Rebecca Rosa

We use everything we can for soup stock, bread crumbs etc, but a vermicompost system (worm bin, though mine contains springtails and isopods too) and chickens make sure almost nothing else ever goes to waste.

A worm bin need only be as large as a documents box, and that kind of smaller scale bin is well suited for starting off a breeding population. Chickens have the added bonus of stacking functions in the garden with more cleanup and recycling, garden bug pest control and eggs.

Its not really that weird but one of our roosters has had someone else's feather stuck to his butt fluff for a month now. It looks ready to float away at a moment's notice. It looked like that a month ago. I could catch him and get it off but there's no discomfort for him and I really just want to see how long it will hang in there at this point.

Since it has been a while, here's an update on this small area -

The asters have persisted and found a home among the rocks that the grass can't overtake.

Last year, I planted white snapdragons in hopes they would self-seed in this spot, but they did not.

Spring ephemerals and bulbs are very well-suited here provided the quackgrass is managed, plan to add more. Late this summer/fall I will scatter seeds of camas.

more drinks -

https://permies.com/t/57424/Switchel-natural-version-sports-drink

https://permies.com/t/1674/green-walnut-wine-nocino-food

soup -

https://permies.com/t/53212/Free-frugal-soup

blackberries (jelly, cobbler, sorbet) -

https://permies.com/t/222188/favorite-recipe-blackberries

I recently got a book at our local library's used book sale, which I am excited to have - El Gran Libro De Las Legumbres by Anna Garcia. I'm not sure if there is an English edition, but the Spanish one can be had for around ten dollars or less on ThriftBooks, etc. It has 250 recipes for beans and legumes, with mostly simple techniques and whole ingredients and ones that are commonly processed at home.

Here is one for garbanzos and pumpkin, which is very good and similar to a stew I like to make with any winter squash. I also like to use celery or onions, carrots, peppers, cilantro, whatever you have to use up... for extra flair and to save on dishes you can serve it in the roasted outer part of the pumpkin or squash you use!

approx. 4 servings

200g dried chickpeas
450g pumpkin
1 leek
1/2 can of crushed natural tomatoes (or fresh, crushed) (200g)
70g almonds
1 slice of bread
1 dried pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
50ml olive oil or frying oil of your choice
pepper
salt

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight. The next day, rinse and drain them.

2. Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds, and chop it into large chunks.

3. Heat 1 liter of water and, when it comes to a boil, add the chickpeas, without salt. Cook over medium heat for 1.5 hours. After the first half hour, add the pumpkin and a pinch of salt.

4. Meanwhile, peel and chop the leek. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the leek over low heat for a few minutes. When it has browned, add the tomato and cook for 10 minutes. After this time, add the cumin and pepper, and stir.

5. In another pan, heat the remaining oil and fry the almonds, bread, and dried pepper.

6. Check if the chickpeas are cooked and add salt. The pumpkin should be practically falling apart. Finally, add the fried bread mixture and the leek and tomato sauce; stir and cook for 5 more minutes. Ready to serve.

These photos show the diversity of colors and patterns in my starting population of 'British Pop' mix from Adaptive seeds.

I find them really appealing, and they leave me dreaming of bean salad....

This sounds like a great project and I hope that you are able to achieve your goals, what an improvement for your community this could be!

I don't know if you aim to achieve the full ADA checklist of accessibility, what materials or equipment you have access to, but at its simplest, the path should be wide and stable, firm, and slip resistant.
I would still want to make sure that your slope and cross slope are as minimal as you can make them, possibly by adding switchbacks, and add defined edges and turnouts, rest spots, etc. How is access to the start and end of the path? Try to think about downpours, ice, users who might have crutches, kids navigating the area with heavy backpacks, younger siblings or older family members, community members coming to access the garden if it becomes a feature, things like that. If you can, talk to your neighbors about their needs and wants, which can have the additional benefit of getting other people interested and supportive, and help with sourcing materials or other things you need.

You might find some inspiration in the garden of Stephen Cantu, who has a permaculture orchard on a slope in San Diego that he has designed to be wheelchair accessible and has created something called the FIG (Friendly Inclusive Gardening) program. I believe he uses crushed concrete or other road material, compacted and topped with 2-3" decomposed granite with a binding agent on top for paths. Videos 1 2  linked to where he talks about his paths, and garden design process.

Christopher, thank you for sharing that source, I wasn't aware of them. Those beans look really interesting, the dark tan with the brown flecks are really striking! That's definitely a promising future addition to the mix.

Mike, thanks for sharing your experience. A harvest just as the season cools off sounds promising, actually.

improving a marginal crop a little bit sounds good to me. Maybe nothing comes of it but I gain nothing if I don't try. I may have to try growing for more than one growing season to get mature seed but if I do, it should already be somewhat improved for growing in my garden.

That would indeed be the holy grail! One can hope, haha.

I would like to save seeds and work toward a vigorous and productive runner bean for my local gardening conditions. I may eat some fresh but primarily want them for storing as dry beans. Runner beans always seem to struggle to set and mature pods for me in our hot summers, so I'm hoping these might produce something for me to save from in the first year and build toward more productivity.

Here's what I'm starting with:

British Pop runner beans from Adaptive seeds: P. coccineus. A genetically diverse mix of British-type runner beans including Tenderstar, Prizewinner, White Emergo, and Polestar and more, adapted to the PNW. Long green pods, beautiful large beans in purple, tan, white and black with some mottling and speckling. Good for eating as fresh green beans, fresh shelled or dry beans. May also have better cold tolerance than other beans.

Scarlet runner: P. coccineus. A diverse North American heirloom. Slightly smaller green pods and beans, black with red mottling or tan with black speckles. Perennial often treated as an annual in northern climates. Sometimes grown for flowers, so hopefully it is not a low-yielding line but either way it may be able to donate pollen.

Some thoughts,
I know beans don't exactly cross at high rates but I hope it might be high enough. I don't think I want to try hand pollinating them. There are a lot of bees, hummingbirds and other pollinators in my garden, so I'm hoping they can help me out and that might help the natural crossability to come out, so to speak.  

I've read you can dig up the roots of scarlet runner and store them over the winter, replanting in the spring for a plant that bears flowers and pods much sooner. I may try saving the roots from my favorite plants and replanting them the next year. Over time this might end up selecting for plants with better storing / more perennial qualities and would also result in backcrossing to my favorite plants.

There are bush beans in my garden as well but P. vulgaris and P. coccineus are not likely to cross and I don't think I need to worry much about this?

I'm open to any thoughts or discussion about this! I'll try to post pictures and progress over time here too.

Here is the process I used and notes I made since 2023

English Walnut Nocino ((my process hasn't been extensively tested, just tested by my taste))

Gathering: Gather 20-40 English walnuts, rinse and half or quarter them.
I gather and rinse green walnuts in late June or early July in Western Oregon. This may be done as early as the beginning of June for parts of California. In some parts of western Europe it is done by June 24th, or St. Jean's feast day. Your location may vary. The main thing is to get the walnuts when they are still green with no black spots forming on the husk, and have not yet formed the woody shells inside, only beginning to form gelatinous nutmeats. The green walnuts should be between 1 and 2 inches in diameter, look vaguely like a Mexican lime, and the juices should run clear when it is sliced.
Wear gloves when handling them unless you don't mind the mother of all stains on your hands for days after!

The maceration process: Add "woody" flavor enhancers like spices at this time. I used I used about 1/2 tbsp of a mulling spice mix containing whole star anise, cinnamon sticks and allspice berries as well as roughly a dozen roasted coffee beans per jar.

Add halved or quartered walnuts into layers in pint jars and generously sprinkle each layer with white sugar over the layers of walnuts as they are added into the jar until it is mostly filled, make sure it at the least is over half full.

Cover with vodka or other high proof spirit (I used HRD Monarch 100 proof) leaving 1 " head space and covering the walnuts (aromatics may float)
Store for 6 weeks up to 3 months on a countertop in a warm room exposed to daily sunlight. Gently agitate the jar daily for the first two weeks, then every 10 days or so until you hit day 40. The sunlight is said to help extract flavor and color. You'll see the liquid in the jars change color from clear to green and darken, eventually turning brownish.

Bottling: Liquid flavorings like syrup, honey, molasses, vanilla etc can be added at this stage.

After your period of maceration for at least six weeks is complete, then pour off the jars, strain out the solids and keep the liquid only to bottle. I just do this when I have time and want my counter space back. but I have read that for black walnuts a period of 3 months or more maceration may make them tolerable. Good luck who anyone who wants to try that endeavor! But now you can store the bottles away in a cabinet and wait for them to age. It takes about a year to be really good and will continue to improve. We tasted my first batch from June 2023 several times and by Xmas 2024 it was really lovely and great to share.

Notes:
I don't see any reason that one couldn't make a smaller batch, as long as you can fill at least half a jar with chopped walnuts.
You can really use any liquor... 100 proof vodka is inexpensive and accessible, but grappa or brandy seem like popular alternatives that would likely result in a much smoother final result.
I have yet to test its shelf life past two years because we ran out of our supply. This year I will make more with just the English walnuts and not mess around with the black walnuts, or walnut pickles this time.
Its said that the best nocino is 12 years old, but I'm not sure we can leave it alone long enough to find out.