jenni blackmore

Yay Paul! Thanks for the information on sorghum, and the pictures. The plants I discovered volunteering in one of my beds were only a quarter the height of yours so now I'm wondering! Mini sorghum? Or not sorghum at all? In the meantime I opened the sample of syrup I brought home from Texas and I totally love the taste. It reminds me of the treacle I used to have, growing up in England. Now I really want to produce some but presently the beds are covered with a couple of feet of snow so it's hard to imagine anything growing - just lucky I'm a dreamer. J

I was excited to stumble into this thread while searching for information on Sorghum. I also live in Nova Scotia, and right on the coast - sounds like we have a lot in common Heather Holm. I have several stalks of what appears to be sorghum that mysteriously appeared in one of the hugle beds. Exciting! It looks to be quite vigorous and loaded with seeds. I am planning to harvest and save the seeds for next year unless advised otherwise. Any feedback will be most appreciated as this plant is completely new  to me.

Congratulations to the three winners of my new book, The Food Lover's Garden! I just received my first copies on Friday and I love the look of it. As usual everyone at New Society Publishers did a wonderful job. I'm delighted

I do hope you are all as pleased with it as I am and that in someway The Food Lover's Garden helps to enrich your enjoyment of growing, preparing and, of course, eating homegrown.

Hi Anne! I actually figured out how to post images! Yay!!! - (well, not quite true - a kind permie in one of the other forums told me how) - so here is an image of our logo which I said I'd try to post. Naming a farm is a big deal I think because it's almost the same as naming a company and similarly with the logo. I wanted something a bit quirky that would stand out and this seems to work. I also painted a sign for the duck shed which I use as a logo on the duck eggs which you might enjoy.

Another fedge picture

Thank you for your help Todd. I now know how to post pictures so here's a couple of my fedges when they were newly woven a couple of years ago. First picture is of the Big Mistake fedge which grew like crazy and robbed my ground of all nutrients  The other is of a smaller one which runs along the perimeter of the property and has thrived wonderfully well. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it in summer but now it has filled in all along the bottom with straight new shoots which I keep woven in and it has also grown much higher than as shown.

I knew that TaT Soi and Mache/corn salad (or, as I prefer to call it, Rapunzel) were hardy little critters but today I was amazed when I finally got to peek into a cold frame that had been trashed in one of the early winter storms! The 'lid' had caved in because I hadn't constructed it well enough and the plastic sheeting had been pressed down against the plants underneath. A couple of days ago I was able to remove the two inch slabs of ice that had formed in the sag but didn't even bother to look under the plastic assuming that nothing would have survived. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a healthy growth of greens - Tat Soi, Rapunzel, almost ready to pick and mizuna and kale not far behind. Had to have a nibble, of course and my they tasted so good!

Hi Hester! I notice that you also mentioned the alternate name girasol (re sunchokes) so I thought you might also be interested in an alternate name for corn salad which is Rapunzel. I believe it is German in origin and is thought to be the inspiration for the Grimm's Brother fairy tale of the same name. Apparently it was the plant the unfortunate girls father was 'stealing' from the sorceress's garden.

Also, I notice you are located in the Midlands - I was brought up in Manchester but now I live on a very small island just east of Halifax Nova Scotia

You can 'sugar' violets and I do have a hazy memory of one of my ancient British 'aunties' having them as the definitive touch on delicately iced cakes. She also used to carry a small tin containing tiny, lavender-colored sweeties called Palma violets which she would dole out, not very generously. at the rate of one per visit

Also, have you ever tried Sunchoke pate? It is totally delicious and highly nutritious. It's strange how people are turned off by their name - even though they are written up Larousse Gastronomique. They can also be called 'girasol' which is a name I rather like because it refers to the flower and its habit of turning to follow the path of the sun.

I do have pictures but (shame on me) have not yet figured how to post them on this forum. I will hopefully figure it out soon.