john Harper

+ Follow
since Oct 22, 2018
Merit badge: bb list bbv list
Biography
Full time nurse, part time backyard farmer. New to formal permaculture but have been playing with similar ideas all my life. I have a BS in Horticulture from Kansas State and I spent two years in West Africa in the Peace Corps 25 years ago.
For More
Northeastern Kansas
Apples and Likes
Apples
Total received
In last 30 days
0
Forums and Threads

Recent posts by john Harper

I've tried grinding by hand. Wow. That's a tough job. I decided to invest around $100 - $150 in a small electric grain mill and I am very glad I did. There are many brands out there. Google "800g High Speed Electric Grain Herb Spice Grinder" to see what's available.  800 gram capacity seems to be on the lower end, but it does a fine job for me grinding one batch of maize, barley or wheat at a time. One caution is that you need to be careful not to raise the temperature of what you're grinding too high. You can grind in short increments, allowing time to cool off in between.
My moschata landrace project is not off to a great start. I didn't notice any damage from vine borers, but the squash bugs were literally covering every leaf. Out of thirty plants of probably 10 mixed varieties of moschatas, I got two fruits. One was beginning to rot so I opened it to find the seeds were still immature. The other one I will store as long as possible then save seeds from it. I hope to acquire some tropical Thai varieties this winter and will replant any seeds I can salvage along with these and the most pest resistant varieties I already have, such as Seminole and Cherokee Tan.

I was actually shocked at the intensity of the squash bug infestation because this is the first time I've planted squash in a garden spot only two years old that to my knowledge has not had any squash grown nearby for many years. Since I made no effort to control the squash bugs, I'm afraid that the dense overwintering population will lead to an even earlier and worse infestation next year.

Serious question: Does anyone know how Native Americans traditionally dealt with squash bugs? I haven't been able to find any info about this.
2 years ago

Carla Burke wrote:Totally frivolous, but they make very cute seasonal decor, too. And, afterward, you can still use them for the chickens, fire starting, or mulch

I call cornstalks "Kansas bamboo". I've used them to make rustic furniture and such in applications where a lot of strength wasn't needed. Definitely can give a Tiki-village look when used to decorate flat surfaces. :)
2 years ago
That's an incredible deal. No way I could do it, but I'm jealous.

/Just noticed that this post is 8 years old. Sorry. Still jealous though.
2 years ago
If the area is in town, you will probably need a permit for the fence and there is a fee and inspection associated with that. It's a $50 one time charge where I live.
2 years ago
I use a generic moisture proof heating pad from the drug store. Set on low, it reliably provides bottom heat between 70F and 85F when placed below a metal baking sheet that the cups sit on. The one issue I have with it is that it shuts itself off after an hour, so I use a cheap programmable timer plug to turn it off and back on every other hour. I get very good germination on my peppers with this setup. I might get a real heat mat some day, but I already had all this and it seems to work just fine.
They are uncommon here in eastern Kansas but can be locally common. There were quite a few on my parents' farm, some of them quite large - 2 to 2 1/2 feet in diameter down by the creek. We cut a few that had fallen over for firewood. The wood is beautiful with bold bands of red and white and an open grain. Stained it looks like a tropical mahogany. When I was in West Africa one of the common lumber species was African Mahogany, "Lenge" (Khaya spp.) that grew with a similar habit and is also a legume with 8" long fat, woody pods and "beans" about the same size as Gymnocladus.
2 years ago

Tom Knippel wrote: I know of no beginners who started gardening that year who are still gardening.

I think the rest of your post addresses the root of the problem - motivation. Why are you gardening in the first place?

Gardening/Agriculture is either an economic necessity or a passionately pursued pastime with a possible economic payout. It's the same with learning languages. No one learns a foreign language unless there is a significant economic or personal reason to do so, or unless you are a language enthusiast. It's just too hard. It's too much work.

I was inspired by the posts here I read about landrace gardening. I heard about the concept years ago and I've been saving seeds and replanting them for several years now. This year I've decided to intentionally develop several lines of landrace crops, namely maize, moschata squash and pole beans. My growing area is rather small and shady, so these will be limiting factors, but my soil is great and we usually have sufficient rainfall. Japanese beetles arrived in the area about three years ago and squash bugs are terrible, so I'll be letting resistance to these self select.

On a whim I planted some of my Montana Morado Maize seed very early this year on St Patty's day when I planted my potatoes. I had planted some peas and favas the weekend before. Pushing the season in order to develop varieties that I can get two crops a year from would be awesome. I've seen that there are very early selections of Painted Mountain, and since Montana Morado is from the same lineage, I think I might not be totally crazy.

My main project will be a longer season, more productive landrace corn variety, selected toward very dark outer layers and a dark yellow endosperm. My initial seed selections have been made and are sitting in jars awaiting warmer weather.
2 years ago
There's a guy named Clint Locklear with some pretty good videos and podcasts out there on the internet under the channel name Regenerative Permaculture. One of his ideas he calls Caveman Gardening. It seems to fit your description of a minimalist approach. Basically, you find a spot with good sun exposure, lay down a decomposable barrier like cardboard, pile on whatever loose organic matter you have access to, dig down and plant your seeds or plants, then let them fend for themselves and harvest whatever you can off them. I suspect such a minimal input approach with only yield minimal output, but if that's what you're looking for it can definitely be done that way.

Here's a link to a podcast where Clint talks about Caveman Gardening.
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/regenerative/simple-caveman-gardening-no-WIdRAYNDOZe/