Winter Garden

Xenji here, our resident camera phone photographer.

Here are a few photographs from our main house looking out at the land.

The beauty is humbling.

shitake mushrooms!

shitake fruits (mushrooms) here!  did you know that mushrooms are merely the fruiting body of the organism that we call ‘mushroom’?    the prolific and growing part of the creature is the mycilium which grows through a piece of wood or the forest floor or a compost pile, etc…

when the mycilium is ready to reproduce is is putting forth mushrooms which in turn spread spores through out the universe.  for real – these spores can travel through space undisturbed.

here we see the fruiting body of shitake mushrooms – a gourmet and medicinal, ancient food source.   i inoculated these fresh alder logs 4 years ago with shitake spawn.  i wrote them off after 3 years because they did not show any signs of growth of life.   just as we were about to reclaim them for firewood the other day, xenji and i noticed these little mushies bursting out!  what a joy!     we cooked them immediately and boy were they yummy.

in this case- 2 out of 14 logs fruited.  this gives me some hope that the rest of them might bust out and thus we will allow them to grow a little more, just till this summer…  if they’re going to fruit at all they will do it between now and late spring as it becomes warmer but still plenty wet.   updates to follow…

shitake fruits (mushrooms) growing off an alder log after 4 years!

i seem to have caught our bwoy xenji in a keen moment on the log hustle…  here we see a huge maple tree that fell over the driveway, onto a truck, onto a shed, and into the field.    in cutting it up we have the blessing of making this decision:  do we use it for great firewood next year or do we save it to grow mushrooms on?

fire wood or mushroom logs?

hardwood like this burns well and is very valuable for the hearth.  it is also ideal for cultivating gourmet mushrooms on.  again- very valuable.   to grow mushrooms on wood you need freshly downed logs… logs that are still relatively alive and not occupied by other competing fungal species.   we will split it in half – burn some and inoculate some.    after inoculation we will set them in the shade and hopefully in a year or 3 they will give us tons of food and medicine.

tons more info out there on mushroom cultivation.   google it.   also look at paul staments’ work up in washington…   fungiperfecti.com

thanxomuch! blessed sweet love!

10 veggies u can grow with out full sun!

something i found online today! great info here!

 

When most people picture a vegetable garden, they imagine a spot that bakes in the sun all day. For some vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers, and squash, this is the ideal site. What if we want to grow vegetables, but don’t have a site like this “ideal” one available? There are plenty of vegetables that will grow well without full sun. Those of us who have shade can grow vegetables, too.

Basically, a good rule to remember is that if you grow a plant for the fruit or the root, it needs full sun. If you grow it for the leaves, stems, or buds, a little shade will be just fine.

Keep in mind that no vegetable will grow in full, dense shade. The following crops will produce with three to six hours of sun, or fairly constant dappled shade, per day.

1. Salad Greens, such as leaf lettuce, arugula, endive, and cress.
2. Broccoli
3. Cauliflower
4. Peas
5. Beets
6. Brussels Sprouts
7. Radishes
8. Swiss Chard
9. Leafy Greens, such as collards, mustard greens, spinach, and kale
10. Beans

In some ways, growing in a site with part shade is easier than growing in full sun. You won’t have to water as often, and crops that are quick to bolt in hot weather, such as lettuces and spinach, will grow quite a bit longer given some shade.

The best thing about knowing that these crops will successfully grow with some shade is that you’ll be able to get more produce from your garden. Even if you’re lucky enough to have an area with full sun that you can reserve for a vegetable garden, knowing which plants will take some shade will help you get the most out of your space. You can use that sunny space to grow the sun-lovers: peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, corn, and squashes. The other crops, those that do well in the shade, can be tucked in anywhere. Grow some beets or swiss chard in your part-sun perennial border. Grow some lettuce or radishes in a container or window box. Make use of the space you have, in both sun and shade, and you can easily double the amount of vegetables you would usually get.

Having a shady garden doesn’t mean you’re destined to live a life devoid of fresh garden vegetables. By making the most of what you have, you can harvest lettuces, peas, and other tasty veggies from spring through fall.

 

original website here

seeds!

its still possible to harvest seeds that we didnt take in yet in the early part of the rainy season which started for us around october this year.   i am still gathering seed of  blue vervain – the invisibility plant, st. johns’s wort, zi ciao, joe pye weed aka. gravel root,  all kinds of greens and salad, lobelia,  etc.

its as simple as stripping them off of the plant or dumping them out ,wrapping them in an envelope, and label them for the coming spring. some, however, require cleaning the seed from the chaff; the bits of organic matter left over from the seed pod or the flowering part of the plant.  its best to just isolate the seed so that when planting, you are just sowing seed, not little bits of plant matter as this will surely mold or rot or attract fungus which will kill off all spouts.

see here some st. john’s seed that i was able to just dump into my hand.   i have so much of this saved already that i didnt bother to collect this little handful.  rather i just chuck it around the garden to ensure a huge crop of st. john’s flowers.   it’s really a weed if not controlled….. they call it kalamath weed for it grows rampantly in the kalamath river valley of northern california.

 

it hasn’t become a big problem for us yet here… thank goodness…

st. john's seed pods

then you can just dump then out into your hand to save them. they must be dry... must do this on a clear day.

if you collect seed when its wet you must put them somewhere to dry or else they can rot or mold.  nothing’s worse than going back to your seed stash all wrapped up all nice, only to find that there was some moisture in there and they all molded.

 

ps- here is my favorite yellow sweater that my dear ma gave to me back in the day like 13 years ago!  it brightens up the gray winter like nothing else can!  thanks ma!

 

see here lots and lots of seeds of an ancient chinese medicine herb called zi-cao.  these look identical to job’s tears which is a big tropical grass, the seeds of which are often collected as beads or crafts.    these zi-cao seeds are like tiny versions of that.  so beautyful and abundant.  i will come out here with a cordless dust buster vacuum tomorrow and collect these with that.   it makes it super easy.   there are several thousand here.  enough to replant then sell, trade, gift, and share the remainder.  jai seeds!

dirt

the other day xenji and i cleaned up the fire wood area in the forested part of the farm.  in doing so, we were able to scrape up a lot of rich forest soil and leaves and duff from the area.   this we brought down and fed to some of our key garden beds.  we gave it mostly to perennial beds – the echinacea, valerian, balloon flowers and skullcap beds, etc.

this forest soil is so rich in nutrients, minerals, living microbes, mycelium, and countless other organic materials and benefits for the garden soil.  this brings a new boost of life into the garden beds which are otherwise just native clay soil, compost, cover crops, or anything else that we’ve added over the years.    the forest soil is a huge added bonus here.   ideally we would have enough to spread on every bed.  its a lot of work.  we did good with just 6 or 7 wheelbarrow loads.

see xenji posing so nice with our freshly cleaned firewood area. here is where we were able to scrape up lots of good forest dirt!

see this super rich soil here! amazing. so good for these beds. we could feel the plants responding as we applied it.

im getting very excited to see the perennials pop up this coming spring.  they are getting a lot of great attention this winter and will be super strong in the coming growing season!

moonlight

full moon over the house, taken from the garden by xenji.

fun and for life

here is some plant art with a deer skull that was processed with my main man jahmi jes karper.  the skull split open with a machete to obtain the brain for tanning its hide.  the plants used here are an oregeon native iris and a trailing penstemon.  ill post a pic again in the spring when this starts to bloom and grow.

 

blessed sweet love

dude, where is my country?

greetings and love to all nice folks!

wow it seems that this is it my dear friends!  i dont mean to mix politics with gardens here, and please forgive me, but at this point the two are painfully, and eternally married.

ok first of all- as you read make sure that you understand how to use this technology.  im just learning it myself as i figure out how to ‘blog’…    so  the yellow bits of text are links to other pages, videos, website, news stories, etc.  please open them in other tabs or other pages by “left clicking” them or ‘control/click’

this will allow you to look at them all in other tabs or windows while you still have this blog open…    thanks… now on to the real content:

it seems that our president has no love or hope for humanity and has deemed our beautyfulll nation a battleground.  this means that our very own garden and the pre-school therein may be raided by poor fellows with riot gear for no reason !! we could then all be held indefinitely with no word to or from our families.  this is not my opinion here but just the sad state of this piece of land that happens to lie within the governance of a corrupted system.

im so sorry dear ones, but at this point it is unavoidably obvious that we are in dangerous times and must stay together with steadfast determination if we are to survive.  again- i am so sorry to have to mix politics and gardens in this post as we are committed to bringing you only positive and uplifting messages from the soil…

however, if for no apparent reason, these peaceful blog updates seem to end and you never hear from me again…    just remember that theoretically it can happen to anyone now and may this serve as a symbolic and, hopefully never needed, goodbye just in case the worst were to come true.

ok to add to the relevance:  one of the reasons that your humble narrator may be walking around as a marked man henceforth, as is the one who taught me to garden – my dear ma, is due to senate bill s510 … this includes all backyard gardens nationwide..   sorry kids!  ask you parents why we had to stop growing tomatoes! 

again.. i am so sorry to deliver the bad news here but i am in tears here in the middle of the night after having read this fateful turn of affairs with the president’s decision and  thinking about my family and community being faced with the men in this video for being peaceful farmers.    is it really coming down to this?  and then with decreasing support in terms of guns and young men to hold them   do i need to fear for my life or invasion by china because im now classified as a terrarist for having 7 days of food stored up here in my closet?  moms i know youre reading… what do you think here?  i/we need guidance.

ok and to end it with something totally uplifting and fresh please have faith when you watch this vid of this baby buddha khaliyl…!!

sunrise mists which soften the dawn for the coming solstice… please tell me this is worth enduring for.

thanks for reading everyone…

blessed sweet love!

News from other farmer friends!!!

Here is some news and requests from other farmer friends just south of us.  True master.   I hope this is helpful everyone!  Blessed sweet love for everyone!

………….
> To: walkingrootsfarm@lists.riseup.net
> From: jules_jardinier@riseup.net
> Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:16:18 -0800
> Subject: [walkingrootsfarm] Herbal Medicine Sale/Barter, Dec. 3-4 in PDX
>
> Hello all, greetings from Walking Roots Farm!
>
> The wet rainy season is in full swing, and with it come sniffles, coughs, and
> ailments of various kinds for many people, both physical and emotional. The
> world of Plant Medicine offers a plethora of effective ways for addressing
> these different dis-eases.
>
> Announcing an Herb Sale / Barter!
> Date: Sat & Sun, Dec. 3rd & 4th
> Time: 11 am to 5pm, both days
> Location: Riverhouse, 2131 SE Harney, in Sellwood
> Why: To spread health to the community, and as a FUNDRAISER for our farm
>
> Among the three farmers who make up Walking Roots Farm, we have decades of
> experience in exploring the world of medicinal herbs. Our educations have come
> from trained herbal teachers, formal education, books, and our own hands-on
> practices. We have studied Eastern, Western, and various Indigenous plants.
> We are true believers and want to share with you!
>
> This farm year, we focused on medicinal herbs like never before, and worked
> with scores and scores of different plant species from around the world. We
> also harvested and processed like never before, not just from our farming spot
> near Corvallis, but from our old herb gardens in Portland. We harvested at
> peak times and from best location for each plant.
>
> The result is that we have a wide range of medicinal herbs to offer at this
> time: tinctured, dried for teas/smoking, and in salves and oils. We have
> brought our best efforts and closest attention to making the best medicine we
> can, and our years of experience and experimentation have resulted in what we
> feel are high quality medicines.
>
> This farm year was tremendously exhausting, due to the unique challenges of the
> particular piece of formerly-conventional land we leased. We aim to establish
> a permanent home for our medicinal herb gardens somewhere else in 2012, in a
> spot that can become a center of healing in many different ways, and we are
> working on a list of leads to follow.
>
> So this event is a FUNDRAISER for Walking Roots Farm, to help with our move to
> new land in the 2012 season. Therefore, any $ you exchange for medicine will
> be considered a DONATION to that cause. Most of our tinctures will be
> available in TWO OUNCE bottles, rather than one-ounce, because we have seen
> that the effective dosage of plant medicine often exceeds one ounce. Our
> “price” (suggested donation) for a two ounce bottle of tincture is $15-25+,
> depending on the herb, which is a very reasonable cost. We will also take
> barter; see list below.
>
> PARTIAL LIST OF HERBS THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE – and in what forms
> * = hard to find elsewhere
> *Spilanthes (Toothache Plant) flowers only – tinctured
> Catnip (Nepeta cataria) flowering tops – tinctured, dried
> *Cedar (Thuja plicata) berries – tinctured
> Cedar leaves – tinctured, salve
> *Tulsi (Occimum sanctum) flowering tops – tinctured, dried
> Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) flowering tops – tinctured
> Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) flowering tops – tinctured, dried
> Peppermint (Mentha peperita) flowering tops – tinctured, dried, salve
> Mullein (Verbascum thapsus & V. olympicum) leaves – tinctured
> Mullein (Verbascum olympicum) flowers – tinctured, and, with garlic as an ear
> oil
> Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) leaves – dried
> Usnea – tinctured
> *Teasel (Dipsacus fillonum) – tinctured
> Oats (Avena sativa) in the milk stage – tinctured, dried
> *Klip Dagga (Leonitis nepetaefolia) flowers – tinctured, dried, salve
> Calendula (Calendula officinalis) flowers – salve
> Lovage (Levisticum officinale) roots – tinctured
> Elecampane (Inula helenium) roots – tinctured
> Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) roots – tinctured
> Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) roots – tinctured
> Dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) roots & flowers – tinctured
> Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) flowering tops – tinctured, dried
> Angelica, aka Dong Quai (Angelica sinensis) roots – tinctured
> *Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) roots – tinctured
> *Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) roots – tinctured
> *Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) flowering tops – tinctured, dried
> Hops (Humulus lupulus) buds – tinctured, dried
> Grinwort, aka Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata) flowering tops – tinctured, dried
>
> Most of our tinctures use Certified Organic Grain Alcohol, from Ashland, and
> Wild Spring Water harvested at mid-elevation near Wy’East (Mt. Hood). Our
> salves are made from olive oil and beeswax.
>
> Also featured will be Kollibri’s famous “Chill Out” tincture blend, a lung
> health tincture blend and legal herbal smoking mixes such as “Knock Out”,
> “Sluntifier” and “Tilt”.
>
> ITEMS WE WILL TAKE IN BARTER / TRADE
> (List is different from previous list for produce sale)
> * body work: massage, acupuncture. etc.
> * automotive mechanical advice/work on a 1980 Volvo and 1976 school bus (can
> discuss further compensation)
> * empty tincture bottles, *with droppers* of any size
> * brown or blue glass containers, *with lids/stoppers* of any size
> * home-brew beer, wine, cider, etc.
> * honey
> * candles of any size
> * wool socks, male size 11, female 8
> * other medicinal herbs, tinctured, dried, etc., that we are not already
> offering
>
> Thank you very much for your support! We would really like to continue this
> work of helping to bring healing to the world, and we can’t do it alone!
> All the best,
> Kollibri & Nikki & Deva
> Walking Roots Farm
> http://walkingroots.infotage.net
> 503.686.5557

Valerian & Echinacea Harvest!

Tiny baby Valerian crowns freshly dug in the winter. These were too small to harvest- we just wanted to see how the roots were coming along then we replanted them.

This is another oldish post- Feb 13, 2010- way before I ever thought to make a website about this valuable stuff.

Valerian and Echinacea roots are harvested every 2 or 3 years just like many of the other roots that we are dealing with here.   Another similarity is how the plants respond to generous additions of compost through out the growing season.  This helps the roots to get huge and gives you big flowering tops too and lots of seed.

A great selection of Valerian crowns- some had substantial roots taht have been cut off and some were too small, these will just be divided and replanted.

Nice roots and crowns ready for process. See the nice clean dandelion root to the right. Though this is a 'weed' we still harvest it whenever we are taking it out of the garden. Try to dig out as much root as possible, clean it, and then just save them around either dry for tea for later or cut them up into an ongoing jar of tincture. This is like a little dandelion bonus as you go through out the season.

Nice clean plants ready to be cut up. This is the goal- lots of stringy, long roots to harvest. The crowns are then cut up with a sharp knife or pruners and then replanted.

Cleaning with a high pressure hose is the best for home style production. There are machines that do it on a much larger scale.

My gentle bro Paul cleaning the roots. One of the hardest working doodz I've ever had the pleasure of working with. See a bowl of finished/clean roots and a whole heap of them still to be washed.

Clean clean, ready to cut up.

The extraneous roots are cut off with pruners into a bowl. This will soon get cut up further and then put into gallon jars and tinctured asap to avoid the roots starting to oxidize. The crowns are set aside for replanting. This is ancient, sacred, and noble work. The roots contain so much medicine for us, the crowns are the future generations of countless more plants. This whole work is a ceremony.

The harvest process for Echinacea is, as far as I know, the exact same as the Valerian harvest and that of many other of these awesome roots. See here the crowns of Echinay'nay processed already-all roots cut off and crowns ready to be cut up and replanted. See another nice dandelion root too. Always collecting those.

I LOVE THIS! Here is the first real Echinacea harvest for this garden. 3 year old plants harvested right around the time of the Valerian harvest. Here is a big bowl of finely chopped Echinacea Purpurea root, ready for tincture, and a grip of crowns to separate and replant. Jai Jai plantitas!!!