Mk Neal

I had plans when we first bought our house. There was even a “pantry” of sorts in the basement that could have been modified rather simply. However, after a few years I realized that our yard is not large or sunny enough to produce enough root crops to make such a cellar worth the effort. If I had an acre, or half acre even, I think I would want one.

Love this thread, you are doing great things!

Lovage may be my favorite garden plant. It’s the one herb that reliably comes back strong year after year with no work or fuss. I use it in everything, anywhere parsley or cilantro might be called for. Lovage tabouleh. Lovage guacamole.

I also layer lovage leaves in salt to make a flavored salt that is great for all savory uses. The lovage seeds are a good seasoning also, similar to dill or cumin.

Anne Miller wrote:I like the suggestion for lovage.  I planted it though it got pulled up by someone thinking it was a weed.

I wonder, does lovage smell like celery?  It is a substitute.

Lovage does smell like celery, but it has much larger, tougher leaves than that, and the young leaves are wrinkled and glossy.

Ac Baker wrote:Interesting.

So, in my climate, sunchokes overwinter well in the ground.

Then we get to decide the harvest date based upon the properties we want in our crop.

I've not been able to find inulin measurements based upon harvesting at the start of the new season of budding/sprouting growth.

But the consensus seems to be that, for a given variety and year, the inulin content will rise once the leaves are established, peaking around the first hard frost when the leaves are killed off.  This is likely to be up to 85% of dry weight.

Then the inulin content will start to fall significantly when the budding process begins in late winter or early spring, as enzymes convert the inulin to simple sugars e.g. fructose, for new plant growth, reaching a minimum just as the new leaves start to usefully photosynthesize. This could be as low as 60% of dry weight.

But I can't find a temperate climate study that tests these two figures, as yet.

I don't have the means to measure inulin, however this year I harvested my first sunchokes last week, just after the ground thawed. At that point they were large, crisp, and sweet and best of all, no gas!

I had planted some rather scrawny fall tubers I got from friends two years back, but was loathe to eat much of them because the few times I had eaten sunchokes previously I had horrible bloating. Reading this thread got me thinking that the roots I bought at market might have been harvested at wrong point or stored at wrong temperature.

Spring thaw harvest really seems like the better way to go! Plus, a crop to fill the late winter/early spring famine season.

Nancy Reading wrote:

Andre Wiederkehr wrote:Do you know of ways to make wood chips (in quantity - say, enough to mulch 500 sqft) without fossil fuels or electricity? Will Bonsall is/was a fan of this "forest-source fertility" in a similar context of veganic, relatively whole-diet gardening, but in the book I read by him, he doesn't address this issue of how to make them.

It is possible to cut sticks up by hand, or build/buy a human powered shredder/chipper. Many people who practise 'veganic' type market gardening like Helen Atthowe and Ian Tollhurst do use machinery such as lawnmowers and mini tractors. If you are intending to practise no-dig on this bit of land for several years you will probably need to find a source of nutrients to keep it in good heart - I gather getting the balance is the tricky bit.

One way I have found that potentially would work towards preparing a bed for next year is to pile up twiggy prunings in a heap and let them sit over the summer. Like the Angelica, the sticks shade out the new growth and leave a bare patch. The remaining sticks can be removed in the following spring, or maybe in a fire risk area in late summer they could be burnt for biochar perhaps. Under the patch you are left with small bits and clear soil. I tend to just break the sticks up for kindling - not every wood becomes this brittle so quickly, but they should all be able to provide the mulching effect of shading out the undergrowth if laid on thickly enough.

This basically describes my practice for using my tree trimmings as garden mulch.

Regarding how to clear land; controlled burns were the technique used by North American gardeners working without steel or draft animals. See Buffalo Bird Woman’s account of Hidatsa method of starting a garden: https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html

These are a favorite in our house also! A Vietnamese friend served these once as a “roll your own” sort of buffet, which is how I then presented to my kids. Easy family dinner; just slice up an array of veggies, herbs, and tofu or egg, and dipping sauces. Since the kids pick their own fillings, no waste and no power struggles.

Christopher Weeks wrote:

Jack Sato wrote:would regular bar soap be fine?

These are the instructions Dr. Bronners supplies for using their bar soap for laundry: https://www.drbronner.com/pages/castile-bar-soap-dilutions-guide#second-heading

I bet just washing yourself while trodding on your clothes would get them pretty clean. You'd need to spend some extra time rinsing and then figure out how to dry, but that's all doable.

Yes, when I lived in an apt without access to a washing machine, I made my showers double-duty laundry time!

I find it helpful to start the day with natural light—start my morning in the dim dawn light coming through the windows rather than turning on the electric lights.

Of course, this might not work if you need to get up very early at high latitudes.

Pig ears and chicken feet are good chewables that also provide needed nutrients. Can be expensive in stores, though.

The only time any of my dogs have had problems with rawhide is if the wrong size or shape for them. The rolled shapes can be a problem that way. My big dog got a piece of pencil-width rawhide roll wedged across the roof of his mouth once, and it was distressing to him and hard to pry out. Then when he had a larger baton-sized roll he swallowed the last inch-long nub whole and it made him throw up. Never had any problems with the flat squares, though. Particularly now they make them with perforations.

I think I speak for many women when I say this poll is missing my most accurate answer “with my hips.”

Other than in that early millennium dark age of “ultra low rise” jeans, but those were just such a mistake.

Skirts are an easier fit though, especially for store-bought clothes.