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A life long passion for plants helped me create Oikos Tree Crops. A wise man once said only a new crop can come from new seed. This was the beginnings of my tree crop farm with the use of the great diversity found in the world today. Starting with my families Christmas tree farms, I began an attempt to weave ecology and agriculture together and find plants that would also fit this type of permaculture and agroforestry design. After completing my degree in biology and working in both retail and wholesale nursery trades, I started a small farm to produce a wide variety of woody plants along with numerous food plants. From there I began the process of creating a repository for seed production. Today my farm is used for the production of seeds of many woody plants, fruits, nuts, perennial, and wild crops of global use in and out of cultivation. Each year I begin new grow out of plants that could be part of this ever changing world we live in.

From Snow Fountain to Snow Mountain

All plants have an extremely large potential for change far greater than our imagination of what we think is possible.  Modern plant breeding goals are almost always incredibly tiny and parceled out in super small characteristic level based doses.  There is never going from point A to point B and wrapping it up. There is …

Author: admin

A life long passion for plants helped me create Oikos Tree Crops. A wise man once said only a new crop can come from new seed. This was the beginnings of my tree crop farm with the use of the great diversity found in the world today. Starting with my families Christmas tree farms, I began an attempt to weave ecology and agriculture together and find plants that would also fit this type of permaculture and agroforestry design. After completing my degree in biology and working in both retail and wholesale nursery trades, I started a small farm to produce a wide variety of woody plants along with numerous food plants. From there I began the process of creating a repository for seed production. Today my farm is used for the production of seeds of many woody plants, fruits, nuts, perennial, and wild crops of global use in and out of cultivation. Each year I begin new grow out of plants that could be part of this ever changing world we live in.

The Mongolian Oak Rises Into the Canopy

I’m not sure where I received the acorns of this species. In the beginning, I was part of a network of what I loosely defined as oak obsessed individuals with a love for all things Quercus. Yes. Whacky edible acorn people were part of this group. Everyone contributed.  I do remember getting two attempts of …

Author: admin

A life long passion for plants helped me create Oikos Tree Crops. A wise man once said only a new crop can come from new seed. This was the beginnings of my tree crop farm with the use of the great diversity found in the world today. Starting with my families Christmas tree farms, I began an attempt to weave ecology and agriculture together and find plants that would also fit this type of permaculture and agroforestry design. After completing my degree in biology and working in both retail and wholesale nursery trades, I started a small farm to produce a wide variety of woody plants along with numerous food plants. From there I began the process of creating a repository for seed production. Today my farm is used for the production of seeds of many woody plants, fruits, nuts, perennial, and wild crops of global use in and out of cultivation. Each year I begin new grow out of plants that could be part of this ever changing world we live in.

The Flavor Farm Finds the Lemon

  Once I hired a someone for my shipping and packing crew who always came to the farm in the morning with the same breakfast. He would first open a package of Ding Dongs on the packing table in front of him and then follow it by cracking open a Diet Pepsi. This combination was …

Author: admin

A life long passion for plants helped me create Oikos Tree Crops. A wise man once said only a new crop can come from new seed. This was the beginnings of my tree crop farm with the use of the great diversity found in the world today. Starting with my families Christmas tree farms, I began an attempt to weave ecology and agriculture together and find plants that would also fit this type of permaculture and agroforestry design. After completing my degree in biology and working in both retail and wholesale nursery trades, I started a small farm to produce a wide variety of woody plants along with numerous food plants. From there I began the process of creating a repository for seed production. Today my farm is used for the production of seeds of many woody plants, fruits, nuts, perennial, and wild crops of global use in and out of cultivation. Each year I begin new grow out of plants that could be part of this ever changing world we live in.

The Perennial Bean

I love beans. It is my favorite protein source. I am particularly fond of red lentils as they are very digestible and quick to cook. When someone brought up lentils in one of my agricultural classes in the late 1970’s the professor joked, “What are those? Beans grown during lent?”  He then followed up with …

Author: admin

A life long passion for plants helped me create Oikos Tree Crops. A wise man once said only a new crop can come from new seed. This was the beginnings of my tree crop farm with the use of the great diversity found in the world today. Starting with my families Christmas tree farms, I began an attempt to weave ecology and agriculture together and find plants that would also fit this type of permaculture and agroforestry design. After completing my degree in biology and working in both retail and wholesale nursery trades, I started a small farm to produce a wide variety of woody plants along with numerous food plants. From there I began the process of creating a repository for seed production. Today my farm is used for the production of seeds of many woody plants, fruits, nuts, perennial, and wild crops of global use in and out of cultivation. Each year I begin new grow out of plants that could be part of this ever changing world we live in.

For the Love of Apricots

  For me it is impossible not to check out the apricots in the produce section of my local grocery store. I know they are from California. I know that the flavor is iffy and not tree ripened.  I still have to try. Several times I have ordered the organic Frog Hollow Farm apricots from …

Author: admin

A life long passion for plants helped me create Oikos Tree Crops. A wise man once said only a new crop can come from new seed. This was the beginnings of my tree crop farm with the use of the great diversity found in the world today. Starting with my families Christmas tree farms, I began an attempt to weave ecology and agriculture together and find plants that would also fit this type of permaculture and agroforestry design. After completing my degree in biology and working in both retail and wholesale nursery trades, I started a small farm to produce a wide variety of woody plants along with numerous food plants. From there I began the process of creating a repository for seed production. Today my farm is used for the production of seeds of many woody plants, fruits, nuts, perennial, and wild crops of global use in and out of cultivation. Each year I begin new grow out of plants that could be part of this ever changing world we live in.

Escape From the L’Anse Sewage Plant

A New Broadway Play Comes to Town:  Escape From the L’Anse Sewage Plant A Review By Kenneth Asmus Normally anything to do with sewage in the title I would run. Yet my attention was captured from the very beginning when the lead character, a watermelon named Bob discovers a world outside of the nutrient rich …

Author: admin

A life long passion for plants helped me create Oikos Tree Crops. A wise man once said only a new crop can come from new seed. This was the beginnings of my tree crop farm with the use of the great diversity found in the world today. Starting with my families Christmas tree farms, I began an attempt to weave ecology and agriculture together and find plants that would also fit this type of permaculture and agroforestry design. After completing my degree in biology and working in both retail and wholesale nursery trades, I started a small farm to produce a wide variety of woody plants along with numerous food plants. From there I began the process of creating a repository for seed production. Today my farm is used for the production of seeds of many woody plants, fruits, nuts, perennial, and wild crops of global use in and out of cultivation. Each year I begin new grow out of plants that could be part of this ever changing world we live in.

A Potato Escapes Cultivation and Becomes Feral

In the process of trying to define a wild potato, I began to wonder how botany would characterize a well-known crop plant found as a wild plant growing outside of cultivation. Botany is good at defining plants in very subjective terms. Consider the following terms I found from a few of my reference books. Escaped, …

Author: admin

A life long passion for plants helped me create Oikos Tree Crops. A wise man once said only a new crop can come from new seed. This was the beginnings of my tree crop farm with the use of the great diversity found in the world today. Starting with my families Christmas tree farms, I began an attempt to weave ecology and agriculture together and find plants that would also fit this type of permaculture and agroforestry design. After completing my degree in biology and working in both retail and wholesale nursery trades, I started a small farm to produce a wide variety of woody plants along with numerous food plants. From there I began the process of creating a repository for seed production. Today my farm is used for the production of seeds of many woody plants, fruits, nuts, perennial, and wild crops of global use in and out of cultivation. Each year I begin new grow out of plants that could be part of this ever changing world we live in.

“Ken, no one cares about your snooty little fruit club.”

It started as a discussion around wild leeks as a foraging exercise at my farm.  Here was a delicious wild food that was being harvested for use in upscale restaurants. I had a small planting under my persimmons at my farm planted about a decade before. They were slowly spreading outward. After a few years …

Author: admin

A life long passion for plants helped me create Oikos Tree Crops. A wise man once said only a new crop can come from new seed. This was the beginnings of my tree crop farm with the use of the great diversity found in the world today. Starting with my families Christmas tree farms, I began an attempt to weave ecology and agriculture together and find plants that would also fit this type of permaculture and agroforestry design. After completing my degree in biology and working in both retail and wholesale nursery trades, I started a small farm to produce a wide variety of woody plants along with numerous food plants. From there I began the process of creating a repository for seed production. Today my farm is used for the production of seeds of many woody plants, fruits, nuts, perennial, and wild crops of global use in and out of cultivation. Each year I begin new grow out of plants that could be part of this ever changing world we live in.

Making New Seed Selections: Music To Your Ears

It is incredibly easy to find and distribute new types of plants. The world is rich in diversity. Like waves on an ocean, no two are alike.  People are naturally attracted to this beauty in the plant kingdom.  As a nursery owner, I never would never interfere with someone’s tastes of plants. The type of …

Author: admin

A life long passion for plants helped me create Oikos Tree Crops. A wise man once said only a new crop can come from new seed. This was the beginnings of my tree crop farm with the use of the great diversity found in the world today. Starting with my families Christmas tree farms, I began an attempt to weave ecology and agriculture together and find plants that would also fit this type of permaculture and agroforestry design. After completing my degree in biology and working in both retail and wholesale nursery trades, I started a small farm to produce a wide variety of woody plants along with numerous food plants. From there I began the process of creating a repository for seed production. Today my farm is used for the production of seeds of many woody plants, fruits, nuts, perennial, and wild crops of global use in and out of cultivation. Each year I begin new grow out of plants that could be part of this ever changing world we live in.

The American Holly: Ecological Dynamism

One of the great aspects of having a nursery for a long time was participating in seed exchanges. Without seed exchanges, you really are left in a botanically isolated world. There are many people throughout the world that not only want to share their plant diversity with you but also want you to succeed with …