Inge Leonora-den Ouden

I'm listening Pauls' most recent podcast. More than once he talks about 'walking onions' (and the boots in their BEL threads mention them too).
I ask myself: are those 'walking onions' they have in Montana the same species I have growing at the allotment garden? When I 'inherited' that allotment plot, the former two renters before me already applied Permaculture (in fact, the first one designed the garden as an example of a Permaculture garden, but he moved on to a different plot. The second one was more a lazy gardener who liked to 'let nature do its thing'). There were all kinds of interesting perennials. shrubs and trees growing there. One of these was a walking onion plant.
That one walking onion plant is still there. It had bulbils, which I planted. Where I planted them there's now one tiny plant growing. That isn't what I expected. I thought there would be many more walking onions now growing there. Did I do it wrong? Is the climate or the soil here wrong??? What can be the problem?

Hi Paul and Samantha. Yes, I do listen to (most of) your podcasts. I like to listen while I do one of my textile hand-crafts.

I heard you mention eating wheat raw, right from the field. That made me think of the report written in the bible about Jesus and his apostles walking along the field and picking and eating the grains (Marc 2:23). I think the grains were not yet fully ripe, still soft and juicy. And maybe they had good strong teeth (which I don't have).

Melissa Ligtenberg wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hey Granny Gravel and Stinging Nettle Bitch! Following your fellow Boots through Permies I read about you, and saw you in the photos/videos. Now finally I can follow your own writings too!
Where I live (in the Eastern part of the Netherlands) there are plenty of Stinging Nettles too. I use them in many different ways. Great plants!

Ohhhh, beautiful! I'm so glad you commented as I wonder often about the Netherlands. I intended to visit your country with my Father when I was still WWOOFing in the EU but he decided not to make that trip so I stayed on in Ireland. I learned more about my Dutch culture, while living in Ireland, than I ever did from my immediate or extended family in Southern California so it's a pleasure to engage with you here and connect over our love for the mighty stinging nettle!

My Grandpa Ligtenberg was sponsored and came to California to learn dairy farming and my Father, as well as some of my uncles, also went into dairy farming as a result. For me, growing up in the 80's and seeing the transition from smaller farms into the horrors of factory farming left quite the impact. I feel my work in Permaculture might somehow make right the harm my people have done to this beautiful land. It's a foundational aspect of the fervor and persistance I've endeavored to hang onto since I first learned about Permaculture.

What a fantastic project Paul has here. Thank you, again, for commenting.

So your Dutch ancestors came to the USA as dairy farmers, back in the days when the farms were small (and maybe more than only dairy? In the past there was often a combination with arable agriculture or fruit trees).  
If you want to see the Netherlands with farms like they were in the past ... maybe the region I live in is one of the best (the eastern part, close to the German border). But in general dairy farms here become more and more industrial (cows staying inside in large modern barns with milking robots, grass like green blankets mown with large machines ...).

Hey Granny Gravel and Stinging Nettle Bitch! Following your fellow Boots through Permies I read about you, and saw you in the photos/videos. Now finally I can follow your own writings too!
Where I live (in the Eastern part of the Netherlands) there are plenty of Stinging Nettles too. I use them in many different ways. Great plants!

Is this only about peas, or also about other legumes?
I read that Vicia faba ssp minor (a small type of fava bean) has been grown for thousands of years already. On the picture they were dry and had a dark grey colour. They were meant to feed the animals, but could have been eaten by humans too (there are even some recipes).

Of the wild fruits growing in my region my favourites are 'Blauwe bosbessen' (Vaccinium myrtillus). Related to Blueberries and Huckleberries. These are low bushes growing in forests on sandy soil.

Coydon Wallham wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:
I have a 'hay-box' I made myself (not with hay, but with wool). I use it regularely. But I found out it keeps hot enough for about an hour. Things like broth need to keep 'close to boiling' for many hours. If you want to use the hay-box/wonderbag, you need to reheat it every hour or so.

How full was the container inside your hay-box? If you have fluid in a container like a dutch oven or a lidded pot, the less headspace (air above the fluid) inside the container, the slower the loss of heat. I'd imagine a cast iron dutch oven would also be better at retaining heat than a SS pot...?

You're right, the fuller the better. And often my pots are not that full. But still my impression is even a full pot (made of cast iron) doesn't stay 'close to boiling' for that many hours.

Coydon Wallham wrote:Does it work to use a strawbale cooker/EZ bake coffin/Wonderbag instead of a crockpot/pressure cooker/instapot to keep temperatures close to boiling?

I have a 'hay-box' I made myself (not with hay, but with wool). I use it regularely. But I found out it keeps hot enough for about an hour. Things like broth need to keep 'close to boiling' for many hours. If you want to use the hay-box/wonderbag, you need to reheat it every hour or so.

Jay Angler wrote:...I think a big part of the "automatic backyard food pump" is identifying plants that grow so well in your ecosystem, that you can count on them for your basic calories and nutrition pretty much without fail. Paul has plenty of other plants and young fruit trees on his land, both wild and domestic. Those can supplement and diversify his diet as available (like rhubarb which is only a spring crop due to its oxalic acid content). In my area, the natives relied on the ocean for their "food pump" by harvesting the salmon run. They also grew camas bulbs, but also exported/traded many of those. Many areas around the world had at least one "reliable" staple crop that was well adapted to their ecosystem.

If the information I got is right, the staple crop growing here, and harvested since prehistory, was a wild parsnip. When potatoes were 'discovered', and came to Europe, everyone changed to potatoes. I don't understand why parsnips now are a 'forgotten vegetable' (starting to come back since a few years, mostly in the organic food stores). They grow easily, at least at my allotment garden. Better than potatoes, which get blight and colorado bugs.

Daniel Andy wrote:I'd like to expand on this question for those with greenhouses.

If you have a (small!) greenhouse and can grow tropical (or subtropical crops) year round...which plants are the ideal ones for low effort food?  I assume various tropical fruit trees, but I could be wrong. Beyond that I have no idea and I would love to hear what people think.

The assumption is this is a small greenhouse....

Hi Daniel. Where I live a greenhouse can be used for growing peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, a.a. Real tropical plants need not only more heat, but also more light than there usually is in this cloudy climate. To heat the greenhouse and have grow-lights on ... can't be called 'automatic'.

But of course in other regions, with other climates, tropical plants can be grown in a greenhouse. In that case my first choice would be: bananas! Because I love them.