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Look! It turned into a fiber garden!

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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Grass is encroaching upon my garden, and mowing responsibilities have been transferred to the kid. How do we prevent the garden edge from becoming a 4 foot mess of grass? I wonder... what seeds do we have?

Cowpeas ought to make an obvious border. What varieties? Hmmm... looks like pink eye purple hulled and brown crowder.

cowpea-seed.jpg
[Thumbnail for cowpea-seed.jpg]

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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Aha! That Flax I didn't have time to plant. It may be too late, with the heat coming on. But I can't seem to get things going at the ideal time. I'm learning that an attempt gets better results than waiting until next year, again.

Grocery Flaxseed abut $4


I picked it up at a grocery store. R Ranson has inspired me to try it for fiber, have you seen her book? Maybe the seed will sprout?

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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Cotton! I'm planting that at the same time as the farmers do. Good timing, for once. There are varieties available that the seed will easily slip away from the fiber. This is not one of them. I begged a few bolls of an unknown cultivar from a heritage demonstration. The seed is getting old, at three years ago...

cotton-seed-2.jpg
[Thumbnail for cotton-seed-2.jpg]
Cotton boll with seed

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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I keep hearing that polycultures and layers are supposed to be good.  Sorgum alongside, in case the cotton fails. And squash. Because of all that unused space on the tarps. (Still trying to smother out a bunch of Chufa.) Kale!


seed-pkts.jpg
[Thumbnail for seed-pkts.jpg]

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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Empty garden border


I got this area seeded just before a thunderstorm refreshed my 3 week dry spell. I just scattered the Flaxseed, without raking it in. Once again, not ideal, but see what happened 3 days later! Sprouts!

Sprouting Flax


Flax seedlings


And here we are, about 7 days after planting. Success! Even the cotton sprouted!



I wonder, how tall does the flax need to be before no more watering is needed? Our usual seasonal drought is sneaking up on us.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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Update on my 2019 fiber garden... I chose not to water it last year. Our seasonal drought was longer than normal.

I did not expect the cotton to sprout and I planted too many things in the space allotted. The cowpeas just complicated the already crowded area. They should have been another 2 feet distance to allow production of any of it.



I did not weed the flax on time. They were weak and leggy once they did get weeded. They were so week they just lay on the ground and expired. No blooms. The growing Mulberry tree cast more shade than I expected.



The squash grew big and lush, shading out the cotton, stunting it. When the squash began to vine, I pulled them towards the tarp, revealing only 4 cotton still living. I got several late blooms, but no bolls developed before the growing season ended.



Now I know that this is not the location for a fiber garden.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Cl Robinson
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Joylynn,

Did you plant the chufa or is it volunteer?  Is it the edible variety?  We are wanting to grow the edible variety so I am interested in your experience with it.  The BBFE (Best BoyFriend Ever) remembers eating it as a child it was everywhere.  It is no longer anywhere here that we can find.  The deep south has a kill the overgrowth mentality because 1.  A lot of plants get invasive here  2.  Most people dont know they are food/medicine  3.  King Cotton/Conventional Ag.   Many counties have wiped out elderberry, chufa,  mullein, and other useful "weeds".

Never give up, Never give up, Never give up!!!

 
bruce Fine
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chufa? tell me more.  its a root crop, right? the stuff that hunters plant in their food plots to attract turkey?
what's it taste like and how do you prepare it or is it to be eaten like a carrot.
 
Jane Mulberry
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Here's an article on using chufa: http://www.eattheweeds.com/cyperus-esculentus-rotundus-for-lunch-2/
And here's Joylynn's original post explaining why she's trying to get rid of it so she can grow other things: https://permies.com/t/86909/Chufa-Misadventure-AKA-Nutsedge

I'm only 64! That's not to old to learn to be a permie, right?

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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Thank you Jane for answering.. I managed to miss that question.

Re Chufa... It is a long thread.. The war is not over.. It does not want anything else to grow. So be careful when choosing your own location for it.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Jane Mulberry
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I intend to be. It's one of those things that sounds good in theory, but the reality can be a little lot different.
I haven't visited my land yet, so I may of course get there to find it's already full of the stuff!

I'm only 64! That's not to old to learn to be a permie, right?

 
r ranson
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I love how beautiful cotton flowers are.  Did you get a harvest?  

Beautiful garden.  

how permies works
homegrown linen | crazy chicken lady grows yarn!

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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No, while the cotton did bloom, with too much shade, the pods did not mature before the killing frosts. The flax was shaded completely out.

I skipped growing them last year. I left out the flax for this year too.

I planted cotton this year In 5 hours of full sun a month after the fields had been planted by the farmers.. I have 5 white cotton plants and 2 brown cotton plants. I have several pods on each. nicely plump. Still fully green though. There would have been more white, but some were overcome with weeds. The rest have been rescued and mulched.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
May Lotito
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How many plants do you need to get enough fiber for weaving into fabric for clothing? I looked at the pictures in this article and estimate 6 yards of 17 inches wide for a blouse.
https://handwovenmagazine.com/designing-garments-loom/

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

 
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Joylynn Hardesty wrote:No, while the cotton did bloom, with too much shade, the pods did not mature before the killing frosts. The flax was shaded completely out.



Mostly I'm writing this as an excuse to share my latest (very short) video about cotton.

In the greenhouse and as a houseplant, I find I need to be the bee and pollinate by hand.  Either with a paintbrush or by 'tickling' (knocking the plants).  

Pretty video.



Did the cotton pods open after the frost?  In the video I saw from Ontario, she harvests after the freeze.  But their falls must be much dryer than ours.  

how permies works
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Joylynn Hardesty
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Beautiful video R. Way back then I took a picture of the harvested before the frost bolls. I stuck them on a high shelf and forgot about them, and your picture. Ooops. Here you go.

Here they are today, all dried out, and mostly open.


I guess I should plant them, hmmm?

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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From the summer 2021 season.
To my untrained eye, both fiber-colored plants look the same to me.


I was surprised to find out that the brown cotton blooms a boring white. Pretty in its own right, but...


The white fiber cotton is a beautiful pink. I only have a picture of the bud though.


I was gifted some additional cotton seeds this year. Yay! I'll be back to post again after planting, to share what they are. The gifter planted a couple of varieties together, so... landrace maybe? Mine were planted in one long row, definitely close enough to cross as well.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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The gifted varieties were Erlene's Green and Red Foliated White.


Here I have pictured the white cotton I received from the heritage demonstration mentioned above. It is probably a commercial variety as the demonstration was on the cotton gin. They got a deer in the headlights look when I asked what the variety name was. The heirloom natural I misplaced the name of.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Joylynn Hardesty
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The plants that grew the gifted seeds were grown together, so we may have the beginning of a landrace. I planted as many green fibered seeds as I was given, finishing the row with the red foliated white. I put another row of my natural fiber in the same bed. I'm pretty sure we'll have a landrace next season!

Imagine the horror of the fiber enthusiasts who labored to develop these colors.

Did you notice how clean that black seed is? Totally naked and without fuzz... this is how it popped out of the cotton boll. I think this means a person may be able to spin straight from the seed with this variety. This is a feature that I want to keep! So I planted another row in a bed 15 feet away, behind a trellis that I pray will be covered in squash.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
nellie stella
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Joylynn Hardesty wrote:The gifted varieties were Erlene's Green and Red Foliated White.


Here I have pictured the white cotton I received from the heritage demonstration mentioned above. It is probably a commercial variety as the demonstration was on the cotton gin. They got a deer in the headlights look when I asked what the variety name was. The heirloom natural I misplaced the name of.





Ok that green cotton is just amazing!! I live in Georgia and man do I ever need some! Where did you get it? (Sorry, perhaps you already said where you got it and I just didn't notice)
 
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nellie stella wrote:

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:The gifted varieties were Erlene's Green and Red Foliated White.


Here I have pictured the white cotton I received from the heritage demonstration mentioned above. It is probably a commercial variety as the demonstration was on the cotton gin. They got a deer in the headlights look when I asked what the variety name was. The heirloom natural I misplaced the name of.





Ok that green cotton is just amazing!! I live in Georgia and man do I ever need some! Where did you get it? (Sorry, perhaps you already said where you got it and I just didn't notice)

((EDIT: I forgot to ask, does it really keep that pretty green color when you spin with it?))

 
Casie Becker
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https://www.southernexposure.com/products/erlene-s-green-cotton/

How's this for crazy, it's a heirloom developed in East Texas but they aren't allowed to ship seeds to Texas.  It looks like other southern states may have their own restrictions also but at least the variety is still out there.
 
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