Cécile Stelzer Johnson

Gordon Blair wrote:I get the impression Paul is super keen on folks growing sunchokes as a main survival crop. I've found that I can eat a limited amount without side effects only IF I lacto-ferment it first.

So this entails a workstep that crops like potatoes don't have to go through. If I'm treating sunchokes as a main calorie-source, the fermentation would have to be done in big batches. The process can go wrong (mould) and I would expect it results in a rather high-sodium vegetable to consume as a main calorie source?
And could I really get serious calories (without side effects) eating it as a potato substitute? The inulin conversion would never be close to 100% (I may be wrong about this?) and while some people may adapt to tolerate inulin more with exposure, it's the gastro-bugs that reap most of the calories, right? Maybe some of it is released in a human-digestible form, but it can't compare with eating potatoes and directly getting the starch, I would think..?
If I have a good source of acid (lemon juice is generally said to be ideal) to cook the sunchokes in, that can help, but in a survival situation, I would need to come up with a LOT of it if sunchokes are my main staple?

Like Paul, sunchokes used to bother me more than they do now. In the spring, I dig some out and eat them like radishes. Being raw, and early in the season, they are a bit more "farty", so I don't eat many of them. But after 2-3 meals, I'm immune. (Same thing with mosquitoes: The first bites get annoyingly scratchy, but later, they don't bother me at all.)
The reason they should be considered as a staple is that there is a fair amount of calories in them,  and they grow very easily. They are actually hard to kill unless deer come and visit your early plants. My mom and dad owe their survival during WWII to sunchokes. There was no meat and practically no potatoes, but the Germans didn't take their sunchokes (which they considered to be food for pigs)
Here is a nutritional comparison: sunchokes versus white potatoes:
https://versus.com/en/jerusalem-artichokes-vs-white-potato

Senior citizen here, so it's not too hard to not spend extravagant amounts of $$$ on Christmas.
Since COVID, we hardly ever go out, so we usually try to have a really nice meal. Maybe a meal at a nice restaurant, maybe a couple of meals over the holiday season, like lobster... Just a little splurge, to make the occasion.
For my kids, both in their early 50s, they too won't spend much on their Christmas. The best strategy of them all is to actually ask what they want: they are well past the Christmas morning hopeful eyes under the tree, "wondering about what Santa brought them", and we all hate the 'dust collectors' mentioned before. Any "surprise gift" I give them is usually some canned products.
When they don't know what to get us, it's a chore for them, so I just let them know exactly what I want, ( plants, trees, seeds...) and I tell hubby to do the same.
He's a pain to shop for because when asked, he always says: I don't need anything. I tell him, Christmas presents are not supposed to be something you NEED, just something you *WANT*, for a change.
That leaves his grandkids. I don't have any, so that's easy.
He gives $400 to his children for them to spend any way they see fit on them.(7 grandkids) I put $50 in each of their bank account towards their graduation)
I'd say, eyeballing it, we/I don't spend more than $1,000.
But trust me, he best strategy (for your entire family and yourself) to save around Christmas is to let everyone know what you'd like. We have a pretty good idea how much a given person can spend on us, so the whole gift giving goes pretty smoothly. That will avoid a lot of wasted money, time and hurt feelings having to return gifts.
Things go so much smoother! You can concentrate on having a good time together, playing cards...sharing good memories...  extinguishing political strife...

Timothy Norton wrote:I'm stuck in some decision paralysis and could use some advice please.

I have a number of standing short sorghum stalks in one of my garden beds. Should I just leave the stalks standing or would chopping and dropping get it to break down faster?  We are expecting snow here in the next few weeks.

My goal is to improve the soil, am I overthinking it?

Well, Tim, I'm in 4b, so I don't try to grow sorghum (although I'd love to).
Just being logical, it might depend on how tall the stubble is, with higher stubble not decomposing fast..
Also, smaller particles will rot faster, so... Chop, chop, chop?
If it is mower accessible, I'd mow and make sure the "mowings" end up on the bed...
This article is over my head, but I think that your answer is somewhere in there, so good luck:
https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/30100000/Before1970/before1970/22%201962%20Greb%20Agron%20J.pdf

Anne Miller wrote:Our dog is getting old and might have some dementia.
Usually she gobbles her food down without any problems though lately she leaves most of it.  I put her vitamins in with the food so sometimes she leaves the vitamins, too.  It doesn't matter if it is dog food or vegetables, she still leaves it unfinished.
Any suggestions on making the food more appetizing.

Dogs, like wolves, are carnivores. Meat 'cleanings' (after deer hunting or after a meal), road kills, if halfway fresh, will always please.
If you must feed them vegetables, smother them with a good meat sauce, roll them in bacon grease....

As far as I know, the Dutch drew their inspiration for wooden clog from the Romans who had a wooden sole laced up the calf with leather to keep them put: the Dutch clog were  a local adaptation to muddy surroundings. At the time, they were practical and inexpensive even though they required real artisans who would fashion a shoe to very exactly match each foot of their customers. Because of this, people could wear them without socks the entire day and not get blisters. It also prevented athlete's foot.
Poplar and willows were used because they are easier to carve from one piece of wood and they resist water.
I prefer Ann's rendition as being probably lighter since the upper part is made of strong leather, but there are reasons why those shoes exist only in a tiny market nowadays. I understand the pride derived from making such shoes yourself and my hat off to you if you do, but you may want to think it over.
1/ There  are very few artisans who still have the skills to do the work of adapting the clogs to the customers, which is absolutely necessary for comfort. Made on an assembly line to save money ruined the trade.
2/ In cold climates, they do not offer the comfort of a warm shoe/ boot that can cradle your foot and keep it warm and dry.
3/ As I'm on crutches with a knee immobilizer and nursing a broken kneecap, I'm much more attuned to the risk of a fall. On ice, they will slip unless there is a thick rubber sole, maybe even with spikes.
4/ Beside slipping, if you walk innocently and jam your foot in a rut, you could very easily get a twisted ankle, maybe a torn ligament.

Nicole Alderman wrote:I have a burning question that I didn't know I had until last night: How do you pronounce "Peridot," as in the green gemstone called peridot?

[applepoll]

There is an alphabet to accurately transpose any sounds into symbols in phonetics. It was invented long before people had a way to record human voice and it transposes in agreed upon international symbols any word, in any language. I learned English by correspondence and we didn't have a way to hear the language, so I had to learn the phonetic alphabet. The IPA (International phonetic Alphabet)) rendition is:
/pɛrɪˌdɒt/ or /ˈperɪˌdɑt/
In "English speaker's rendition", however, it is closer to:
'peh·ruh-'daat
Because it comes from and old French word, some folks believe that the final "t" is silent and the English speaker's rendition would be 'peh·ruh-'doe
The apostrophe is an indication of a stressed syllable, to be pronounced more strongly.

Dian Green wrote:We've had hard frost so I dug out the sunchokes from my gamcod plot.
Got a bit over 10 kg.
Most were lovely, but as I went to the south end of the patch, several were showing damage.
The ground was not disturbed, so not likely rodents, and I didn't see any bugs around them that could be the cause.
We do have white grubs in large numbers and I could smell ants as I was digging.  
Anh ideas what could be the cause and any suggestions on how to help them next year?
At least they seem to handle the damage well and don't all rot or anything.

So, 10 Kgs out of 200 square feet, so a plot that is about 14 ft X 14 ft, if square. That's not too bad. I don't grow the pink kind as they are really gassy and give me cramps. The white kind isn't nearly as bad.
I suspect if the damage was due to white grubs or ants, you would have found some when digging them out,  but you do not mention that.
If you look really close, I think you will find small, narrow, gnawing teeth marks by a rodent. My bet is also voles.
https://fox-pest.com/pest-files/voles/
Know thy enemy! This article will give you a leg up when fighting these nasty little critters. They reproduce very fast, too.
One saving grace is that although they can climb trees, they can't climb smooth surfaces. That is why I grow mine in half 55 gallon plastic barrels. Even on trees, they are not good climbers. (But they will girdle any young tree to death if allowed to get close! - Ask me how I know!)
If you want to grow sunchokes in the presence of voles, your best bet is to establish a barrier. Tight mesh that they cannot get through, under or over would be best, or grow them in containers, like me. An advantage of growing them in containers is that at the end of the season, you can collect every little bit of sunchoke without having to dig to Timbuktu. You can then select your biggest ones for eating and replant your smallest ones immediately, just like garlic,
That is one less crop you won't have to plant next spring!
The bad part about planting them in a container is that they are then totally dependent on you for watering and enriching the soil... I do the same for sweet potatoes to keep voles away and not having to dig too far.

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:I'd posted our latest video about the length of the sunchoke harvesting season. Things grew wonderfully through the month of October. I think it will be even more impressive at the end of November.

If I were to be somewhat technical about it, I would say all those sunchokes came from about three square feet of surface area on a hugelkultur garden bed.

That's quite impressive, Stephen. I'm impressed especially by the fact that they were all clustered close to the parent plant: That is usually a problem with sunchokes (Have roots, will travel 10 ft)
It seems to me that more than the 'fartiness', it is really the bad habit sunchokes have of wandering too deep and where they are not wanted that is preventing them from becoming as popular as potatoes.
Did you use a special cultivar? I know OIKOS had some that they have selected for their ability to stay close to the mother plant.

Well, just like your mom, I have given up growing carrots: They are pretty cheap, and if my time has any value at all, I'd rather nurse some fish in a pond, feed chickens, plant sweet potatoes or sunchokes or fruit trees than spend my time plucking weeds from my carrot patch.
There is, however a way to grow them, and when you said pre-sprouting, I thought you had it.
Their most dangerous moment is when they are very young. They like it sandy and sunshiny.
I put the seeds in warm water and in 2 days, they are all sprouted. Now, the very delicate work of detangling them if I didn't separate them (Those buggers are so small!) It will help to use 2 boards that you plant vertically [on their edge]. Plant one board, then very carefully, add some seed starting mix alongside, where you want the carrots to grow and on top of that, place these naked little buggers all along that one board. Now plant the second board with the carrot seeds and the seed starting soil in between the 2 boards. If you first lay them almost flat and then stand them up, you should be able to cover your babies. If you can, gently tilt the board so as to form a V. Mist or water gently several times a week. Once they are up and going, you can lay the boards almost flat, still keeping a little V but maybe 90 degrees: this way, the water will collect in this trough and feed your babies. with barely 1.5 " in between the 2 boards, you may be better able to prevent weeds, but frankly, that's a heck of a lot of work... I mound the soil behind he boards so they stay put... alternately, you could lay a board flat on top of your little sprouted seeds, and checking on them every other day, when they beg to come out from under, stand the board and maybe add a trace of sand over them.