propagating currants

this last spring i did a decent job of propagating currants and gooseberries from cuttings.  i pretty much just took some cuttings and stuck them in pots.  i’d say i had about a 50% success rate getting them to take root, and if i hadn’t forgotten about then and neglected to water them, i’d have a bunch of new currant and gooseberries ready to plant out next year.

after that experience i felt i needed to properly reasearch how to propagate currants and gooseberries.  i’m lucky enough to have received a copy of the book small fruit management from my mother in law.  both she and my mother are librarians, helping to feed my book addiction with weeded books and those that are going to be offered in the book sale.  just this last week my mother picked up  foxfire volumes 1-9 for me, so you know there are gonna be posts on snake handling, and basket weaving before you know it.

so based on expert recommendations i present how to propagate currants.

step on 1. selecting proper wood

old and new currant canes

so i don’t know how well you can tell this, but the cane on the top is about a 3 year old cane, the one on the bottom is a 1 year old cane.  you want the one on the bottom.  a couple of things help make them distinctive, young canes are a lighter brown, are less woody, and have tighter buds.  once you are out in the currant patch it’s pretty obvious of the difference.  you want to cut the young canes about 12 inches long.  the best time as far as i can tell to do this is late fall, when the canes are dormant, but the ground is not frozen, in other words a time like last week.

step 2 remove the buds.

bud

the word bud always makes me think of the cosby show, as rudy’s best friend was this kid that she called “bud” but that wasn’t his name, it was kenny.  why i don’t know.  on the bottom of you currant cane you want to make a cut just below a bud, at a bit of an angle. and then remove all the buds on the bottom 6 inches.

step 3 cut the tip

tip of currant cane cut

this picture shows how lousy a job i did at cutting the tip.  the ones in the spring i didn’t do this with and they managed to root fine, but upon more reflection i felt this did make good sense, as it breaks the apical dominance that the tip of the cane has, and forces it to bush out.

step 4 – stick it in the ground

pushing currant into the ground

stick it in 6 inches deep, up to where you striped off all the buds.

step 5 – cover with straw

currants covered with straw

i don’t know how necessary this is, but it seemed to make sense to me. the straw should help regulate the temperature and keep the canes from heaving out during the winter.   i spaced the currants about 6 inches apart, and then covered everyone in a think layer of straw, i’ll cover it in some more when that starts to mat down.  gooseberries are pretty much the same, only it’s recommended that the canes be a little longer.  with any luck these guys should make it though the winter and start leafing out in the spring.  they spend a season in that spot, and the next year they are ready to get planted where ever you want them.

ma’s new obsession

is needle felting, which is a little different from regular felting, it’s almost like sculpting with wool as you can add on pieces.  the very first thing she made was a little stegosaurus which she kindly gave to me.  i like most little boys loved dinosaurs, i unlike most grown men am still pretty damn excited about a tiny felted dinosaur.  you can check it out along with a little pitbull she made for our friend dawn here.  to be honest the picture don’t really do justice to these little guys.

more media attention

Some media stories that I never had a chance to post, while cleaning out my email inbox i found these links that people had forwarded to me.  so i share them with you enjoy.

a story from the online version of newsweek

and a video from cnn money

plastic on the quick hoops

with the weather turning cooler and snowy, it’s time to pull the plastic over the quick hoops. we have some left over greenhouse plastic from replacing the cover on the greenhouse, and figured that should work at least to protect everyone. it might not have as high a level of light transmittance as if we had used new plastic, but i think it should work fine. like the row cover, we used a 10 foot wide section of plastic, enough to cover the quick hoops and some excess to weigh down the edges.

first step was to get plastic over the hoops and then secure the ends

plastic tied to stake

using a stake driven into the ground we pulled the plastic tight end to end, and then tied it to the stake

the quick hoops finished with plastic over top

then we added bricks and rocks to the edge to hold it down. this spot is right on a corner and a bit windy, so it seems as though we need to secure it especially well. it’s already blown off once. it may not be the wind, as i have a couple guys in the neighborhood who like to mess with my projects. i don’t think they have ill intent, it’s just that they are suffering from mental illness which sometimes has them doing things which don’t make a lot of sense to me. i’d hoped that this lot could be without a fence, but after having someone drive though the broccoli patch and lots of theft of cabbage, i’m thinking it’s unavoidable.

late fall harvest

n spite of it being the first week of december we continue to harvest a good amount produce straight out of the fields. Including carrots, beets, cilantro, parsley, scallions, lettuce, spinach, and broccoli.

broccoli

carrots

we have had a mild fall which certainly helps to extend the season, but we also have everything covered with floating row cover, and had well-timed late sowings of crops that do well in the fall.

salad mix with lettuce and spinach

scallions aka green onions

this is the first time i’ve grown cilantro this late in the year, and it’s been the big surprise. i’ve learned a few things about cilantro over the years though trial and error, that it doesn’t transplant well, that it bolts quickly in hot weather, and now i can add that it does well in cool weather. i’ve even managed to get a couple of cuttings off of it and have it regrow which never happens in the summer months. everyone wants cilantro at the same time as tomatoes, which is too bad, cause it’s much easier to grow in the fall when tomatoes don’t do well.

the weather is turning fouler and i we have cut all the lettuce pretty hard. at this point i don’t think that we will have but another couple of weeks before we only have things out of the quick hoops and high tunnel to harvest. which is just as well since i plans to be away from the farm for a couple of weeks, so i won’t be able to harvest anything anyway.

bounty of the vacant lot – evening primrose

next in the installment

evening primrose

this photo is a little less in focus than i’d like.  perhaps if i find something better i’ll replace it.  how we doing with this whole vacant lot bounty concept? am i losing ya?

ok, so this is evening primrose.  so named because it opens in the evening.  because of that it means it’s mostly visited by moths, and it’s foliage is the host for a couple of moth species.  it’s a rather tall plant, with bright yellow flowers.  some folks even plant it in their gardens. it has an edible tap-root, and like the queen anne’s lace is a biennial, meaning that the tap-root is edible in the first year.  it is not very commonly used as so, i’ve tried it and can’t say i’m super fond of the taste.  though maybe just the wrong recipe.  the young leaves are also edible

evening primrose is perhaps best know for its medicial qualities.  the oil from the seed is high in gla’s; gamma-linolenic acid oil which  is supposed to be good as an anti inflammatory, as well as good for overall woman’s health.  more traditionally infusions were used for a variety of illness, for cough, gasto-intestinal problems, and acting as a sedative.

evening primrose is native to north america, which means that it doesn’t get that nasty label of invasive species!

bounty of the vacant lot – st. john’s wort

next in the series a little more unusual, but not really all that uncommon.  i give you

st. john's wort

st. john’s wort.  you know i think the first question i have myself asking is just what is a wort?  you see all kinds of plants that are called wort, what does that mean?

apparently it’s an old word basically meaning a medicinal plant.  since there are so many traditional medicinal plants that means that there are lots of worts out there.  anytime something is a wort its likely worth a second look.  the second question is of course who is st. john.  while there are many st. johns in this case it likely refers to john the baptist, since the traditional day for harvesting corresponds to his saint day.

there are several types of st. john’s wort, this one just happens to be common st. john’s wort.  it like our friend the sweet clover and queen anne’s lace is considered to be invasive.

st. john’s wort has been used as a medicinal for thousands of years, and not just for it’s most commonly know contemporary use as an antidepressant, but also as a abortifacient.  extremely used as antiseptic and anti-inflammatory.  i’ve never gathered or made st. john’s wort tincture, but since i tend to suffer from the winter blues, and need a little something to take the edge off i’d like to try.

guest bloggin

i’ve been asked to be a guest blogger for metromode.  i don’t think the posts come out till the second week in december, and i’ve got a couple of them written up, and figured i might as well share them here until they come out.  here’s the first one.

Growing the City

there is an amazing amount of energy going on in the city right now around local food systems.  i thought i’d take the opportunity to share about my involvement in some of the projects going on that i’m lucky enough to be a part of .

i live in north corktown, or if are old school, briggs, or even noco if you are hip, somehow it seems to be a hotbed of urban agriculture. just up the block street side garden, brother nature produce across the street and quickly threatening to take over the neighborhood, mr. kings amazing poultry and collards, dee dee’s petting zoo on cochrane,and of course the community garden i’m involved with hope takes root. i’ve been gardening at hope takes root for the last couple of years, this last spring and summer have been spent installing a edible forest garden based on the principles of permaculture. full of all kinds of edible fruits and nuts and heavy on the native side, in time it will be a low maintenance place to relax and snack. in addition to my community garden i also have a garden at home, some beehives, and share joint custody on some chickens with the neighbors.

i volunteer to milk goats every wednesday night at catherine ferguson academy not too far from my house. it’s a school for teen mothers with a large agriscience program. complete with a horse, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, bees, an orchard, tree nursery, and annual vegetable garden it’s like nothing else in detroit.  i always take a lap around what used to be the track and now contains the horse pasture checking out how everything is doing. then it’s milking apple, tabitha, and royal gem. we use the milk to make yogurt, cheese and of course in the morning coffee.

the most time i spend growing in the city is with the capuchin soup kitchen’s earthworks urban farm. the 2 acres of certified organic gardens make for one of the largest urban farms in the city. our diverse gardens grow almost every vegetable commonly grown in michigan and many of the fruits, herbs, and flowers too. the sites get all the attention, but it’s the programs we run out of these gardens that we are most proud of. two youth programs growing healthy kids, and youth farm stand, give youth in our neighborhood skills in gardening, cooking, ecology, practical work experience in the fields and at the farmers market, and of course a solid dose of fun. through our partnership with the the greening of detroit, the detroit agriculture network, and michigan state university, we are part of the garden resource program. our roll is mostly to provide some of the hundreds of thousands of transplants and provided space for workshops, but though the collaborative tons of other resources are provided to community and family gardeners all though the city. included in these resources are, the urban roots training program, the grown in detroit growers co-op, over 40 classes on a range of topics, and plenty of garden resources including compost, seeds, and access to tool banks. In addition to all of this programing earthworks also works on issues of food access and economic development in the community though the f.o.o.d. mobile market and pilot healthy corner stores program in partnership with the seed wayne. we also host monthly community potlucks focusing on issues to create a healthy community, have a weekly market where folks can purchase food from the gardens, volunteer days where you can experience hands on gardening work, provide quality produce to the soup kitchen we are are a part of and much much more.

oh and last but not least, i’ve recently been asked to serve on the detroit food policy council, while we still have plenty of leg work to do before we really get going, keep on the look out for exciting new programs coming out of that.

 

pickled lemons

ma’s job has her putting together boxes of produce much like a csa, but from several vendors, and targeted at low-income individuals on the east side of detroit.  sometimes she has leftovers that no one wants at the sites, and we are lucky enough to get the produce.  this last week it was about a dozen lemons.

i’ve long enjoyed the pickled lemons that are found in mediterranean markets, though i also love the south indian lemon pickles too.  with my love of fermenting food, i felt it wouldn’t be too hard to ferment my own pickles, starting with the mediterranean style, i’ll try the south indian style next time.  i looked up several recipes and made something up that sounded right to me.

step one – wash the lemons and crock

lemons and crock

these are nonorganic lemons so i took special care to wash them well and washed the crock out as well.  you of course don’t have to use a crock, you can use a food grade bucket or mason jar.

step two – quarter lemons and  cut out the pith

lemons cut into quarters

some recipes i looked at recommended cutting out the pith, and i like that idea, since the pith is bitter.  i figured the skin contains enough pith, and that cutting out the pith would help release some of the juice.

step 3 add the spices and salt

spices and salt added to the bottom of the crock

all the recipes called for cinnamon, so i added that, several recommended bay leaf, and then i added peppercorns, fennel, cumin and coriander for good measure.  maybe it’s overkill, but i think it will work out fine.  i added generous amounts of salt to the bottom

step 4 – pack in the lemons

lemons packed in the crock

i packed em on their end, which i felt would have them keep their shape better than putting them on the side.  i packed 2 layers, adding more salt and more spices in between the layers, and then added more salt and spices to the top.

salt and spices on the top layer

then add water so that it covers everything.  lemons don’t seem to float to the top unlike most other ferments i’ve done.

step 5 weight it down and add oil

oil on top and weight

unlike most other ferments recipes i consulted recommended adding olive oil to the top  to seal it against the air since the lemons don’t seem to rise up.  i was a little worried that the lemons might pop up so i did the usual method of a plate and weight, and then added oil over top.  finally i added a towel and tied it all tight like making sauerkraut.

this should ferment for at least 4 to 6 weeks.  i’ll test them in a few and see how they are.

detroit: green

this young lady sara came to my work this summer to make a film for her thesis project.  it was kind of strange cause she sort of asked if she could come and then just showed up, i’m not sure we even said ok.  but she proved to be a resilient one, not really troubling anybody too much.  She had this giant suitcase thing that she had all her supplies in and would walk around the neighborhood with it, looking a little awkward and a bit like a lost tourist, not sure where to go.  and maybe she didn’t know where to go, and where ever she ended up was right.  i’m glad if she got lost.

the one thing i really like about her film is she didn’t just focus on what staff is doing, but the community we work in/with.  there are so many amazing voices, especially george who i’m really glad got included.  george often takes me aside and tells me just how lucky i am because i love my job, and i get to connect with the soil.  somehow george seems to know when i’m becoming frustrated at work, because this is when he tells me.  the kids are amazing and super cute, and i love watching them eat and smear corn all over there faces while there voices are edited overtop.  i think the most surprising thing is how much i was used in the film.  ms. sara filmed all this stuff for a couple of weeks and i was not really involved, and then on the last day she asked if i would sit down with her and talk.  i didn’t expect she would use me that much.  film link is below, it’s about 16 minutes long, and i’m under the impression that it’s a work in progress.  check it out.

detroit:green from Sara Cross on Vimeo.