Heritage vs Heirloom: Terms of Confusion

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market.  This week we have some follow-up photography and some horticultural information to cover but before we get into that something does need a clarification. At the last two Sustainable Neighbors meetings we got to discussing what the difference between a ‘Heritage’ plant and a ‘Heirloom’ plant is and the nature of ‘gmo-free’ and organic labelling on plants and food. Let me start with the latter as it is a much more simplistic explanation. When you buy food at the store and it says Organic on it, this does not necessarily mean it is GMO-free. Depending on which set of guidelines the producer is using, the food could be GMO crops that are raised under a set of organic guidelines that make no effective mention of excluding GMO plants. Likewise, if it says GMO-Free this does not inherently mean that the food you are looking at was raised under organic standards. Your best bet is to buy products with both GMO-Free and Organic on the label but make sure to scrutinize what the company making the product’s means and methods are. Only you can make those final informed decisions that can bit by bit alter larger spending practices and halt the proliferation of things you don’t want to see on the shelves at the market.

Now the terms Heritage and Heirloom when it comes to plants and seed are tricky. This fact is unfortunately intentional because less-scrupulous agribusiness knows that you may not know what the terms mean and they know they can charge more for stuff with that term on it. Typically, an Heirloom variety originates from open-pollinated plants that have been around for a while. The amount of time needed to declare a plant variety Heirloom is the subject of debate, but I tend to stick the limitation that the variety would had have to originated at least a hundred years ago (1919-ish) or older. The term Heirloom only refers to the originating date of the variety and its genetic heritage, but not it’s growing standard. The term Heirloom does not at all guarantee that the plants or seed were grown organically; so, you should check those labels to make sure. A famous example of an heirloom variety is ‘Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter’ tomato, which is often shortened to ‘Mortgage Lifter’. This tomato was bred around 1922, and was bred by William Estler of Barboursville in West Virginia. He had no actual horticultural training and got the nickname Radiator Charlie because he worked on early automobiles. His breed of tomato allowed him to buy out his own mortgage during the Great Depression. The Variety would also save many small nursery businesses from bankruptcy as the plant was prolific and highly saleable. Indirectly the tomato may have saved many from malnutrition and starvation.

Abelmoschus esculentus 'Red Burgundy' - Red burgundy Okra

Gossypium hirsutum 'Mississippi Brown' Cotton

The same cotton boll as above (clockwise from lower left) separated into, lint, Locule (3), Barb/bract (center top) and, seeds (lower right darker brown things). Missippi brown is also a heritage variety. [Pre-1860. Once grown by slaves, this seed came from a plantation near Natchez, Mississippi via seed saver John Coykendall.]

The term Heritage in terms of plants is at its simplest merely denoting a variety is very old, often pre-1900’s. More often then not Heritage varieties have some history and culture attached to them which means they have a story to tell which can be compelling or shed light on a period of time that some want to forget. A good example of heritage varieties is Nankeen Cotton, Red Burgundy Okra, Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad tomato. All three varieties are considered African-American Heritage plants because they had a meaningful historical place during slavery.  During slavery, in all but South Carolina slaves were allowed to grow some of their own food, there was a catch though. The varieties of plants they grew due to color were considered unfit for use by the plantation and possibly unfit for human consumption. Remember, slaves were not considered full people at the time, the math on that changes from source to source but it’s usually 3/5^th of a person. So, the colored lint cottons were cultivated by slaves for their own use in clothing and Red Burgundy okra was cultivated by them for food along with the precursor for Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad Tomato…except in South Carolina. Nankeen cotton also played a role in the Civil war via a nankeen cotton shirt with a specific set of braids indicating to confederate forces where the Union troops were moving. Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad as we know it today got its name because it was carried to the north by runaway slaves on the actual underground railroad and it became tied to abolition as a result. With all that said, the reason those three varieties of plant are Heritage varieties is because they are all directly and indirectly tied to part of American history that some would happily white wash or have us forget. They all pre-date 1900, their place in history can be absolutely verified which solidifies their status as Heritage varieties.

 

Storm Damage, this was after some cleanup.

 

Anolis carolinensis - Green Anole Lizard

The critter cam strikes again, Green Anoles are a native lizard that eats a lot of bugs, although this one was more brown than green, these reptiles may or may not be able to alter their skin color to blend in. I've seen them in shades of yellow, brown, green and black, these differences may be due to pigment absorbed from insect's camouflage when they eat them.

Hyla cinera - Green Tree Frog

The same green tree frog as before, it apparently takes refuge in my spare recycling container during the day.

 Talk about adaptation to urban environments, this is one of several green tree frogs that live on the property, but this one is always near the driveway and tends to hangout in the fig bushes at night especially when it's rainy. I suspect it's taken to hiding in the recycling can because insects go in there and birds definitely cannot get in there.

 

Eupatorium coelestinum - Hardy Ageratum

I have this plant in numerous sections of the garden and it may still be in bloom for the tour, it is a native and the sky blue blooms late in summer if not in early fall are a sign of cool days to come. It can be weedy so  if you grow this treat it like a mint except without the heavy water requirements.

Helenium sp. - Sneezeweed

 Sneezeweed is a common late summer 'weed' that appears in dry sandy soils near roadsides and brightens a drab area with it's cheery yellow blooms that resemble Chamomile. You will find cultivated versions of it in nurseries where it's been bred to have blooms in a side range of reds oranges and of course yellows.

Lilium formosanum - Formosa Lily

Remember these? No? Well at the market this year I took a risk and offered a limited number of these lilies for sale and got a lukewarm response. The left overs were planted in the crescent bed and all of them bloomed, there is no telling what these little beauties will do next year, but I'm looking forward to it.

Before we move on to the bit where I talk about what I have available at the market and what garden goodies you can snag for your self at the market I would like to take a moment to talk about the Fall Garden Tour. This year I decided to return to an old tradition where I run a late garden tour in October so that those who missed the spring one get a second chance to see where the magic happens.  The fall tour is on October 20^th, 2019, between 2 and 5 pm and you can RSVP at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/events/265074204/

Yup that's my table at the market all right.

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

Plants & Stuff Available Now:

Vegetables:

Collards, Green Glaze: 3” - $3.00

Mustard, Japanese Red Giant: 3” - $3.00

Kale, Scotch Blue Curled: 3” - $3.00

Herbs:

Rue, Marbled 3” - $3.00

Sage, Common 3”: - $3.00

Santolina, Etruscan: 5” - $6.00

Santolina, Etruscan: 3” - $3.00

Flowers:

Coneflower, Pow Wow White: 3” – $3.00

Coneflower ‘Green Twister’: 3” – $3.00

Coral Bells, ‘Marvelous Marble’ 4.5” - $5.00

Salvia, New Dimension Blue: 5” - $6.00

Houseplants & Annuals:

Polka-Dot Plants: 6” - $5.00

Coming Soon:

Sparkling Blue Kale

Dinosaur Kale

Cilantro/Coriander

Swiss Chard

These days I am generally at Leclair’s General Store once a week, for the weekly Sustainable Neighbors meeting at 5:30pm through 7:00 pm. If you have questions then I will be there to answer your questions. Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to sign up for anything or join anything, you can come on in ask for us and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

                        This brings to a close the nineteenth LITFM post of the year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 4^th of October. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.

Seek, Read, Digest, Repeat!

Welcome back to another episode of Lost In The Farmers Market where we take a look at the nature of things in the agriculture industry and explain them to the reader in terms that don’t require a PHD and a comprehensive set of encyclopedias to understand. For the opening to this week’s post I’d like to talk to you about something I encountered while purchasing a tree at a wholesale nursery.

It probable you’ll encounter this if you are on watch when planting a large shrub or tree. I purchased a Redbud (Cercis canadensis) as they are quite nice this time of year. For those who do not know a Redbud is best known for its vibrant pink flowers this time of the year and is a native plant. It has heart shaped leaves that take on a bronze cast when they are young and again before they drop in fall. So the transplanting went just fine but in the bottom of the plant’s container was a small plant tag that had the following on it.

Front: “This plant is protected from problematic Aphids, White Flies, Beetles, Mealy Bugs and other unwanted pests by Neonicotinoids”

Back: “Treated with Neonicotinoids, These pesticides are approved by the EPA.”

Upon reading this I thought to myself, ‘what the hell is a Neonicotinoid?!’ Honestly, it sounds like an artificial sweetener they might put in diet soda or something. But after breaking out the NC pesticide applicators manual it turns out that Neonicotinoids are a classification of insecticides considered to be neurotoxic. They are used because they are most effective against insects of varied types and less dangerous to mammals. Similar common compounds include Imidacloprid, Acetamprid, Nitenpyram, Thiacloprid, Thiamethoxam, Nithiazine, and Clothianidin.  It is suggested that some of the resulting byproducts from the decomposition of the Neonicotinoid family are still toxic in the environment. That would be fine and well but there’s a problem, Neonicotinoids in specific are applied as a systemic insecticide which means the compounds are only effective if the insect pests eat the treated plants. This means no chance of friendly fire in this sort of insecticide right? Wrong, there are a number of studies to suggest that systemic insecticides also are present when applied in the treated plant’s pollen and or its nectar which means the friendly fire has a chance to hit pollinators. As if this were not bad enough, say a bunch of aphids are on their way out but get eaten before they can die by a lady bug, what do you think happens to the lady bug? Systemic pesticides used in the wrong way, or excessive amounts pose a very difficult problem as their secondary effects need more detailed study. The regular readers of this blog know what I think of pesticide use already but for those who are new or not regular readers I pose the simple statement that follows.

“Chemical solutions to natural problems should always be in proportion to the problem and even then a last resort after all other methods have failed. In of that, we in the agriculture field, find our parallel in the medical field with the overuse of antibiotics. For us to carelessly use chemical solutions for every possible ailment is the act of setting the stage for a grand failure in the not too distant future.”

Much like my stance on genetically modified organisms, I view chemical use through the lens of its long-term effects on the environment, the economy and the people. The issue we face is that there’s too much money wrapped up in the agricultural industry and so some times the primary sources of information be they bio-technology, petro-chemical or agricultural lobby, organic and holistic are all out for your money and thus their scrupulous nature isn’t reliable. Just look at the immense amount of false information over the anti-vaccine movement. Normally the loudest folks in that group are those who read one biased book, go on the internet and think they are better informed than a career immunologist. Not that we don’t get our own share of “blind scholars” in the organic and anti-GMO movements as these kinds of people are everywhere. So I bid you always consider the source and try to verify its credentials and the scope of the information collected to better realize that we are in a new era of scientific dishonesty.

It’s like the old song “Your momma told you, you better shop around” indeed this is the truth when it comes to understanding a topic or a major life decision. You should always seek out answers to your questions and look at the entire scope of a situation. Only consulting one side makes you biased and willingly ignorant. At least if you consult a variety of sources from both sides of a situation you then most likely have the ability to make a fairer set of decisions. Take for instance an incident that happened to me last year. An individual was talking about and handing out flyers about the dangers of fluoridation of drinking water. And so I listened and at the end of the talk I took a flyer for further study. Now according to the flyer fluoridation caused about eighteen separate health issues. Of course being logical I read through them and realized that half of the list leads to the other half. For instance it listed migraines and decreased sex drive and or impotence…really I don’t know about you but the last thing I want to do is strenuous physical activity while I’ve got a raging headache so yes you can say that that claim was debunked easily as a logical fallacy. After seeing that I went online to see what utility companies and the federal government had to say about fluoridation in the water, Afterwards I checked independent medical sources, and after that I looked into privately owned water bottling companies, and then I ran the spectrum of anti-fluoridation sources ranging from professionals with health concerns, to conspiracy theorists who claim fluoride allows government mind-control. In the case of the latter part yes that is a thing, it’s mind-bogglingly insane however, the evidence presented would never stand in a scientific inquiry as it preys on fear and ignorance….sort of like most religion. (Go figure)

The next week I had a chat with the person who was behind the flyers and we had a very civil conversation where I explained why it’s bad to just regurgitate stuff found on the internet verbatim without research and that the flyer was sending a incorrect and unfair message. I also took care to politely point out why the health effects were misleading. The person’s response was to sort of blow me off with a curt “well I don’t have time to do research!” Great, fantastic even, you’re in a position of power/authority and you can’t be bothered to make sure you’re giving fair and unbiased information or verify the veracity of your claims in front of a very gullible public? I guess this is why I can’t go into politics, that level of dishonesty and blatant laziness would drive me mad! So I suppose, the moral of this story is that the only thing that can hurt you is less information as, having more information only helps you make better decisions and thus you can have a greater impact on your life and those that matter to you. Having more information ensures that you are better suited to be reliable contributor to the global community and the act of pursuing such a state of balance is one of the most noble endeavors a person can work at.

Now, with the main topic handled I have to cover the market news. Disclaimer, this is probably the biased part of this article, but the Fayetteville City Market is open, in downtown Fayetteville on 325 Franklin Street in the Fayetteville Transportation Museum parking lot. We’re there on Saturdays from 9:00 am to 1:00pm and next Saturday is the start of the official Market season. Also at the booth I will have the first tomatoes of the season, all Aunt Lou’s Underground Rail Road, the easiest southern climate compatible medium size tomato. You can expect more tomato varieties just as soon as they get to size. Also I will have Snow Pea’s and a lovely variety of spring greens so come on down, check us out and don’t be a stranger!

ICE COLD!

Its like an old sepia toned tin-type photo....

Welcome back to a snow dappled edition of Lost in the Farmer’s Market, this is our first episode of February. Now as you know, these episodes used to be posted on Saturdays hence the actual post date for this would have been February first. Because we’ve got a booth at the Fayetteville farmer’s Market the episodes are released early, so you can see what we’ll have in advance. With that said today’s topic is the first of a two part series defining the terms Genetically Modified Organism and Hybrid. Next week we will cover the terms Heritage, Heirloom and Open Pollenated.

So let’s get started with the term GMO, this is a abbreviation for Genetically Modified Organism. There is a lot of hype about this one and in truth a lot of it is justified. The corporations most mentioned for being involved with these creations act as though they are accountable to no one. Monsanto in particular is willing to do anything to loosen the restraints on its activities to make a buck. But what is a GMO? Well by definition I believe there are five types of GMO, each with a level of risk.

GMO Type I

Type 1 GMOs are genetically altered specifically using their own existing genetics. No foreign genetics are introduced and the goal is to get say a redder tomato or a carrot that has more beta carotene. This would be a much more expensive equal to say open pollination and selection of plants for traits.

Characteristics:

-The individual specimen’s own genes are used.

-Genetic clones are common.

-Pollen cross contamination is noticeable but not a significant risk.

-Low risk.

GMO Type II

Type II GMOs are a lot like Type I in that the selected organism’s own genetics are used. Genes from closely related members of the same family are also used.

Characteristics:

-Genetics from plants in same family, and are generally directly related.

-Original genetics are still being used.

-Pollen cross contamination is a possible problem.

-Intermediate risk.

GMO Type III

Type III GMOs are where the weird science comes in. Type three’s will often have something extra added in. Perhaps making a redder tomato was not enough, now the labs want to make a redder tomato that is perfectly shaped…so they unlock a gene for redness, borrow a gene from another tomato to make the tomato’s skin more lustrous and then they borrow a gene from say an eggplant to make the flesh firmer. Ok so all plants in the example were from the night shade family. The problem is Eggplant and Tomato are highly unlikely to cross in nature so that eggplant gene, would never have crossed so then have a unnatural plant that may manifest unexpected results later on.

Characteristics:

-May use genes from plants in the same family.

-Gene sources may bear unforeseen effects.

-Pollen contamination is likely especially if source genetics are not carefully selected.

-Moderate Risk.

GMO Type IV

Type IV GMOs are where the real problems begin because now the labs want to cross families entirely. They want to sell you a blue rose, so they use a petunia gene to make the rose produce shades of blue otherwise impossible. They want your corn to be pest resistant, so they use a natural pesticide gene from a potato so the corn produces its own pesticide. The list goes on but basically at this level the crossings of genetic material is all impossible in nature so these plants must be lab cultured and then grown on and in theory should be field tested (for 5-10 years which never happens) and FDA trial tested for 20 years (also never happens).

Characteristics:

-Genetics cross plant families.

-Pollen cross contamination is a constant issue.

-Mutation risk is present.

-Potential Acute Toxicity if used as food product.

-Moderate-High Risk.

GMO Type V

The final type of GMO is type V, which refers to the genetic structuring of an organism to do things that otherwise would not be normal in nature. Prime examples are pesticide immune strains of corn which otherwise would not have such protections, another example can be seen with the ‘terminator seeds’.

Characteristics:

-Uses genetic material from differing families of plant.

-May also use genetic material from non-plant species.

-Has high risk of cross-contamination via pollen.

-Has high risk of counter adaptation by ‘weed’ species.

-Can be bred to force financial servitude to company.

-Long term health effects suggested by independent study to be negative.

-High Risk.

The next term to discuss is ‘Hybrid’, which has gotten a bad rap in recent days as it is often lumped in with genetically modified organism as a bad thing. In truth a hybrid is generally any sexual cross between two compatible organisms. If we were talking humans we might call that ‘Mixed’ or for a dog ‘Mutt’. Genetically it’s the same thing, however for the purposes of agriculture it’s really little more than an observation of fact. Hybrid plants are not inherently bad as long as their documentation clearly indicates what plants were crossed to get the resulting offspring. That would be the real curve ball in the term hybrid.  If one crosses two heirlooms they still get a heirloom-hybrid, likewise if one crosses a successful hybrid with an heirloom you still get a hybrid-heirloom of another sort. However if you cross a heirloom with a compatible GMO variety, then you get a GMO-hybrid. In short as long as you can verify the parentage of a species then hybrids are not a problem and in fact are a normal part of agriculture. A good case in point is can be found with some of the more famous herbs as of late.

Mentha x piperita f. citrata ‘Chocolate Mint’ – a clear genetic cross between upwards of three mint types.  Plain old mint was crossed with a hybrid of Pepper mint and Citrus mint and then was selected for scent and flavor.

Basilicum kilimandscharicum x Basilicum ‘Dark Opal’  or Blue African Basil – A genetic cross between Camphor Basil and a cultivated variety of sweet basil.

Ocimum x citriodorum ‘Pesto Purpetuo’ – A flowerless sterile basil expressly intended for use in pesto. It is a cross of sweet basil and a variety of Lemon Basil.

As you can see the term hybrid isn’t so scary as long as you can figure out your plant’s history. You want to seek out clean non-GMO organic certified seeds to verify what you are growing is not coming with an unwanted genetic guest. Due to the size of this topic we will have to continue next week with the terms Heirloom, Heritage and Open pollenated.  With all that covered in detail we move onto the market information for this weekend.

The BL2 mascot is out enjoying the winter splendor.

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 of some type 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 weather 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)

House Plants

8x Holiday Cactus ($3.00)

Garden Plants

2x Morris-Heading Cabbage Collards 0.5 gal pot ($3.00)

2x Georgia Collards, 0.5 gal pot ($3.00)

 

So this concludes the first LITFM Episode of February, we came in with snow which as the pictures posted will attest was quite lovely. For note we received 1” of snow, which translates to 0.5” of actual precipitation. I’d say we’re coming into the New Year just right for precipitation. I hope to see some of you down at the market, and as always keep ‘em growing!

It's so cold and quiet all I could hear when I took this picture was the delicate crinkling of the snow falling and the rare sound of a vehicle engine very distant. No aircraft...no music nothing else dared break winters imposed silence. It was glorious!

P.S.

Original Title: "Take Off! To the Great White South!"

 -Author's note:The title came to mind because of the above picture and then we dropped it because it simply sounded wrong.