Dorothy Pohorelow

Actually you can find bast bamboo but it is rare.  The most common form of bamboo is actually rayon made from bamboo.  The manmade fibers that masquerade as natural can be interesting.  For instance Peppermint fiber is a manmade fiber from cotton and a small amount of peppermint plant.   It is much like extremely long stapled cotton to spin.  Bamboo Rayon and rose fiber are both more slippery and feel like plastic to spin, the same with the corn fiber they used to make umm Ingeo I think it was called.  

greg mosser wrote:i mostly grow groundnuts in 45 gallon cloth pots.

I opted to do just a single plant in a 20 gallon grow bag and 2 in a 30 gallon bag as finding dirt to fill them can be difficult on my budget.   I have to finish filling up the 30 gallons I will be putting the Saint Charles sunchokes in AND the nine 15 to 20 gallon grow bags I will have potatoes in...

If he does have sheep do you know what kind? If Florida Crackers check out the Shave Em to Save Em program the Livestock Conservatory has going on...

WOW sounds like it is a good thing I ordered this year instead of waiting for next year to try apios americana...  I ordered 4 tubers of the Clusternut Groundnut form Oikos for my first try.  I do need to decide how large a grow bag I need for them.  If  they grow well I will be happy to share.

This is also my first year growing Honeydrop My Honeydrop seeds came from Quail Seeds.  My seedlings are doing well but I have not potted them up yet.   They do however look a bit purplish which I have put down to getting cold.  I will move them to a warmer area when I pot them on.

Kintraks is my favorite.  Available for Windows or Linux and can be used for any species of animal you raise.  The developer is constantly tweaking and upgrading it in response to suggestions from users.   Best part is once you buy the license all upgrades from then on are free.   There have been a number of programs developed over the years and I have tried 3 or 4 of them before trying and sticking with Kintraks since the 90s.   I have used it for cavies, rabbits, and dogs but it can also be used for chickens, beef, llama etc.  Each species or breed can have their own database and you just pick the one you need.  Price is very good also.
https://www.kintraks.com

So while probably not the best way to get the small plant I was after I did just plunk down funds for 5 fig cuttings to try to grow a tree from.  Two are Nexoe aka Bornholm cuttings.  This is a variety I would never have heard about if not for this thread. Thanks Skandi Rogers for mentioning your figs...  I am looking forward to seeing how these do.

The other 3 cuttings are Marseilles Black VS which I had seen mentioned as a type of Mt Etna fig that was hardy and an early ripening.  

IF they all give me trees you can bet at lest one will be planted outside and trained in a stepover form to see how it works in this climate.

A full size flokati rug/bedspread in perfect shape except for a small section with gum on it.  Ice and peanut butter got it right out.  It lasted us over 30 years...  The cast iron skillet set we are still using.  They were so new there was no crust on them but had some rust.   Few days in a trash bag with ammonia and they were good as new.  That was in Germany in the late 70s.
Germany actually has "junking day"  you set things out you plan on trashing or no longer want and anyone can come along and pick them up.   Next day the trash trucks come by.  

Grin of course the "unobtanium superfigs" would probably turn out to need a specific rare bug that only exists in that area to set fruit...

For me hardy would mean capable of surviving AND producing fruit in our cold, windy, sunny climate.  I live at just over 6,000 ft altitude in a semi arid area that is listed as zone 5.  Snow is possible any day of the year even if hail is more likely then snow in the spring and summer.  Do I expect to have to baby an inground fig tree OH HECK YES!  Do I think it is possible to have an inground fig in this area... not sure which is actually a change in my attitude from a few days ago when I first started reading this thread.  My impression had always been that figs were a southern plant and could never grow in the north...  

Now I am looking at step over espaliers and not just for that mythical fig tree...  this is something I had never heard of.   And now my head is spinning with choices for other fruit trees I know can grow and produce in this area.  

I still think my best chance of getting fresh figs from my own tree is to grow one in a pot.  Which presents it own problems.   I live in a 1938 cape cod style house.  This means small rooms,  tight steep stairs to the basement, no attached garage.   So finding a place for a large potted tree would be hard.  I am thinking I need to pick a smaller dwarf type variety.  But since I plan on it living outside at least part of the year it also needs to be able to handle our weather.  The hot sun, dry winds, cool nights, oh and occasional hail... though if it is small enough it come in on those days.

are there really figs that can survive outside in a Zone 5 location?  I was under the impression our cold would kill them.  I have been doing research this year for a fig variety that I can raise inside that won't take over my small 1938 house...