Working on the food forest..

Recently ordered honey berries for my food forest (which is under construction). I am in Wisconsin, so I ordered Aurora and Honey Bee varieties as they cross-pollinate well. These are not varieties that grow well in warmer zones.  I am in 5a, which is cooler.  Apparently the good things about honey berries is that they blossom early so it gives the bees a better start.
Also, recently I had some Somerset grapevines shipped in. These grow well in Canada and in my zone as well.  They are good for fresh eating, jam, juice and wine.
I've got some Egyptian Walking Onions, Beaver Valley Purple sunchoke seed tubers, Chinese artichokes, and Yacon Roots on the way from California.  That's fun stuff for me, as I hadn't ever planted things like that before.  I understand that these foods are good fried up in a pan with some butter.
I'm working on getting food to grow that comes back every year, so I can always count on my yard for food. And I'm hoping for good amounts so that I can share.
My medicinal plants that I started from seed are doing very well. I will have a lot to dry this year I think.
And my comfrey which was planted last year, is getting some flowers now. The chickens love to get a leafy treat when I get home from work each day.

Excellent post, deserves more than one apple.

I'll send in a report to he/she/it, to see if him/her/it agrees.

Wait ------ is that PIE I can see under your name???  Strange times that we are living in!!

Peace

Hi Deane!
Thank you for the kind words. These are strange times, but in this grand realm of Permies, I find a lot of comradery in the folks here who, for some reason, share my odd interests.
Yes, indeed, that is PIE under my name. It was a most generous gift! I peeked last night into the super secret PIE only forum to learn what I could learn. If you haven't done that yet, I will gift you a fabulous piece of PIE so you too can view what PIE only members have been raving about.
Let me know - I've satisfied my curiosity and am looking for the next lucky soul to get the PIE.
Warmest Regards, and happy weekend!
Tamara

I'm working on getting food to grow that comes back every year,

Excellent!

I am doing the same, but in a very different zone.

So long, what I've learned is not to buy plants from any nursery. If they have to reseed, better to check if these seeds are able to grow on their own: good seeds are easier to find and deliver than good plants. You are not guaranteed that the very first seeds will not produce unfertile hybrids, but at least you will know that, in case they are fertile, they are able to grow again without special care.

However, gardens evolve, so be prepared that the beds where carrots thrive one year, will be better for other type of crops the next years (or seasons). What I want to do now with the seeds is to keep a few in bags as insurance, and let the rest reseed at leisure. If there is ever too many plants of the same type, I will give them the weed treatment: chop & drop the excedent.

I mix this with perennial plants: fruit trees and edible bushes, which usually are less productive but are easy to work with.

Gardens in the spring - wait, wait, Wisconsin??? let me get my atlas.  Whoaaaaaa, are you still having frost??  Did you wear a coat or a jacket this morning???
How can anything grow there??  How deep is your frost line???  

Just kidding, I've been in Virginia for too long, your winter weather would do me in, for sure.  I can't offer to help in your planting, only in spirit.  I can offer some bulbs and flowers, as well as some seed in early fall.

I'll send a purple pm, listing what I have.  And a real email addy that you can use.  Thunder in this distance,  may have more rain on the way.  Later.


Peace

We Wisconsinites stop wearing jackets once the temperature hits 40 degrees.

Just teasing. No..., wait... actually that is a little true.  But today it was 75 degrees here. No jacket required, and I couldn't ask for a better May.  

Yay for food forest in the making!

Honeyberries do indeed flower early. Here they are in bloom at the start of March. That's a bit early since I don't usually see bees until later in the month. The flowers are nearly over now, so they have a good spread of flowering. Unfortunately I think they need a slightly warmer summer to develop a good flavour, since my beautiful berries taste rather sharp usually and the birds eat them before I want to. Still I have a very happy population of small birds and if it keeps a few off my blueberries (which are loooking good this year!) and feed the bees that's all good. I found the bushes took very well from cuttings (and seeds) so you can increase your stock very easily. It may be worth getting one more variety in case of accidents....
I think you will find that chinese artichokes and Yacon will be replant perennials for you. Certainly Yacon will not like a penetrating frost.
Other perennials you may try are sorzonera (black salsify) which has really tasty leaves although normally grown as an annual for the roots. pfaf says it's hardy zones 5-9 so maybe OK for you?
It looks like Bunias orientalis is only hardy to zone 6 so probably wouldn't make it, but if you can get hold of some Hablitzia tamnoides that tastes to me a bit like lettuce, can be cooked as a spinach type green, and is hardy to zone 3. It is quite an attractive scrambling climber that takes a fair amount of shade.

R Laurence's Caucasian mountain spinach in Sweden

Image from thread on Hablitzia

Good luck - and pictures please!