Teosinte expands outward. It’s an omni-directional force starting from a pin point and then outward like an exploding star. This makes it impossible to define by a small sample. Too late it has already exploded and is expanding at exponential speed. You can only gather so many fragments. The dust is too fine to recreate …
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August 20, 2023
I always wondered why corn was so luxurious in growth and existed in such wonderful dense green fields. It was so perfect to me and completely uniform. In this uniformity I experienced corn as a single magnificent and powerful force of nature able to feed millions of people and animals alike. That was its super …
August 18, 2023
It can happen. It was the daily activity of a bumblebee searching the flowers of the horse nettle at my farm. Nearby my potato patch resided filled with heirloom red, white and blue selections all in full flower. The flowers are remarkably similar. There was no goal or thought of a potato fruit or berry. …
Continue reading “One Potato Creates an Expanding Universe”…
August 17, 2023
Every now and then I find some interesting plants at my farm which seem to have unique possibilities. Such is the case for the unassuming hybrid species Dunbarii plum. I view it as an opportunity to create a diverse mixture of plums that you can create a population from as well as create new varieties. …
Continue reading “The Dunbars Plum: Wild and Domestication Combines”…
August 16, 2023
Growing plums is a very easy way to sneak into the world of fruit growing without a lot of effort and fanfare. It starts with the seed. From seed you can find out just what is going on within a selection outside the grafted and clonal restrictions put on by previous plant breeders. I view …
August 15, 2023
Thriving in the midst of crown vetch in my mother’s flower garden, the Ecos Purple potato benefited from its nitrogen fixing capabilities while demonstrating its perennial capabilities for over a decade. The Ecos Purple Potato Once at a plant auction at a horticultural event, I purchased a few tubers of a purple fingerling potato. The …
August 14, 2023
It started as a small seed packet. I really had nothing to go on. My Hillier tree manual gave it a subspecies heads up. It said variety syrica. This alpine plum was considered a cultivar species and protected in its homeland of France. Soon I was intrigued at the possibility of growing and using …
Continue reading “The Wonderous Beauty of the Mirabelle Plum”…
March 16, 2023
It is not a surprise that people have strong opinions about how plants grow and what plant belongs where. Everyone wants to rule the plant world. Plants are giving and flexible. It is good to be a ruler of your plant kingdom however you individually define it. Gardening is such a joy to do. You …
Continue reading “Strength in Numbers: The Edible Forest Revisited”…
March 1, 2023
Along the shoreline of my family’s farm pond grew an apple tree. Sticking straight out of the water, it’s a kind of biological integration you do not normally see. Being an apple tree while submerged in water year-round makes this an improbable event. This seedling tree retains its health and vigor while producing wonderful flowers …
Continue reading “Ecological Enrichment: The Integration of Opposites”…
February 19, 2023
It began very innocently. Watch the bumblebees with my daughters and see if you could “pet” or touch the bees as they were pollinating the flowers on our weeping cherry in our front yard. This involved just lightly touching the bees back so they wouldn’t fly off on the flower they were pollinating. Simple and …