a blog is the hope that I may bring a little joy to those who cannot get outside and must experience the God's nature vicariously.

I sought advice from one of the wisest bloggers I know http://pawpawshouse.blogspot.com/.  His words of wisdom were:

"Write every day, something that amuses you, infuriates you, or something you wish to commemorate or remember.  I use the blog to remember recipes, to remember when I did something that I blogged about (Like installing a pool), or to pass information to the family.  The important thing is that you write every day if possible.  Don't worry about hits, don't worry about advertising, just be yourself and write about what interests you."

************************************************************************ 

Corn

Spring 2013 whipped by in a blur of third-shift and caffeine induced dysoptics.  Rain and cold.  Cold and rain.

My field corn went in May 20ish.  This years seed were a natural hybrid between a mid-Western white corn called Silver Mine and a New Mexico corn called Santo Domingo Pueblo Blue.  Both of these corns were selected back in a time when corn was a staple of the growers diet.  In the case of Santo Domingo Blue it was the staple of the diet.

Around Eaton Rapids, Michigan, real corn farmers start planting before May 1 and try to finish before May 10.  They  plant seeds treated with fungicides to delay rotting.  They plant "100 day corn".  They plant commercial hybrids and are prevented by contract from saving their seed...which they would not do anyway because the progeny would not be uniform. 

Both parents of my hybrid are 115 day corn, and I planted late.  The upside is that I had no seeds rot because I had OK soil temperature and good moisture.  The seed germinated very well.  The downside is that I may not get good dry-down before I have to harvest.  The side note is that every plant will be unique, will grow very tall, and produce copious amounts of pollen that bees adore.  And some of those plants will mature significantly earlier than the others.  Next year's seed will come from those ears of corn.

 To the left of the rows of corn (pale, yellow-green) you can see some multiplier onions and a feral potato plant.  To the right there is a row of turnip greens that I am letting go to seed.  I would love to be able to claim that I am scientifically engaged in the advancement of Permaculture.  The fact is that I am overwhelmed and my management style is laissez fair.  Laissez fair, as best I can deduce from context, is French for "Fairly Lazy".

There are a total of 6 rows of corn on 36" centers.  The rows are about 100' long for a total of 1/20th of an acre.  

This is a close-up of one of the plants.  If you are a country boy (or girl) you can tell by the color that this corn plant is either Nitrogen starved, cold, or has wet feet....or some combination of all three.

One of the characteristics of heirloom corn is that it runs significantly higher protein than modern corn.  Nitrogen fertilizer is one of the highest input costs in growing corn.  It takes one pound of N to grow 100 pounds of 6% protein corn.  It takes two pounds of N to grow 100 pounds of 12% corn. 


Given God's grace, I will post again tomorrow.