Search results

I have many apple trees in my orchard that had been badly chewed by deer before I installed the fence. Some were rare varieties that are no longer offered anywhere, yet there were sparks of life left, so I kept them. Quality bittersharp cider apples, without a hint of sugar, are really really...

In a pot would probably not work. They have taproots that are very very long. The little bitty trees I got that were 3 1/2 ' tall had 12" long taproots. A mature 7-10 foot tree would likely have a 3 foot long taproot, which is kinda big for a pot. Not impossible, but pots that big are expensive...

Wow! My uncle used to work in a cigar factory. When he died, his kids cleared out something like 500 old wooden cigar boxes, cigar-rolling equipment, humidors, etc. from his garage. He couldn't fit his car in there from so much cigar-making stuff he had laying around. Neither he nor any living...

I have some of the cultivated sort. I'm trying to get them to spread in a semi-shady spot in my yard--they like a little shade. You need pollinators, can't just have one. I have Rebecca's Gold, Sunflower, and Wells. Planted in 2007 and still smallish, no pawpaws yet. My understanding is also...

Oh, most certainly! The thing you have to be careful of is that some things, like certain roses, are patented, and by culturing them for sale you'd end up violating their patent. Culturing them for your own use or for educational purposes is OK though. I am a biologics drug discovery...

Yes. Tissue culture is most of my job. :P You will likely need a laminar flow hood, which can be purchased from mycology hobbyist suppliers (e.g. Fungi Perfecti) to keep the cultures clean. I had an adviser once who swore this was not necessary, but he also spent a lot of time complaining about...

Gosh I'm glad you posted this. My turkeys have a charming habit of kicking over their treat bowls, in which I was putting scratch that included winter rye. I went out back to check on how the grass was doing at previous tractor sites, and thought, "Wow, I guess the grass is coming in great with...

Wow, you're doing lots of cooking. We are having (for just me, DH and my mother): winter squash soup home-grown roast chicken w/ giblet gravy garlic green beans sweet Yankee cornbread (you Southerners don't have to tell me, I know this is a sin) cranberry sauce w/ walnuts purple potato gratin...

Wait, the leaves turn red or the stems? If it's stems, then it is probably one of the Cornus spp. red twig dogwoods/osiers. They also come in orange, yellow. The color only appears in winter after a hard frost, as that makes the outer bark peel off.

You know, I was sure the broccoli was no good this year. I got one little crown, and the rest was et by slugs, nibbled by a very acrobatic woodchuck, and generally reduced to stubs. I had planted Waltham 29 and Thompson, which are supposedly very short season, figuring maybe I can get two crops...

Elderflower mead: 1 small packet of yeast for semidry wine, or 1/4th of a prepared smack pack of Wyeast #4184. Directions for preparing a smack pack are on the side of the packet; measure out 1/4th of this into an extremely clean/sanitized cup. 5 lbs. honey, any kind you like, although a...

I make elderflower mead, and it is awesome. Next year when they are in season I'm going to try making an elderflower-flavored jellyroll filled with strawberry cream. Don't like the berries so much, but the flowers taste great. I cheat and get the syrup pre-made from Ikea sometimes though.

Yeah, Gourmet, Bon Appetit and one other (I forget the name) were all owned by one parent publisher that owns a lot of magazines, Conde Nast. They dumped Gourmet and a couple of their bridal magazines. There's still Cook's Illustrated, which is really my favorite. Gourmet recipes were OK but...

Oh, January recipes? You know, I thought it would be difficult to have local food in January, but it isn't really. You just end up eating everything that went into the freezer/canning jars the previous year. I keep lettuces and salad greens in a window box in the laundry room. Our neighbors do...

January is spent putting in seed & plant orders. Over my Xmas - New Year's holiday, I go over my notes from the year and the crop rotation, and figure out what I want to order for the coming year. A lot of things I want sell out very quickly, so the orders all have to be submitted in January or...

If the tree is much over 40 feet, then yes. That was my original plan, and he said it was a bad idea.

I just keep the feed in big plastic snap-shut bins. Seems to work OK. I have caught a couple of mice trying to get into the bins late at night, but at that time of night the chickens are all up on their roosts anyway, so not bothered. I don't think that a broody hen would tolerate a mouse...

Ours was OK. I have a lot of candy left over. Really really glad that LED "candles" are now available, otherwise the house would have burnt down--I fell asleep on the couch. Wifezilla, those are some happy happy ducks!

My brother the arborist came up to visit a couple weekends ago. I told him I wanted to thin my woodlot some more, and here's what I learned: When lots of trees grow really tall together, if you thin the bigger ones out, the others will not grow in bushy to fill in the gaps. They will fall over...

Mulberry: It depends. Do you like mulberries? Do you have chickens that free-range and will poop purple all over your car? Is the mulberry located someplace where bushels of raining purple goo will be a concern, such as hanging over a patio? Ours is in the backyard, in the middle of a grassy...