Chance Lunceford

Okay, latest update to the project area is that 10 brambles (7 blackberries, including the Anderson Park Blackberry, and 3 raspberries) and 3 pawpaws, plus the seeds of 5 nectarines, 3 plums, and 4 apricots, around 15 walking onions, and around 4oz of a thoroughly diverse wildflower mix got planted by me and my middle daughter today.

Below are some photos of the load in my vehicle, and the plantings covered by a layer of mulch and kinda hidden.

A late volunteer this year.

We'll see if I can get a single ripe fruit in the next 30-45 days, as I'm likely to have first frost within that window.

Chance Lunceford wrote:

"Stratify until March in the fridge," but without clarification. I asked if as-is, or in damp media via email.

I'll follow up here when they do there.

So, these are 2025 seed and are already stratified. Didn't know that, but I do now. These are ready to plant.

I reckon I'll get some pots started, in a staggered fashion of maybe 10 per week, starting December.

As time goes on, I'll bring in some hybrids and specimens from different parts of the country and plant those out too, just to ensure I don't get any detrimental founder's effects while I'm getting my initial population established.

Once that's done, I can begin to create new pockets and allow them to do what they will.

Got 'em.

They said 50% germination, so sent double.

"Stratify until March in the fridge," but without clarification. I asked if as-is, or in damp media via email.

I'll follow up here when they do there.

Hoping for at least 80 plants.

I'll plant some here on my yarden, a bunch in my project area, some in pots asd gifts to friends/family/neighbors, plus I'll sell some to recoup some expenses in a year which has seen quite a few of those.

Pretty excited to get this population going, because it's the beginning of a unique chapter in this plant's history, and there's going to soon (a relative term, of course) be a naturalized population of passiflora in Utah. Allegedly.

And, of course, preserves/jams/jellies/butters from the fruits are an easy value add.

What would also be cool is a class teaching how to make those things with the fruit you just picked.

Ice cream, sorbet, sherbet, gelato, all sounds good.

In fact, there's a guy two cities North of me who makes gelato as authentically as possible, using either local or imported Italian ingredients. I learned about him from a local store that sells specialty oil and vinegar, plus macrons and gelato. They get their gelato from this gentleman. If he's still doing this thing when I'm ready, I'll contract with him to make gelato using my fruit and local milk.

Also, one of the things I'll do in the future is contract with local pig farmers to bring in a certain amount of pigs at the end of the season to eat the fruit and nuts on the ground, loosen the soil, and fertilize, using a paddock-shift.

These are then top shelf specialty pigs that taste like the season, with their newly sweet and nutty flavored fat, which can sell for more than good beef to the right family to enjoy during their fall/winter celebrations.

Anyway, that's a bit of a tangent. Heh.

Lidi Nunya wrote:A good idea in general, but make sure to be insured up to your eyeballs because unfortunately, people are gonna be people and you don't want to be held liable.


how 'bout that? My very first comment!

Welcome to the party.

Insurance+Waivers is the move, I think.

Heh.

I was being a bit cheeky. My point is a simple one:

You're taking care of things right where you're at, then taking the evidence of your solutions with you to the discourse. And, your love for the land you live on is evident.

Your skillset and perspective are shaped by your environment, and it's valuable that this is so, because it shows how principles in practice shift in some ways, while also helping to continue to refine and define the universal skillset required to live in harmony with the planet.

This is honorable and good, and I like it.

It's the approach I'm also learning to take. Small steps, but I keep taking 'em.

Anyway, I'm grateful for you and the example you're setting, consistently, year after year. It's impressive, and it brings me joy. Keep it up, man.

Tereza Okava wrote:if you get hooked up with the library and homeschool crowd, this would be huge.

I am thinking about how many times we've been picking. A lot of orchards have the small trees, and it's lovely. That time of year there are often pumpkins or other products available. It's a good opportunity for pumpkin painting or picking squash (carving might get complicated).

So many places I went to as a kid had petting zoos, donuts, cider, things like that.

I do love the idea of fruit bingo. That's fabulous.
I guess if your focus is on kids and not on people picking volume (in my experience, the other major market group at U-pick operations) then charging per-head with a bag included, you can take home that much, seems easiest.

I think I'd be more concerned about adults being stupid than kids getting into trouble, although to be sure you'd need to be super careful about fencing off bodies of water, keeping kids away from animals, and even maybe things like wasps (maybe just cleaning up fallen apples often enough takes care of that).

There are some cool places here in Utah Valley that are farm-based seasonal amusement locales, with corn mazes and pumpkin patches and cider/donuts, and farm stores and such.

There are also some U-Pick Orchards.

There is also a place called Thanksgiving Point which has shops for craftsmen, a large garden grounds (including a world famous tulip festival in the spring where they plant more than a million bulbs, and then they sell them at the end of the season, so I've purchased like 10 dozen bulbs over the years), and other attractions.

What I want to build is something like a combination of all three, with an amphitheater for concerts, weddings, and other events, and a seasonal bed and breakfast. The U-Pick would be a step in that direction.