Stephen B. Thomas

Way to go, guys...!

Last year, we had pumpkins and counted the calories for the flesh separate from the calories for the seeds. Wise move.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:Did you use a special cultivar? I know OIKOS had some that they have selected for their ability to stay close to the mother plant.

I think our current stock is the equivalent of a landrace version. Every year, we grab some from a plant and then drop them in areas that had no sunchokes that season.

Sunchokes have been growing here since before I arrived (over 3.5 years ago), and I don't recall Paul or any other gardeners here ordering any from elsewhere. There are so many here at this stage that it seems silly to even consider purchasing any, ever. It might be to the point that we have separate cultivars growing at Basecamp versus those growing at the Lab. Those parcels of property are about 2 miles from each other, and some microclimate differences may have emerged over the years.

All the sunchokes from this current video series were grown at Basecamp, while all those in the GAMCOD project videos are grown at the Lab. It would be interesting to see if there were any noticeable differences between the plants' yields based on where they were harvested, but just from a casual glance I haven't observed any.

I'd posted our latest video about the length of the sunchoke harvesting season. Things grew wonderfully through the month of October. I think it will be even more impressive at the end of November.

If I were to be somewhat technical about it, I would say all those sunchokes came from about three square feet of surface area on a hugelkultur garden bed.

BEL #831

Here's the latest sunchoke/Jerusalem artichoke video update. Looks to me like they grow wonderfully through the month of October.



Thanks for watching, and enjoy your day...!

Yes Nancy, it arrived and Paul picked it up earlier this week. Thank you so much for all the goodies. Fellow Boot Zach and I sampled the laverbread, and that kind of blew our minds. The biscuits went great with our homemade rhubarb jam, and disappeared way too quickly. We'll be chipping away at your generous bounty in the days ahead.

I'll have a closer look at those "pie spices" you included, and will likely find no other use for them but to drop them in the soil...

Once again: many thanks, Nancy...!!!

I think we did some excellent work over there at the lumber mill today.

BEL #830

Here's a research video I cut together after fellow Boot Esteban and I found an enormous, currently-unidentified vegetable growing just outside the Library.



Thanks for watching, and enjoy your day...!

Regarding melatonin, when I lived in the city I would take it to help me fall asleep at night. In the hours before bed I'd also set my environment to be conducive to sleep, though it sounds like you have this sorted out already, Judith. I also agree that a tolerance can build up over time if it becomes a habitual practice while not building other sleep-positive habits.

Anne Miller wrote:For about ten years I have used a phrase to help me go to sleep.  It was a phrase picked by a past Chamber of Commerce member and placed on a billboard. [...] Until recently, I didn't understand meditation though I now believe that is what I have been doing for about ten years.  Maybe I am wrong ...

I use what I call "words of affirmation" when I lay down to sleep at night, which is a collection of statements and a kind of "sleepytime mantra" I made for myself. I find that I can fall asleep quite quickly - and sleep like a rock - if I say these to myself when I lay down and am settled. I'd recommend this kind of practice for anyone to try. To be clear: it's not "prayer," per se. But I'd possibly consider it as a personal spiritual practice, and religion is not required.

BEL #829

A few highlights of today's potato harvest along with some other vegetables, over at Basecamp. This has been the best year I've seen, in general.

This is the first year we've grown Hubbard squash during my time here, and they left quite an impression on me. This one's the size of a basketball:



Daikon radish makes frequent appearances, and this one is a fine specimen. There's at least one more I saw within reach that's this size, still in the ground. I'd like to ACV-pickle this one in little radish-sticks.



This is not a rock. This is a potato...! My current fellow Boot, Esteban (yes, both his parents and mine had excellent taste in names) found this mutant during today's harvest.



I struggled to keep up with his discoveries, however I think this four-gallon bucket - full of red-skinned potatoes from a single plant - is a solid contribution.



This was our haul from a Friday afternoon (actually, Esteban was also working on another bucket, so there were still more than this that came out today). Not bad at all, I'd say. I think two solid years of consistent irrigation have helped these struggling hugels finally turn a corner and begin to pump out bushels and bushels of food. It's been a great harvest season, so far.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

John Halman wrote:Any spots for the bootcamp opening in November?

New Boots are welcome on Sunday, 2nd November.