Victor Johanson

Derek Thille wrote:The only comment I would make to Victor's post is that you may not want to put in plants that you may want to dig up for the roots (horseradish and valerian from his list).  Now, if you don't want to harvest those roots, those two are good selections.

Valerian flowers seem to be very good pollinator attractors.  Hollow stems should be valuable for overwintering insects.  They are not that tough though if you have windy conditions and grow quite tall (easily 6' / 2m in our part of the world) and they spread easily by seed.

Horseradish is tough as nails and will form a clump slowly spreading over time.  The leaves are edible as well and should make good mulch.  This is one plant that I wouldn't be concerned about if I wanted to walk over it to harvest apples.

Good points. I don't harvest the ones growing under trees; they're strictly companion plants. Valerian will grow tall and poke up into the tree; mind can top 8' here in Fairbanks. They bloom a little late here, during a time when most nectar/pollen sources are spent, so it's nice to have something to fill that niche. Be advised they will aggressively spread.

Anything but sod forming grasses. I plant all kinds of stuff to keep it away through shading and competition:

Comfrey
Raspberries
Tansy
Perennial Alliums (obliquum, altaica, schoenoprasum, nutans)
Dandelions
Caragana
Rhubarb
Horseradish
Yarrow
Mertensia
Lilies
Potentilla
Violets
Bergenia
Burnet
Monkshood
Valerian
Clover
Thalictrum
Iris
Peonies
Silene
Mint
Vetch
Plantain
Shepherd's Purse
Veronica
Veronicastrum
Centauria
Trollius
Dianthus
Bluebells
(and probably others that haven't come to mind)

Old school, no sugar, shelf stable apple butter, courtesy of Steven Edholm at Skillcult. Only ingredients are apples and apple juice. This stuff is amazing. I've made a few batches, and kept them on the shelf for a couple years without any deterioration (in fact, they improve like wine). Important to use non acid apples though, because the acid concentrates along with the sugar, making it pretty brash if you don't use bland fruit:

https://skillcult.com/blog/2015/12/30/in-pursuit-of-the-real-oldtime-apple-butter-shelf-stable-delicious-and-all-apples

Pursuant to the landrace project, I tried to source more Saskatchewan White flint corn seed. I couldn't remember where I originally got it, and had a very difficult time finding any. A Swedish blogger had planted some, and he told me he got his from the German germplasm repository. I ordered some, and got 11 kernels at >$3 each, after jumping through all the hoops to comply with the bureacurats. So I'm growing a few indoors to multiply it before summer.

No, but I have combined apple slices with cabbage in a sauerkraut ferment, which worked fine.

Wow, forgot I started this thread; it's been lively! My own landrace efforts have proceeded in fits and starts. I planted a bunch of carrot root to save seed a couple seasons back, but found nothing but chaff in the heads. However, the next spring, volunteers sprouted all around, so apparently I just missed the window and they'd all dropped. I saved the most promising roots from those, which are in the fridge, and will plant them in pots before long to give them a head start. Now I'm interested in propagating carrots that can be successfully fall sown, a technique that's never worked for me here in Fairbanks, Alaska. I do it with parsnips, which are feral in my yard, and they yield much better than spring sown plants, but until these volunteers came up, none of my attempts with fall sown carrots worked out, so hopefully that will change with these.

A few years ago, I started a cucurbit project, and got lots of seed that year. But the next year none produced viable seed, and this year I only got a few to bear, and the ones I've opened so far also didn't produce seed. I've got a few squash left, though, so maybe I'll still get some, which would be great, since the growing conditions were very marginal and these would be true survivors. I still have seed from the first year to work with also.

I'm also trying to get a landrace grinding corn strain going. A couple years ago, I got ears from Gaspé and Saskatchewan White flint corns. I planted seed from those this year. It appears Saskatchewan White cross pollinated with Gaspé, since the kernels were mostly yellow and the plants exhibited apparent heterosis. I also planted Morden, another super early cultivar, and several others, which failed to mature. This year I'll be planting all those, plus Saskatoon White, which didn't mature for me but which is supposedly earlier than Saskatchewan White, and I'm on the lookout for other early bearing cultivars to incorporate.

Consider the offerings of https://greatbasinseeds.com/ . This merchant specializes in seed for plants suitable for a very arid climate, and has an extensive collection of appropriate species that will thrive in those conditions. Check out their selections for xeriscaping and reclamation of land from such activities as strip mining.

Nankings are good, and hardy too. We had a row of them at the hospital in Fairbanks, which yielded gallons every year; I used to scavenge them before they got ripped out for new construction. They're mild and tasty, if small. I've planted some around my place, but found that the voles love to girdle them and they usually are killed before they fruit. I have a couple now, I think, but still small. Well worth growing in the far north.

There's useful info on handling bones beginning on page 316 of this old text:

https://books.google.com/books?id=pDdBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=young+farmer%27s+manual&hl=en#v=onepage&q=young%20farmer's%20manual&f=false

John Suavecito wrote:Yes, I'm half Norwegian and they're always trying to get us to pay $40 for a dinner of lutefisk.  Cod fish soaked in lye.  "It's a delicacy".  No thanks.  I like fresh herring and salmon, but fermented? I'll pass. The fermenting and soaking in lye was necessary at one time to have enough food to avoid starvation.   And the fresh stuff doesn't cost $40.
John S
PDX OR

We grew up eating Swedish food, but never had lutefisk until I went to a Sons of Norway smorgasbord as an adult and tried some. It was pretty blah. I went with a guy whose wife was from Sweden, and she said it wasn't representative of quality lutefisk, but I doubt it gets too much better. I don't think lutefisk is fermented though, just soaked in the lye. It had a really bland taste and the texture was gelatinous. Nothing to gag on, but palatability is definitely sacrificed for preservation.