Chance Lunceford

Soap is a good one.

If you combine the lavender with some rosemary and sugar then heat it on the stove to make a simple syrup, you can then use this delightful herbal sweetener in things like lemonade, tea, cocktails, or in cooking (quite tasty as a component in a chicken marinade). Refrigerate it after it cools and don't let it sit too long. Add some lemon zest for a more citrus forward version.

You could spend this winter learning about steam distillation and next year you could start making essential oils.

Yes, but they've experienced some setbacks.

Oh, dear, I've just stumbled upon this interesting resource:

Mail-order seeds, rare varieties, amazing selection, old school ordering sheet only, like Cliff England.

https://www.sandhillpreservation.com/

Okay, updated orders (heh, I'm almost done for the winter, I assure you):

I have good-enough screenshots for two more orders below, one from Raintree and one from Bay Laurel, but I also added these from Cummins:

Nadia plum
Obilinaja plum
Harrow Sweet European Pear
Rousselet de Reims European pear (aka musk pear)

I'm thinking I may skip the blood pear because I've been reading on the growing fruit forum that perhaps it's kind of a shitty variety that doesn't produce reliably, so I'm going to hold off until I can secure a superior variety of blood pear.

All I have left, in terms of perennials, are the passiflora incarnata plants from Peaceful Heritage and Snowdrop Farm.

I've got three more seed orders to make as well:

- Two Seeds In A Pod: They're germination testing and adding seeds almost daily. As soon as all of their watermelon offerings are live, I'll make my move.
- Wild Mountain Seeds: A Colorado group that farms and does their own breeding work. Their tomatoes (and tomatillo grex) are wonderful, but it's their sweet peppers and peas that I'm most interested in. Their pea grex is the most productive, heat resistant, fall double cropping pea I've ever grown. It holds up to my 100°F+ summer days and then revivifies when temps drop back into the 80s.
- Wild Garden Seed: Home of the best diverse lettuce mix available for purchase, in addition to some wonderful breeding mixes of flowers, herbs, and several other food crops.

😀

paul wheaton wrote:

Chance Lunceford wrote:Will you propagate the apple tree?

About 200 times per year.  

This morning, I picked an apple from the tree, ate all but the core, and pitched the core as far as I could while yelling the magic words "I'm planting an apple tree!"

Heh.

I too engage in a good amount of pit, core and seed chuckin'.

Do you still get the same rebellious thrill, the one that I've been experiencing for the last 20 years or so, each time you plant a tree seed intentionally (or semi intentionally) in a place others would not?

So, in terms of adults on hand, I was thinking a guided tour could be a great option, especially with the younger crowd.

Run 'em every hour or two (or on demand, depending on the needs of the operation), have lots of interactivity and room for improvisation as the curiosity of the group demands.

Will you propagate the apple tree?

Nancy,

Rules are important, for certain.

I love the idea of a treasure/scavenger hunt, or a bingo card of fruit eating and other fun stuff. That's awesome.

paul wheaton wrote:here is a fresh pic of this apple tree

What is the texture?
What is the flavor?
Subacid, tart?