Going To Seed live podcast
September 9th 3:00 PM Mountain Time Message me for the Zoom link (same as always)
Mark Reed
Broccolish, sweet potatoes and all things garden
Mark Reed has been a backyard gardener for more than sixty years. He learned basic gardening techniques from his father and grandfather. In the 1970s he abandoned the use of pesticides and purchased fertilizers, and began saving some of his own seeds, mostly tomatoes and beans. Over the years he became more interested in saving his own seeds but at first was largely focused on varietal preservation.
Mark wrote, “… one of the primary goals ... was that heirloom preservation was necessary in case the genetic diversity was needed at some point in the future. I finally realized, now, is the future, and what’s needed isn’t all of those individually named varieties but the genes they contain. Why do I care if my two favorite watermelons cross pollinate, the result is still good watermelons and the problem of isolation distance and population size aren’t really problems at all. Nothing is lost except the names.”
The discovery of a few seeds on an old ornamental sweet potato plant about ten years ago pulled Mark into the world of actual plant breeding and he’s been strongly focused on it ever since.
I first remember Mark Reed from the Homegrown Goodness plant breeding forum. His writings over the years deeply influenced how I think about plant breeding and landrace gardening. His pragmatic, sensible approach calms me, and helps me to take the long view towards my garden and ecosystem.
Welcome to staff. What a joy to watch y'all growing into your new roles, and to read your comments during training about how you never realized how much staff attention it takes to keep this lovely site free of spam, trolls, and strife.
Squash ripen quickly. As soon as the skin gets hard enough that I can't poke my fingernail into it, I feel good about picking it.
Squash generally store better on the shelf than in a field, especially if deer or frost threaten. Though deer tend to only eat immature squash. At my place, butternut rank lower on deer predation than other species of squash.
I harvest mustard seeds by cutting off plants just above ground, throwing them on a tarp to dry completely, if damp. Then jump up and down on them to thresh. Screen. Winnow.
I cut, rather than pulling, to avoid mixing dirt with the seeds.
Joseph Lofthouse taught landrace gardening at conferences hosted by the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, National Heirloom Expo, Organic Seed Alliance, Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA-NY), and Utah Farm & Food Conference. He serves as World Tomato Society ambassador.
“Landrace Gardening is brilliant. It’s a love story! And 2 parts gardening handbook. There are so many revelations I don’t know where to begin? AMAZING. In every way this is a book for the ages. Bravo Joseph.” Dan Barber, Blue Hill At Stone Barns, and Row 7 Seed Company
“There is magic in the way Joseph Lofthouse marries his no-stress approach to gardening with such deep love and passion. This book is as much a gardening manual as it is a reframing of our relationship with each other and the world. Landrace Gardening gives us a roadmap to the kind of joyful food security that we need for healing many of the most important wounds of our time.” Jason Padvorac
“Joseph Lofthouse has a focus upon something that all gardeners should know: Landrace varieties are the way to sustainability. The best part is that everything in his book is adaptable for any gardener. No high level knowledge of botany or chemistry is required. The versatility and diversity of growing landrace plants speaks for themselves.” Jere Gettle— Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.
“The western sustainable agriculture movement has long needed its own version of the 'One Straw Revolution'. Joseph Lofthouse provides just that. With revolutionary gusto based on heretical thought and age old human gnosis. In Landrace Gardening, Food Security... Lofthouse steps firmly into the role of Iconoclast and elder seed shaman.” Alan Bishop, Alchemist at Spirits Of French Lick
“Awesome to see this process beginning to work in just one year.” Josh Jamison, HEART Village
“Joseph's book is an eye-opener to a novice seed saver like myself. My growing conditions are not as extreme as Joseph's, but we do have a very short growing season. He has inspired me to start trying to produce my own landrace crops.” Megan Palmer
“Inspiring. Empowering. VERY important work.” Stephanie Genus
“Octavia E. Butler's Earthseed, John Twelve Hawks' Traveler Series, and Orson Scott-Card's Ender Quintet have delivered us to Joseph's fertile gateway. Not a gateway "drug", but yes a door of perception. In this book, Joseph removes from our lexicon Instant, Lite, Diet, Recommended Daily Allowance, Modern, Heirloom, Open Pollinated, Hybrid with just one shattering word: Promiscuous. Under the same condition he was once gifted a guitar, Joseph offers us Abundance for as long as we keep learning to play within it.” Heron Breen, Fedco Seeds
During heavy runoff events in the desert, the mountain moves downhill, filling any basin with sediment. You can estimate the rate of flow by the size of the sediments.
I worked for decades trying to green a section of desert in northern Nevada, with about half that rain. Based on my experiences, I suggest the following...
Hugelkulture seems like a technique for damp areas that encounter short term intermittent water deficiencies. They seem less useful in locations with chronic water shortages.
Grow species where they will grow, rather than trying to make a hedge along the property line. If you have ample irrigation, then no worries, plant whatever you want wherever you want. Though a hedge of cholla sounds fascinating.
Most native food forest crops barely pass an edibility test. I wouldn't want to try to feed a family only on crops native to a particular county in Colorado. Apricot and Goji survived in the Nevada desert without supplemental water or special care. Roam your local area, and observe what edible plants grow in the badlands. Some might thrive for you, regardless of where they happened to live 500 years ago.
Observe, observe, observe. See where the water actually flows, and start there, especially at the highest point where water consistently transits. I love spots where water runs off the hard packed roads. Water concentrates there. If possible, go outside during the fiercest rain events to see what really happens. Where I thought water flowed in my youth doesn't match where I observe it flowing in my old age.
Single layer rock dams, and single layer deep logs laid perpendicular to the flow of water worked best for me. Then after a run-off event, I added another single layer deep check dam. That way, I didn't impede the water in any visible way, the structures acted as sediment traps. Sand dams hold 40% water after a run-off event. That water becomes invisible to passers-by, but still seeps into the ground, and may come out downhill, or nurture plants.
At my place, the air contained so little moisture that collecting it from the air broke the bank.
I like to harrow the (fall sown) grains just as the annual weeds start to germinate. That kills many of the annual weeds without harming (much of) the grain.
Traditional wisdom recommends more than 3 generations of separation. So no breeding with parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, siblings, 1st cousins, 2nd cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, etc...
The easiest way to avoid inbreeding in small flocks is to replace the rooster every year with one from an unrelated line.
I love them all. If a particular plant causes problems in a particular place, I weed it out (goatheads in my barefoot lawn). Other than things like that, I welcome all plants to my farm and the surrounding wildlands.
The chain link fence is grounded. The grounding rods are grounded. Might as well connect them both with a wire, rather than depending on the variable moisture content of the ground to complete the circuit.
Musical instruments survive just fine in damp Ohio, and the arid Utah desert. They survive the high humidity and low ambient temperatures of Central California.
Earthships seem much more stable than the large range of daily temperature and humidity swings in my stick-built abode. Humidity levels vary widely during a day, depending when I turn on the evaporative cooler. Despite all those daily, weekly, and seasonal changes, I rarely tune my guitar. After transporting an instrument, I might tune it before giving a public performance, but not for day-to-day use at home.
The size of watermelon fruit depends on genetics and environment. More soil fertility, adequate moisture, and thorough weeding tends to lead to larger fruits. They tend to like open sandy/loamy soil better than heavy clay.
Staff, and pollinators are able to add threads to multiple forums. A common way to do that is for the original poster to add the post to the primary forum, then report the post, and request that it be added to a secondary forum.
I find it easier to change the genetics or the species that I grow than to change the soil, or the inherent ecosystem. What grasses and forbs grow in the non-limed wildlands nearby? Those may work great in a permaculture pasture.
