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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 but rarely harnessed for the purpose of creating greater health to humankind. 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 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 plant seeds and plants. In the end I found a much more proficient way to create new varieties of hundreds of selections of woody and perennial plants. This fulfills the 'Oikos' (Ecos) part of my philosophy while retaining the spirit of economic geographer J. Russell Smith in Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture.

One Farmer-One Mission-One Goal-Oaks

When I started my farm after college in the early 80’s I soon found out that my limited resources was not going to allow me to plant a typical orchard of grafted fruit cultivars let alone a barn to work in or irrigation. (That took me another decade to accomplish.)  I began to look for …

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 but rarely harnessed for the purpose of creating greater health to humankind. 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 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 plant seeds and plants. In the end I found a much more proficient way to create new varieties of hundreds of selections of woody and perennial plants. This fulfills the 'Oikos' (Ecos) part of my philosophy while retaining the spirit of economic geographer J. Russell Smith in Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture.

Nursery Confidential: You Might Be Surprised

You might be surprised at the shenanigans of the nursery industry. I wince when I think my own problems I encountered let alone scaled up versions of the same or different issues running a small business. Most are just odd things that occur but they all taught me valuable  lessons. When I closed my nursery, …

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 but rarely harnessed for the purpose of creating greater health to humankind. 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 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 plant seeds and plants. In the end I found a much more proficient way to create new varieties of hundreds of selections of woody and perennial plants. This fulfills the 'Oikos' (Ecos) part of my philosophy while retaining the spirit of economic geographer J. Russell Smith in Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture.

Dreams, Pillows and Curiosity

The Milkweed Forest On one of my family’s Christmas tree farms a great expanse of milkweed existed. This was due to an over application of Simazine herbicide which sterilized the soil for several years.  This not only wiped out all existing vegetation, it prevented everything else from germinating.  Apparently milkweed was immune to this.  The …

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 but rarely harnessed for the purpose of creating greater health to humankind. 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 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 plant seeds and plants. In the end I found a much more proficient way to create new varieties of hundreds of selections of woody and perennial plants. This fulfills the 'Oikos' (Ecos) part of my philosophy while retaining the spirit of economic geographer J. Russell Smith in Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture.

Dude, what happened to your corn?

It all started with jury duty. In this case, it was purgatory with magazines. The waiting room was stacked with magazines as it was the era before cell phones.  A Smithsonian article on corn and its possible origins caught my attention. I dove in. Apparently a scientist discovered a species of grass unrelated to corn …

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 but rarely harnessed for the purpose of creating greater health to humankind. 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 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 plant seeds and plants. In the end I found a much more proficient way to create new varieties of hundreds of selections of woody and perennial plants. This fulfills the 'Oikos' (Ecos) part of my philosophy while retaining the spirit of economic geographer J. Russell Smith in Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture.

The Thicket Bean Makes a Return to Michigan

Last seen on Belle Isle, Michigan in 1896, the thicket bean established itself in the thickets of this island in the middle of the Detroit River. It was never seen again. “If native, this was surely at the northern edge of the range for this species” wrote Edward G. Voss in Michigan Flora Part 2 …

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 but rarely harnessed for the purpose of creating greater health to humankind. 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 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 plant seeds and plants. In the end I found a much more proficient way to create new varieties of hundreds of selections of woody and perennial plants. This fulfills the 'Oikos' (Ecos) part of my philosophy while retaining the spirit of economic geographer J. Russell Smith in Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture.

The Last Great Hur-rye

Not too far from this wonderful slippery elm tree on my family’s farm was a great field of rye my father and I created. Like this tree, the rye field idea was latent and was not discovered until later in life. Who knew it was there all along? The field was the last thing we …

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 but rarely harnessed for the purpose of creating greater health to humankind. 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 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 plant seeds and plants. In the end I found a much more proficient way to create new varieties of hundreds of selections of woody and perennial plants. This fulfills the 'Oikos' (Ecos) part of my philosophy while retaining the spirit of economic geographer J. Russell Smith in Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture.

The Musical Fruit Tree

To grow a pear tree as a source of wood for musical instruments seemed like a long shot when I first started. I got the idea initially from a Hohner pear wood recorder I purchased in high school. I had quit playing trumpet and needed another avenue. Please note I was not aware of Miles …

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 but rarely harnessed for the purpose of creating greater health to humankind. 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 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 plant seeds and plants. In the end I found a much more proficient way to create new varieties of hundreds of selections of woody and perennial plants. This fulfills the 'Oikos' (Ecos) part of my philosophy while retaining the spirit of economic geographer J. Russell Smith in Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture.

Pawpaw Seeds-Create a Whole Forest

I am always surprised to find that no animals will consume the pawpaw seed. There is really only a very insanely small number of seeds that animals or insects will not eat. I often viewed my nursery seed beds as the most valuable portion of my nursery as well as the most expensive buffet 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 but rarely harnessed for the purpose of creating greater health to humankind. 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 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 plant seeds and plants. In the end I found a much more proficient way to create new varieties of hundreds of selections of woody and perennial plants. This fulfills the 'Oikos' (Ecos) part of my philosophy while retaining the spirit of economic geographer J. Russell Smith in Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture.

Briana Apricot-From Seed-One Great Fruit Nut Tree

Briana Apricots Harvested this Year from Three Generations of Trees Mention growing apricots in the north and often you will hear “Not apricots, they flower too early”. But at the same time the question of its possibilities and practicalities arises. The apricot shares a long history with humans as both the seeds and the fruit  …

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 but rarely harnessed for the purpose of creating greater health to humankind. 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 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 plant seeds and plants. In the end I found a much more proficient way to create new varieties of hundreds of selections of woody and perennial plants. This fulfills the 'Oikos' (Ecos) part of my philosophy while retaining the spirit of economic geographer J. Russell Smith in Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture.

Plum Good: North American Plum Selections

Starting from beach plums, I began growing lots of plums at my farm in the early 1980’s.  I had no irrigation at the farm and filled 5 gallon buckets from my house 25 miles away. (I always had to take corners slowly!) I was a fan of yucca extract and humates and used them in …