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oklahoma and texas

Jarrell, TX Food Forest project

James Bradford

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Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 8 months ago

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I've been working at this location for about 3 years now. It features a 400sq. ft. greenhouse, gardens, hugel pile, fruit and nut trees, and various other perineals on about 1/4 acre. I will be posting updates and info for this site here.

row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

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James Bradford

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Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 8 months ago

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Greenhouse performance: good. We just had a cold snap with temps down to 20ish degrees, and I saved my banana tree this year with $24 worth of propane. My next greenhouse, in Salado project hopefully, will feature some type of wood heating.

I did loose a couple of plants as there are some drafty places inside.

...don't worry, these "poop"-matoes aren't for sale

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

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Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 8 months ago

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...lots of plants in every corner and under tables. The plants on the tables stayed warmer

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

Bonnie Kuhlman

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Posts: 183

Location: Zone 7a, AZ

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posted 8 months ago

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Hi James, I'm about 1/2 hour east of Gonzales, but it just happens I'm going to be in Pfluggerville next week - about 1/2 hour (I think) south of Jarrell. I've been trying for awhile to get things accomplished on our 7+ acres and have had a lot of failures and a few successes so far. I'm in my 60's and doing most of this myself. So, I have to be realistic about what I can accomplish.

I'd love to hear more about your plans. And if it works out, maybe we can visit sometime.

Bonnie

James Bradford

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Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 8 months ago

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For a central Texas garden, you can grow lots of greens thru the winter especially if you water b4 the cold and cover.

....just some notes here:

Cilantro, garlic and onions all were fine down to 20, even uncovered

Dill, carrots, peas, and broccoli needed the covers the most.

Spinach, kale, arugula, mustard, turnips, kohlrabi, and beats all seemed happier being covered on the coldest nights

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 8 months ago

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...our "winter blast" ...and I wouldn't mind if that is all we get this year.

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 8 months ago

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Bonnie Kuhlman wrote:Hi James, I'm about 1/2 hour east of Gonzales, but it just happens I'm going to be in Pfluggerville next week - about 1/2 hour (I think) south of Jarrell. I've been trying for awhile to get things accomplished on our 7+ acres and have had a lot of failures and a few successes so far. I'm in my 60's and doing most of this myself. So, I have to be realistic about what I can accomplish.

I'd love to hear more about your plans. And if it works out, maybe we can visit sometime.

Bonnie

...for sure. I love to give tours! ...just give me a little notice because I don't check messages everyday

row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 8 months ago

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Snow is rare here ... this is my b4 pic for BB for spring cleanup.

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

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Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 7 months ago

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Midway on spring cleanup...

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

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Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 7 months ago

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...just accumulating pics here for my hugel bed BB application

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

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Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 7 months ago

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Covid is what flipped my switch, it was the "shot over the bow" that made me think it's time to get serious about self sufficiency, and my 1st goal was to plant enough stuff to provide year round nutrition, not calories, yet. Today's harvest, Cilantro and garlic.

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

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Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 7 months ago

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Garden rows I'm super happy with. It starts with digging, but no dig from now on. This year, all I have to do to maintain garden is cut back dead stuff and throw it in the walking paths. For planting, I sprinkle my seeds on the raised planting hills, and then sprinkle a layer of finished compost on top. I just got my snowpeas in b4 this rain. I'm gonna drop in a couple of wild guara plants again to provide wind shade and something for the peas to climb

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

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Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 7 months ago

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I'm doing this whole project with no running water, and here are some of my tricks:

1. 4000 gallon collection tank
2. Keep plants in trays and save the rain water when they fill.
3. Collection buckets under tables with a drain hole

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 7 months ago

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Carrots coming up in the soil from trench dug around my hugel bed ...only downside is that built up soil around bottom of hugel makes it harder to reach the bed space

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 7 months ago

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...meanwhile, back in the greenhouse, there are many seedlings almost ready to pot. In central Texas we often get a couple of warm weeks in Febuary ...its and important window to sprout early spring garden plants. Sifted biochar and compost work fine for sprouting too

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 7 months ago

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This last freeze dropped temps inside parts of my greenhouse down to 29 deg. Not good for some of my plants, especially the large fruiting tomato plants.

Most things are bouncing back already

Im super excited to build an Oehler style greenhouse at the Salado site. That property has some perfect south facing bluffs to build a passive greenhouse into.

I can keep small plants from freezing in my current greenhouse if i cover them. I never knew how effective blankets can be!

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 7 months ago

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The view in Jarrell: misty morning

Febuary is great time to do heavy lifting in the garden. I been spreading compost, wood chips, and removing dead stuff from last year.

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 7 months ago

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Carrot seedlings froze with temps below 20

row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 6 months ago

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Cilantro does do better covered during hard freezes

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 5 months ago

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Whew, we are having quite a dry spring. I was hoping for better wildflower display. The blue curl and evening primrose are putting the best show on so far.

Even roses have dried out looking petals now.

Primrose estblished and flowered on top of my very dry hugel

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 5 months ago

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Its weed pulling, bug catching, and compost tea making season.

I pretend im just collecting fodder for the tea ...thats more fun than pulling weeds and diseased leaves

Weeds go to collection bins setup to reduce walking

Prickly things and seedy things may go to the biochar trench

Diseased stuff, ants, snails go to bucket full of water with lid

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 5 months ago

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Im getting a few tasty treats

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

Suzie Park

Posts: 30

Location: Austin, Texas area

posted 5 months ago

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Thanks for the photo journal!

Nice work! I didn't know that covering plants in a greenhouse was helpful. Good to know.

I've wondered about earth-sheltered greenhouses in our climate - I can't find anyone who grows successfully like that. Or maybe they don't think it's worth the expense/hassle since we have so many growing months.

I'm also wondering about using rocks as a thermal battery for winter protection without a greenhouse - there's a development nearby that has HUGE excavated rocks I wonder if I can get. We have a mini-ex to move them around. I'm trying to see how much Sepp Holzer-style microclimate stuff I can do just to bump little parts of my zone 8a place to 9. I think perhaps I could do a slightly curved south-facing rock wall with passion vines on trellises covering it during our hot summers so my citrus and banana, etc. won't get scorched, then in winter, cut the vines down. Hmm. Timing would be interesting. Would the vines grow tall/thick enough before the sun gets too hot? I'm very excited to try this experiment. Even without those huge rocks, I could get enough rocks from our own place for an experiment, esp. if I dig to make some Holzer-style crater gardens.

Eternal optimist, passionate about revitalizing the land, awake but conscious of how illusive truth really is. Much love to all!

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 4 months ago

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Suzie Park wrote:
I've wondered about earth-sheltered greenhouses in our climate -

For sure, the next greenhouse I build will feature a cliff as the north wall. I'm planning to build it to spec for Badge Bit credit. In central Texas, I believe such a design will ensure passive effects to keep my stuff above freezing. I also plan to install some sort of wood heating, because when you go to the trouble of building a greenhouse, it also pays to build something that is nice to work in all winter ...multi-use building is the way to go.

row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 4 months ago

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We finally got the gulley washer that we needed to get thru summer. It was so nice to walk outside and hear the sound of rushing water. The road out front would be a dry creek bed if it wasn't a road.

Garden swales are full ...I'm practically walking on water ...no mud here.

Started fire ant training ...stick tapping mound and taking all those who dare crawl up stick to bucket of water. ...easy protein in hard times

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 4 months ago

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...dont count yer peaches until they are in your belly, but looking good so far

Clammy weed is 2nd plant to flower on the hugel bed, and dove weed is 3rd plant to establish up there

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

Suzie Park

Posts: 30

Location: Austin, Texas area

posted 4 months ago

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For sure, the next greenhouse I build will feature a cliff as the north wall. I'm planning to build it to spec for Badge Bit credit. In central Texas, I believe such a design will ensure passive effects to keep my stuff above freezing. I also plan to install some sort of wood heating, because when you go to the trouble of building a greenhouse, it also pays to build something that is nice to work in all winter ...multi-use building is the way to go.

Nice. Hubs and I looked at that big pile of rocks again and were like - hmm. That's a pretty big pile of rocks. And many rocks may be difficult to move with the mini-ex. We'll see. Pacing myself, still want to get the mulch we have in the swales to help prevent evaporation. We also got good rain in the last month, so my berms and swales are doing pretty great, although nature's individual species are establishing their own monocultures in different places around. I have volunteer wild amaranth which the bees love but I will want to prevent from going to seed. The volunteer poppies were a welcome addition I haven't seen here before.

Thanks for the additional photos - so neato! Haha re: pecan. Maybe you can crest that driveway in the future, or just dig short ditches on the sides with little brush/rock dams. Or at the upslope, dig some diversion swales filled with rocks where you drive over it.

Eternal optimist, passionate about revitalizing the land, awake but conscious of how illusive truth really is. Much love to all!

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 2 months ago

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This was one of the 1st apricot seedling that I dug up here in Jarrell and replanted. It was spring of 2022 as best I can remember. It started blooming this January and kept blooming thru a (late for us) freeze in late Feb.
https://permies.com/t/273224/a/258033/20250121_091123.jpg

Look at these fruits now!

...hoping I get to taste them. This seedling must have been result of cross pollination with a better tree

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 2 months ago

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We had a really dry March this year, which I let discourage me from planting more in ground stuff. It's been a wet year ever since, so kicking myself I dont have more of these babies growing.

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 2 months ago

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This is my first harvest from the 1st wild apricot that I planted here. I think a lizard knocked 3 of them down last night ...and ate about half of one. I had no idea they were ripe. They are as sweet as peaches, but ripen green.

I'm so glad I didn't try to graft on to this tree ...I'll be collecting its scions instead! I want stone fruit from may to September, and this tree will cover mid July for me!

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 1 month ago

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It's time to use the compost tea ...I do one cup per 5 gallons. i have a lot more tea in the pipe-line and so I will probably up the dose next for the next watering.

My watermelon patch gave birth to a 30.5 lbs Charleston Grey ...hoping I picked it at the right time. I'm taking it to the farmer's market tomorrow to show off -- hope its good.

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finishing the last of the compost recovered from the now defunct Salado Food Forest project

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my entertainment, watching the watermelon vine run from the morning glory monster

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got a nice break today ...light rain makes watering easier

row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 1 month ago

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This is my current cooking setup. I'm propane independent now ...9 months out of the year ...unless I get lazy some day.

It started with a citronella candle that I was using on my porch to keep mosquitoes away and out of my cabin. Those candles cost 8 bucks each, and the wicks don't last for the whole can of wax; that got me to looking for cheaper option.

So, I started burning cedar chips in that small rectangular, stainless steel, tray at left in the picture. That worked great and I just carried it around where-ever I was working to chase away the skeets. So then I tried cooking on it. It worked, but as it got drier, I worried about burning sticks falling out. So then I went fancy ... big terracotta pot with just the right amount of soil in bottom to hold a stainless steel pale at just the right height under my grill. I also drilled a few holes in the fire pale for venting. It works really great, and sparks and embers fall inside the terracotta pot. I start a fire 1st thing in the morning, the smoke clears the skeeters, and by 10 am I have that inner pale full of burning coals to cook my "whatever the garden has" omelet.

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from smoke smudge pot to cooking with sticks

row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 1 month ago

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today's recipe was: young, tender black-eyed peas, okra, thai basil, and lambsquarter

row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 2 weeks ago

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Visitors! Yay! I love to show visitors around the Jarrell food forest. Today the organizers from the Texas Permaculture Expo, Suzie and Austin, came out:

https://lgetx.org/texas-permaculture-expo

If anybody is out there burning up I-35 halfway between Waco and Austin, TX ... shoot me a purple moosage and we'll coordinate a site visit.

-james

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Susie and Austin from the Learning Gardens

row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 2 weeks ago

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ah, what to do for entertainment today? ...make a wooden spoon with my skill saw?

that one came out a little like a spork, and so the next day I used a hot coal to burn out the bowl.

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whittling is easier if you oil the wood as you go ...here using grapeseed oil

row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 10973

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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posted 2 weeks ago

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I like the hot coal idea. I wonder whether the burnt wood makes a better durable food safe surface?

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 2 weeks ago

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I've been using both spoons, and for food utensil purposes, both work fine. Mainly the burning saved me from having to buy a fancy curved chisel to carve out the bowl of the spoons. Spoon making is kinda fun, and I'm working on a bigger, deeper, serving sized spoon now!

...but yeah, fire hardening wood has been practiced for thousands of years.

row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 258

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 1 week ago

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Fall update - Jarrell Food Forest project

The Hugel pile does seem to retain moisture deep inside. Petunia's here are doing better than in the row garden. Other summer survivors/thrivers include parsley, japanese 4'oclock (which grew thru 3 ft of added material), dove weed, and scarlet sage.

Hanging in there on the low side: Okra, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes are looking great. These get a little grey water. I'm happy to see the sweet potatoes making inroads into the pile. I won't ever harvest them here, and hope that they will inundate the hugel bed to the point that in 5 years its a big pile of fertile dirt and sweet tators!

About the only sweet snack around these days are turk's cap fruits. Its still too dry for my figs to ripen the fruit. We need a good gulley washer for that.

I'm super stoked about a few strawberry plants I set out in the row garden. They get shade from noon on, but I only watered them a couple of times thru the whole summer. Can't wait to see how they do come spring.

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