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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.
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 …
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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 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. 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 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. 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.
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. 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.
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 …
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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.
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 …
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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 Wild Goose Plum-From One Seed to Another
Wild plums are found everywhere in North America. Many of them look alike. Some are small shrubs like the beach plum. Others are tall trees to thirty feet like the Chickasaw plum. They thrive in the mountains. Some live in wetlands. Others are found in the desert. I think I have grown them all. But …
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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 “Madeline” Blueberry-The Wild is Brought Back
Finding blueberries is pretty easy in Michigan. Where I live in southwestern Michigan there are many farms dedicated to growing them. With one farm exception that uses massive irrigation on sandy soil with lots of mulch, they are grown in wetlands or were wetlands prior to their farming. As the image above of my family …
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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.
How Does It Grow?
It is a not the healthiest world we live in right now. Not everyone is accepting of others but sometimes in the midst of it all, there are break throughs of understanding and compassion. The same is true of our relationship with plants. In some ways, on some deep emotional level …
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 Expanding Plant Universe
Many years ago right after graduating from college, I began joining organizations and arboreta and played an active role in seed exchange. During that time, I found many like minded individuals that thought the best safety net for plants is dispersion. I wanted to be the Seed Savers Exchange of woody plants. Without some sort …