Anna Marie Spackman

I was about to order these from experimental farm. So helpful to know your experience with them. I’d appreciate any updates, and I’d love a source for seeds that aren’t bitter!!

Hi there! Love this post, I’ve been experimenting with sprouted and especially high protein ferments for a mostly plant based diet.  
I found this recipe online (link below) that encouraged me to give sprouted lentils a go, I’m trying fermenting some now. Only using salt water this round so I can see what kind of flavor profile they end up with. I’ll try to let you know how they do!

https://www.food.com/recipe/exotic-sprouted-fermented-black-beluga-lentils-521186

I have fermented a few other legumes with varying results, listed below.
My basic method is very simple with only what I have in my kitchen. I soak overnight in a large bowl with plenty of water, then drain in a colander, then leave them in the colander over a bowl to sprout. To ferment, I pack them into a mason jar , cover with brine (usually only salt and water, no starter) and use a cut piece of plastic yogurt lid shaped to my jar, with a slit in it so it can cone into the veg and keep everything down. I put them in a dark drawer and burp my lids daily. I get mold occasionally and just skim it. If I bought special lots it would prob reduce the mold bit I just haven’t yet
On to the results-
Sprouted mung beans- awesome! I love them, they are a bit like capers, delicious on my salads.I do notice that beans tend to mold more often than most of my other ferments. I lost a couple of jars to a black powdery mold that I could not skim off the top- it just mixed in when I tried but most of them were very successful. I like adding a little garlic to the brine and
sprouted garbanzos- I soaked overnight and then only let them sprout for 24 hours. They tasted ok, still had that sort of raw/creamy taste they have when sprouted. They didn’t seem to get fully ‘pickled’ on the inside after 7 days ferment time (estimate, I did several jars, some may have gone for 2 weeks), and didn’t last nearly as long as other ferments, they were good for a couple of weeks and then my jars either got overtaken with mold or developed a strange smell, so they got tossed. I’m realizing as I type this that they went bad because they didn’t ferment long enough to penetrate and fully pickle the inside. I think they would need a very long time.
Black beans- these were successful but I found the flavor of black beans plus vinegar odd, so haven’t done them again.
Adzuki beans- the ferment was successful but they tasted very bitter, haven’t tried again. I did put some turmeric in the brine, but I don’t know if that’s what made them bitter.

Red kidney beans- definitely worth trying! my beans were old and didn’t sprout, so I just soaked and tried fermenting. The skin was too tough and fermenting did not soften it, but the flavor was great, so I tried again with soaked and cooked beans, and they are really delicious. Great on salads! I think cooking first is really the way to go with a larger bean. I think I’ll try cooking first next time with garbanzos.
Happy fermenting

Spiderwort! Beautiful and tasty, and the leaves are edible, too. It does very well in the south where I am. Green Deane says he ferments them to make a tasty kraut, though I haven’t tried it yet.
Daylilies get another vote from me, too. Go for the ditch lily or fulva variety. They are prolific. The best thing about daylilies is that the flowers only last for one day anyway, so you can harvest ALL of the flowers daily, and as long as you leave the other buds, you will have more to harvest the next  day all summer. To me they have very mild flavor, just a crispness like lettuce, which is excellent for summer.
We eat violets all Spring, too as they are everywhere in my area. We also eat the leaves in salads and smoothies.
I want to remind people about dandelion and catsear, flowers, too. They do well battered and fried.
Happy eating!!

Thanks for the suggestions. I’d love to hear back from anyone who has tried the various guild ideas about what is working.

Judith, thank you so much for your posts!!! I followed your journey with your lovely moringas with growing excitement! I just planted seeds and put them out in my greenhouse yesterday!
It was so helpful to see what size and shape they grow in, and how to prune them to get lots of those fabulous leaves.
I am especially excited about how you describe the flavor of the leaves- I was prepared for greens that had to be disguised in a smoothie. I can’t wait to try them now!  I’m in zone 7b and I want to see if I can overwinter one in the ground here, but I definitely plan to use your root storage method to save the rest just to be safe!
Hope you have another amazing moringa year!
Anna Marie

Grant Schultz wrote:The depth and placement of plants here would be critical.  Soil types, vine variety, and irrigation/rainfall all play into typical wine terroir decisions.

How large is your site?

Fastest way to lay out broadacre swales: GPS  http://www.versaland.com/workshops/gps-keyline-design/

Hi there, I'm planning vineyards for a couple of clients near Greenville, SC. hot, humid summers, lots of rainfall, but a bit dry in summer. I'm thinking of planting the vines within about 6 inches to a foot of the cut edge of the swale the uphill side to keep their feet dry, filling the swale with wood chip wide enough for a walkway, and planting the berm to an alternative crop. Varieties will be known grown at local vineyards, including muscadine and some hardy wine varieties.
I'd love to hear thoughts, as well as ideas for companion plants.
Also, the link for broadacre swales no longer works but I'd love to hear about the method.

Thanks,
Anna Marie

I would love to hear about the progress of these attempts!

Just wanted to respond here for posterity- it is very significant the amount of water that can be managed with TREES. Sinking water is literally their job, and if you have a water issue, you very likely have a lack-of-trees issue.
Those fabulous, deep long roots are what is needed to sink all that water into the aquifer below the soil where it belongs. (diverting it off or otherwise letting it run into the neighborhood gutters is likely only going to continue to drain aquifers and contribute to ecosystem disruption- those city water collection plans generally do nothing to recharge the aquifers. Water must be slowed down/allowed to sink higher on the hillside to do that)
Digging a swale (or a few, depending on the size of your property- with the top one as high up on the slope as you can get it) on contour and planting trees into it is likely the best place to start. Calculate your catchment and give your swale a nice, long, dead level spillway (if it's on grass now, leave the existing established turf as your spillway, just don't pile any dirt there when forming the berm) This will collect and sink the water into the swale, and allow you to easily grow whatever you would like above or below it, as all of the water will either be in the swale, or flowing down your spillway slope. (and all of those water loving plants can STILL be planted into the swale)
best of luck,
Anna Marie

Hey y'all I'd love to hear any experience with or ideas for growing christmas trees using permaculture methods on a small farm.
We are in South Carolina, zone 7b, heavy clay soil, on a 7 degree/10% slope.
I'm thinking of growing on mini swales filled with wood chips with support species like indigo.
what other support species for the guilds? layout ideas?
looking at doing 1/2-1 acre area.
Thanks in advance!

Hey y’all I’ve got a few questions about maggot buckets.
I’m wondering how long a bucket with chicken offal will produce maggots- how often do you need to add to them to continually produce maggots?
Because of gaps in processing times, offal or other dead meat are not always available, but Cow manure is readily available year round, so can you produce maggots with this system using only cow manure as an input?
Thanks, all!