The something or others of March!

Welcome back to another wintery edition of Lost In the Farmer’s Market. Now as you know these episodes are posted a few days early of the normal Saturday posting date because of our involvement in the Fayetteville farmer’s Market. Today’s episode is the first one of March 2014. Due to some questions about plants we are selling at the Farmer’s Market, this episode is dedicated to providing details on the herbs currently available at ye olde booth.  So let’s get to the topic shall we? This year I decided to do something different with the plant selection, I phased in more perennial herbs and more food substitutes and switched out a lot of the annual plants. Now to be fair a number of plants are considered annuals but in truth are nothing of the sort but are grown that way.  But I think a discussion of what the term ‘technical annual’ means is a discussion for another day.

Angelica – Angelica archangelica (Biennial, Partial Shade)

Angelica is a member of the carrot or parsley family Apiaceae. As such it has a lot of the same features, a fleshy tap root, and finely dissected leaves and is the favored food of a number of butterfly species. For the average gardener it can serve as an ornamental as its foliage is quite nice as is its bloom. The seed is used as a seasoning, the foliage can be eaten, and the root dug up sliced and cooked as one might do with a celeriac. More so, this plant is a biennial which means when you see flowers you should do your best to save the seed.

Bloody Sorrel – Rumex Sanguineum (Perennial, Partial shade)

The sorrel family as a whole is edible but the wild cousins such as sheep, yellow and red sorrel often have side effects if eaten regularly and or in quantity. However if foraging between digestive upset and starvation the choice is quite clear. Now bloody sorrel or bloody dock as it sometimes is called is often sold as an ornamental perennial. Never mind that it is edible, and it’s general use is the same as spinach. The advantage is that green sorrel and bloody sorrel are both perennial unlike spinach which is a annual. There are some care differences such as the fact sorrels need regular water and some protection from southern sun.

Fennel – Foeniculum vulgare (Tough Perennial, full sun- morning shade)

Fennel is a common seasoning herb in true Italian seasoning blends and foods. Unlike dill it is a tough perennial and much like most members of the parsley/carrot family can be a host to swallowtail butterfly larva. The two types of Fennel, green and or black/bronze fennel taste identical and literally only look different. Both are tough xeriscaping and permaculture plants and both can be added to salads, and any other cooked dish. Both types are edible from root to seed and neither has a poisonous lookalike. All and all you can’t hope for a better behaved garden perennial with more uses.

Lamb’s Ear - Stachys byzantine (Perennial, Shade- Afternoon shade)

Lamb’s Ear is a classy sort of cottage garden plant that has more or less a nostalgic use in the garden and a minor medical use. In the medieval ages the plant was called woundwort because the fuzzy leaves were used as bandages, and this tradition reportedly persisted up through the American Revolution. As a whole the plant is somewhat mound forming, may need a little shade and benefits from a rich soil or regular fertilization.

Lovage – Levisticum officinale (Perennial, Partial Shade)

Lovage is another rarely seen Carrot/Parsley family member who does not get the kind of press it deserves. In general use the leaves and stems are used as a replacement for celery, where as it has reputed medical use in treating indigestion, kidney stones, colic and cystitis. The hollow stems on mature specimens can be used as ‘green’ drinking straws with vegetable or tomato juice. I might also add unlike celery Lovage is a true perennial, but it does need partial shade to do its best.

Lavender Cotton – Santolina virens (Tough Perennial, Full Sun)

Lavender Cotton is typically a name reserved for the gray form of Santolina, which is S. chamaecyparissus for note. We are carrying the green version because it comparatively grows faster but has all the same trademark durability and can also be used medically for poor digestion, worms and jaundice, while in crafts it’s aromatic properties aid in repelling insects. Overall the plant is most often used as an ornamental in knot gardens because of its low maintenance habits.

Rosemary – Rosemarinus officinalis (Tough Perennial, Full Sun)

Ah, rosemary, the herb everyone loves. Seriously rosemary is one of the most desired aromatic herbs, and probably the toughest herb for our region. As a garden plant rosemary is drought immune once established and can get incredibly huge over time despite being a very slow grower. As some of you may already know rosemary is used mainly in culinary dishes for scent and or seasoning and it’s most common use is in concert with tomatoes or potatoes.

Tansy – Tanacetum vulgare (Perennial, Part Shade to Full sun)

Tansy is one of the other great insect repelling herbs; its foliage is also used to make a green-gold dye base that can be used in a variety of crafts. As a garden plant it is a perennial that can get to a height of three feet, and bears finely dissected foliage and in summer is covered in small daisy flowers that attract pollinators.

I believe that covers at least the herb section of this discussion, now we will have more herbs later on so check back to see what has changed. As you may know I will be at the Fayetteville farmer’s market this weekend armed with a shipment of super-delicious plants to fill your garden with so you can get your organic plant fix. The market is a 365 day a year event that occurs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I’m there on Saturdays between 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM and the market is located on 325 Franklin Street in the parking lot of the Fayetteville Transportation Museum. But enough of the plugging let’s get to the plant and material list for this weekend.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

This is the second edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Black Magic Fertilizer

That’s right you’ve heard about it in trials all summer. This specially formulated liquid fertilizer was made and tested at the test gardens using natural ingredients and no chemicals. The result explosive growth, great harvests and of course no environmental side effects! We’re making batches of this stuff to order, at $6.00 per gallon of fertilizer. You can either order it at the market and pick it up the next week or have it delivered to your home in the Fayetteville area for a delivery charge of an additional $2.00.

House Plants

4x Holiday Cactus ($3.00)

2x Desert Privet ($3.00)

2x Rotary Privet ($3.00)

3x Dancing Bones Cactus ($3.00)

Garden Plants

1x Savoy Cabbage Plant 0.5 gal pot ($3.00)

8x Dinosaur Kale, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Herbs

2x Green Fennel, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Black Fennel, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Bloody Sorrel, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Lamb’s Ear, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Green Lavender-Cotton, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Tansy, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Angelica, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Rosemary, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Coming Soon:

Ozard Beauty Strawberry

Martha Washington Asparagus

Dark Red Norland Potato

So, with all that said we enter into March hoping the weather will improve but considering our options should it not. With any luck we’ve seen the last of bad weather and can well ‘Get on with it’ in regards to spring.

Much Ado About A Cold Frame

Oh Myyy! The Ladies of Sustainable Neighbors get their hardcore 'Rosie the Riveter' vibe on.

Welcome back to another episode of Lost In The Farmer’s Market, today‘s post is the last one of February and the first time this year I’ll say hey folks it’s not as bad as it looks. Please keep score, it’s supposed to be a record year for weather so let’s hope it’s the last time I say such a thing. The winter weather last week blanketed everything in roughly six inches of snow and ice and deposited perhaps two inches of precipitation, and then it started raining. Rain activity on Saturday, overnight on Tuesday and then the early morning thunderstorm on Wednesday sure set us right for water. A rough total of 3.3” were noted at the headquarters’ rain gauges and well we’re standing by it. But the weather isn’t today’s topic at all but rather the new three-tier cold frame recently installed at the headquarters so please read on to know more and at the end of this post as always is the plant list for Saturday. Be warned, the herbs with their house plant reinforcements have begun to invade the booth!

Speaking of garden endeavors I’ve got to talk about one of the new additions to our facilities over at LITFM head quarters. As some of you may have heard we recently as part of the 2014 winter budget put in an order for a three-tier wooden cold frame. Well the first picture of the genuine article in all it’s cedar wood and poly carbonate glazing glory can be had below.

Oh yes it is atop a raised set of construction blocks because putting our cold frames on a pedestal is how we roll!

So of course I have to talk about the lengthy process of building and placing this cold frame unit. First off it was ordered through Jung Seed due to the free shipping deal they were offering at the time. The unit cost about $180.00 and is made of a light weight red cedar wood. In fact the heavy aroma of cedar filled the headquarters dining room for a few days post construction. Overall the entire unit weighed in at about 27 pounds for the obvious reason that the large areas of poly carbonate glazing comprised most of the cold frames surface area.  I discovered that the unit needed some additional wood working skill because the instructions were not always helpful and in some cases the holes for mounting hardware and hinges were absent. More so the bottom-mounted cross braces seemed counter productive and the screws that went with them stripped so fast I have expected they came from some cheap hardware themed gentleman’s bar on Bragg Boulevard.  Once assembled though it became clear that the unit would need a little help to survive a few years of LITFM field service so the cold frame’s placement was incorporated into the drainage project’s Cistern. It took six ‘normal’ cinder blocks to make the footing for the cold frame which raised it at least two inches above ground level and this footing was placed over the cistern at the end of the drainage trench. This put the cold frame in a good east/north east facing under the roof overhang of the head quarters against a wall painted light which would maximize light hours in the cool sunshine of the morning.

Thompsons Water Seal? Oh hell no Cabot all up in here!

The next step was protecting the investment, with the cold frame mounted above ground level to avoid soil contact as per the unit’s instructions the next step was to apply outdoor polyurethane to all wooden structural components. It took about seven working days to complete the polyurethane application to the unit both inside and out. Special attention was paid to the points at which the wood held the polycarbonate glazing in and a double application was made to the top panels and front doors to ensure proper water resistance of all wooden parts where possible. Even the interior and the two removable shelves got a heavy coating of polyurethane just to be certain of the longevity of the wooden parts of the cold frame. Keep in mind during certain parts of this project I had to set up a special table covered in paper inside the headquarters to keep the project going during that last cold snap. The main body of the cold frame was completed in stages and during our latest warm spell I was often out painting the unit on the back bed of the truck. None the less the project was completed in good time. Now I know what your thinking here; “But you said it was cedar that stuff doesn’t rot.” Indeed cedar is rot-resistant however cut limber isn’t the same as natural logs, cedar lumber still resists rot but is also vulnerable anywhere it is constantly wet, or where there is an angle or end because of the exposed wood fibers. As you can figure a roughly rectangular cold frame made of wood with window panels is basically one big angle so special attention to sealing the wood  was critical.

Caulking, not just for innuendo anymore!

Sealing the wood is in reality half the battle in a way because there are areas that I cannot apply polyurethane to. Those areas also tend to allow drafts and water into the unit as well so of course they were the next point of attention. Anywhere there is glazing, be it glass, plexiglas or polycarbonate the point where the glazing meets the frame is a weak spot in the design from the perspective of keeping heat in or water out. So once the polyurethane coating was applied it became time to apply clear outdoor use caulk. Thus all external surfaces were caulked on one day while the internal ones were caulked the next. This caulking actually serves to settle the glazing in place and adds the final layer of waterproofing and some additional structural integrity to the unit.

The original corner braces and their screws left a lot to be desired.

Ain’t no stopping us now, we replaced the screws.

But wait there is one more step that went into completing this project. Remember those crappy screws I told you about? Those small screws went to a set of black cross braces that went below the front of the unit. Four screws per brace and the brace was anchored under the bottom of the side panel and under the front structural bar which sits under the two front doors. Being so unimpressed with the quality of the screws and finding that the braces lifted the unit up enough to allow drafts into the unit I discarded both and substituted four smaller zinc-steel L-braces inside the unit at the top support bar and bottom support bar. With the caulk cured properly and the braces in place the last step was to place the unit on its footing and see if any herbaceous tenants would move in.

Hmmm maybe if the for rent sign didn’t look like a serial killer did it…

Oop! Whats this?!

Hey now!

This brings to a close today’s episode of ‘As the Cold Frame Turns’ but tune in next week when there is conflict in the cold frame as Mr. Prickly pear confronts Mrs. Garlic Chives about her body odor. 

Alright so that last bit was a whole lot of silly on my part, All Winter No Spring makes the author of LITFM a crazy gardener!  You can see the crazy in person at this weekend’s Fayetteville City/Farmer’s Market. The market is a 365 day a year event that occurs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I’m there on Saturdays between 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM and the market is located on 325 Franklin Street in the parking lot of the Fayetteville Transportation Museum. But enough of the plugging lets get to the plant and material list for this weekend.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

This is the second edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Black Magic Fertilizer

That’s right you’ve heard about it in trials all summer. This specially formulated liquid fertilizer was made and tested at the test gardens using natural ingredients and no chemicals. The result explosive growth, great harvests and of course no environmental side effects! We’re making batches of this stuff to order, at $6.00 per gallon of fertilizer. You can either order it at the market and pick it up the next week or have it delivered to your home in the Fayetteville area for a delivery charge of an additional $2.00.

Fresh Cut Herbs

Bundles of Fresh Rosemary, short stem ($1.00)

House Plants

5x Holiday Cactus ($3.00)

3x Desert Privet ($3.00)

4x Dancing Bones Cactus ($3.00)

Garden Plants

1x Stone Head Cabbage Plant 0.5 gal pot ($3.00)

1x Savoy Cabbage Plant 0.5 gal pot ($3.00)

Herbs

2x Green Fennel, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Black Fennel, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Bloody Sorrel, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Lamb’s Ear, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Green Lavender-Cotton, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Tansy, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Angelica, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Rosemary, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

So this wraps up the month of February and boy what a month, what a winter it has been.  We went from cold and wet, to warm to freezing to cold to wet and back to freezing again. I believe they say March is in like a lion and out like a lamb. Apparently February did not get the note it’s not supposed to act like March.

P.S.

Call me what you will but I was out at 4 AM on Wednesday checking the drainage system during the thunderstorms. There are three words for that: Gardener – Hard Core.

Climate Change.....gee great!

The Wild Bird Diner will remain open despite the winter weather!

Welcome back to this week’s edition of Lost In The Farmer’s Market, and indeed it is rather cold and the once majestic green fields of Fayetteville are covered in a blanket of wretched winter oppression. Translated to English snow and ice to a depth of at least 3” at last measure making this one of the oddest winters I’ve ever seen in Fayetteville. I’ would imagine when all is said and done on Thursday evening we might have as much as six inches in this winter storm for a total of 8.5” thus far. This means unfortunately there will be some garden damage. Your cold-weather plants might be fine but expect losses. Fortunately this storm started with powder snow and is following with sleet or frozen rain making it a good insulator for field crops. That same trait makes it a nightmare for vehicles and thus the roads will be completely treacherous. I don’t think I have to tell you to stay safe out there and avoid driving unless you absolutely must but well I kind of just did anyway. Also, remember your plumbing in weather like this, it is better to spend a little to leave the taps dripping so the pipes do not burst under your house then to spend hundreds getting a burst pipe fixed.

Ok, I never thought I'd see this in NC.....ever.

Winter gloom aside, we know with every passing day it gets closer to spring, and so there is something to look forward to.  This week’s ice and snow draped episode continues the critical conversation regarding terminology in the agriculture field. Now, we know for a fact that the term Organic has been the subject of debate both legally and socially. Much like the different levels of genetically modified organisms it can be said that the levels of organic are as problematic because the pundits tend not to indicate a difference. On the extreme end some claim it’s organic because the label says so and don’t bother to ask any questions. On the other end you have folks like the Oregon Tilth who actually produce stringent organic standards and guidelines in the middle you have an organization like the Organic Materials Research Institute who exists to get tested products labeled and accessible.

For you, it is now a matter of deciding how stringent you want to be. Is a label good enough or perhaps do you want to know more? The issue is that the label ‘organic’ has been under assault for many years by corporate interests who only see the term as a big cash cow. Recently Wal-Mart went organic….but where are their organics even coming from? What system of verification and assurances do they use to keep their product clean? The issue is simply that we do not know, but we do know Wal-Mart didn’t do it out of the kindness of their heart; they did it to cash in as they have with every begrudging change they have made to date. These are the same people who are still fighting against the minimum wage and having women as mangers, and executives. These are the same folks who constantly try new ways to break the labor laws. Monsanto is much the same…except they make no secret that they would love for you to be a slave to their product, terminator seed anyone?

I digress on corporate sin, because I think it fair to state how I define the term organic.  Well first off, let’s keep in mind the realities of field operations, having a budget and labor limitations. According to the test gardens as they currently stand organic is anything produced in soil that has not been enriched with peat moss, receives regular enrichment by way of onsite-composting operations and is irrigated by means of rainwater collection system. Also, the use of chemical based fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides are barred in the instances involving crop production. The exception here is noted in problems with wasp nests in access areas and fire ant encroachment and poison ivy. In all cases precision application of chemicals with limited or no environmental impact are used because in these situations the presence of the noted issues pose a direct human health risk. I may add that plants are always grown for in their natural season and off season alternatives are used to maintain good crop rotation practices. Lastly as part of proper sustainable procedure the planting plans are oriented to the use of longer-season plant species or perennials with full integration of genetic preservation techniques to ensure the purity of production materials from GMO incursion. In short…it’d better be verified as clean before I’d ever consider it.

A night shot of the first day of snow this week as the moon briefly penetrated the winter sky.

The Fayetteville City/Farmer’s Market occurs every Saturday from 9:00 AM through 1:00 PM. The market is located at 325 Franklin Street in the parking lot of the Fayetteville Transportation museum. Since we are a year-round operation you can expect there will be fresh foods available at the market and as always yours truly is always prepared with garden advice and great plants. Here is a list of what will be coming to the market this week.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

This is the second edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Black Magic Fertilizer

That’s right you’ve heard about it in trials all summer. This specially formulated liquid fertilizer was made and tested at the test gardens using natural ingredients and no chemicals. The result explosive growth, great harvests and of course no environmental side effects! We’re making batches of this stuff to order, at $6.00 per gallon of fertilizer. You can either order it at the market and pick it up the next week or have it delivered to your home in the Fayetteville area for a delivery charge of an additional $2.00.

Fresh Cut Herbs

Bundles of Fresh Rosemary, short stem ($1.00)

2x Bagged Lavender ($2.00)

2x Bagged Eucalyptus ($2.00) – Last of year-

1x Bagged Santolina ($2.00)

House Plants

6x Holiday Cactus ($3.00)

Garden Plants

1x Stone Head Cabbage Plant 0.5 gal pot ($3.00)

1x Savoy Cabbage Plant 0.5 gal pot ($3.00) 

Winter wonder....eh to hell with that...

So this concludes the third LITFM Episode of February, hopefully all of you are not suffering any cabin fever from our vaguely insane weather. If so…remember, friends don’t let friends reenact The Shining. Until next week, Keep ‘em Growing!

The Terms of Agriculture

Welcome back to another slightly damp edition of Lost In the Farmer’s Market. The weather has our fine cotton weave all clingy with anticipation of the spring to be and the winter that is. With that said we would like to draw your attention to Exhibit A under the category of ‘kicking wet weather in the golf bag’.

The trench is only 9 inches wide at the top and about 4.5" wide at the bottom but theres two feet of depth at the bottom of which is a 4" slotted drainage pipe for 30 feet of the trench. In total there was 35 feet of trench, so on the end you see above there is a two foot end cap that is pure pea gravel.

The end you see above has a foot long end cap of  stone while on the remaining 7 feet switches from perforated to slotted drain pipe to  prevent clogging  at the end of the system.That’s right, after many months of planning the drain system is operational…I feel about as giddy as Emperor Palpatine was over the death star!

This was the drainage project some of you saw underway back in October at the time it was only a ten foot trench but as you can see it now extends about the back porch and incorporates a sloped cistern near the fence. Ok you can’t quite see the cistern as its all underground but it’s the large patch of gravel. The blocks laid atop the cistern are where the new cold frame will go after I give its wooden exterior parts a polyurethane treatment. But enough of that you’re here to see part two of the discussions started last week so without further ado let’s get to those terms.

Heritage

A heritage variety is essentially almost a synonym for heirloom, almost. A heritage variety can be a heirloom but a heirloom cannot necessarily be a heritage variety. Basically a heritage variety is an heirloom that has verified cultural history attached to it. So a plant say grown and promoted by Thomas Jefferson that is preserved over the decades and is still available would be a possible heritage variety. Likewise a specific variety grown by an entire people for a long period of history such as Kamut wheat grown by the Egyptians would definitely count.  

Heirloom

An heirloom variety is a given breed of plant that is passed on through the generations and may or may not have a clear lineage or record of its propagators. A case in point could be seen with the Brandywine or Cherokee Purple heirloom tomato breeds. Both have been kept in circulation for a long time and both are relatively close to their original parent material. The problem is that due to lax labeling laws genetically altered strains and similar such plants can be marked as heirloom when the alterations cause them to not perform as their natural cousins do. You should be wary of the source of anything marked Heirloom because much like the term organic the term has been abused by many an unscrupulous corporate entity*.

Open-Pollinated

Open pollinated is a good term though a bit unnecessary. All it means is that the pollination of a given plant was not controlled and nature was allowed to do what she does best…make with the natural unbiased plant sex! So for you this means there will be genetic variability in a given batch of seed which could mean little or if your very lucky the next new natural variety of something. The down side is that open-pollinated seed can be contaminated by GMO or hybrids if it is too close to a ‘dirty field’ if you get my meaning. Fortunately producers such as Baker’s Creek, southern exposure, high mowing and seed savers are rather aware of the risk and take precautions which means the use of large distance offsets to avoid foreign pollen issues. If there was a source of seed I’d suggest saving seed as a yearly practice its open-pollinated plants as you never quite know what the offspring will be like but it’s always a fun adventure.

The Fayetteville City/Farmer’s Market occurs every Saturday from 9:00 AM through 1:00 PM. The market is located at 325 Franklin Street in the parking lot of the Fayetteville Transportation museum. Since we are a year-round operation you can expect there will be fresh foods available at the market and as always yours truly is always prepared with garden advice and great plants. Here is a list of what will be coming to the market this week.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

This is the second edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Black Magic Fertilizer

That’s right you’ve heard about it in trials all summer. This specially formulated liquid fertilizer was made and tested at the test gardens using natural ingredients and no chemicals. The result explosive growth, great harvests and of course no environmental side effects! We’re making batches of this stuff to order, at $6.00 per gallon of fertilizer. You can either order it at the market and pick it up the next week or have it delivered to your home in the Fayetteville area for a delivery charge of an additional $2.00.

Fresh Cut Herbs

Bundles of Fresh Rosemary, short stem ($1.00)

Bagged Lavender ($2.00)

Bagged Eucalyptus ($2.00)

House Plants

8x Holiday Cactus ($3.00)

Garden Plants

2x Morris-Heading Cabbage Collards 0.5 gal pot ($4.00)

2x Georgia Collards, 0.5 gal pot ($4.00)

Coming Soon:
Angelica - Perennial Herb, culinary.
Green Santolina - Perennial evergreen herb, aromatic.
Black Fennel - Perennial semi-evergreen herb, culinary.
Green Fennel - Perennial semi-evergreen herb, culinary.
Rosemary - Perennial evergreen herb, culinary.
Lovage - Perennial leaf green, culinary.
Bloody Dock - Perennial leaf green, ornamental or culinary.
Tansy - Perennial herb.
Lambs Ear - Perennial evergreen herb, medical.
Bristol Cross Oregano - Perennial Evergreen herb, culinary and ornamental.
Desert Privet - Houseplant.
Rotary Peperomia - Houseplant
Dancing Bones Cactus - Houseplant
Dwarf Pomegranate - Fruit bearing deciduous shrub, perennial.
Chicago Hardy Fig - Fruit Bearing deciduous shrub.
Mary Washington Asparagus - Decuous perennial vegetable.
Ozark Beauty Strawberry - Semi-evergreen perennial fruit bearing.

(The list above is just the beginning! Hold on to your hats folks because 2014 is going to be so permaculture heavy Monsanto might sue us for stealing their business!)

 So this concludes the Second LITFM Episode of February, I have to post a correction on some information from last week. First off after running about the test gardens with a pocket ruler and measuring snow depth, it indeed was an average of 2.5” deep. So that was 2.5” of snow that melted down to 0.5” of actual precipitation. More so this week we had two major precipitation events generating 0.3” and 0.5” amounts respectively. In short I’d say we’re all-good for spring if this keeps up. I hope to see some of you down at the market, and as always keep ‘em growing!

P.S.

*I mean you walmart…your on notice young mister! *Points at eyes and then points back at walmart* I am soooo watching you.


Edit
This was sent out on the sustainable neighbors meetup.org group by Marsha. The surburban Hermit of Fayetteville another blogger sent it to Marsha and indeed it's worth posting here.

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/02/03/farmers-abandoning-gmo-seeds-reason-will-surprise/

VICTORY!