A Seed Saver's Garden

[Alasgun]

I actually have developed a theory about this since getting a dog. My dog used to cry and beg when I'd be chopping garlic; given that it's toxic to them it's an odd reaction. Crying for chocolate I could see, but not garlic? Then I found out that pet companions are WAY more wormy than we realize. Probably most of them live with low level infections their whole lives. Lots of mammals in the wild do. A natural vet wizard told me they are so wormy because they sniff everything, and groom with their mouths of course, and eggs of parasites can enter through the nose. (Pharmaceutical de-wormers are very toxic and short lived.) Garlic is somewhat of a natural de-wormer, and can kill parasite eggs. So, my guess is that while alliums are not good for them somehow they know that the worms are a bad situation too, and they choose the negative effect of the garlic over the worms.

3 decades ago while still on the ranch in the Dakotas; chickens, dogs, sheep and pigs were the norm around the place. The dogs and pigs were wormed with garlic which worked well. The dogs got a couple cloves twice a year and the pigs got a whole bulb. Both needed no coaxing and readily ate it as a treat. The pigs were particularly humorous for a bit and would begin hopping about they’re pen much as a bunny will “bink” joyfully about the cage. The hopping also included lots of burps, farts and barks, which at first i believed was due to the garlic burning they’re gut but after careful study i became convinced they really, really liked the stuff.

 

[flowerbug]

3 decades ago while still on the ranch in the Dakotas; chickens, dogs, sheep and pigs were the norm around the place. The dogs and pigs were wormed with garlic which worked well. The dogs got a couple cloves twice a year and the pigs got a whole bulb. Both needed no coaxing and readily ate it as a treat. The pigs were particularly humorous for a bit and would begin hopping about they’re pen much as a bunny will “bink” joyfully about the cage. The hopping also included lots of burps, farts and barks, which at first i believed was due to the garlic burning they’re gut but after careful study i became convinced they really, really liked the stuff.

that would be funny to see. from what i can tell worms really like any garlic and onion scraps and the parts of the plant that we don't eat. i'm thinking that they really taste the sulphur compounds as compared to, you know, regular good ol' dirt... a hypothesis...

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I'm not sure how well my plan worked. Despite giving the pot plenty of water, most of the plants are withering almost before my eyes. I'm afraid I may have messed up the roots so badly in transplanting that they can't recover. Well two of them (the one with the buds and the one that might have been something shrubby) are withering, the others look more or less as they did.) I suppose that, if the bud one doesn't look better by tomorrow or the day after, I might as well snip the buds off, put them in a vase, and hope that gets water back to them.

The vase seems to be working, within minutes of being stuck in, one of the flopped over bod heads has partially re-erected itself, and the other COMPLETELY has.

Won't help with the treelet, but you can't win everything.

Only other news is that some seeds I ordered from Trade Winds arrived yesterday, and now I'm even more confused than before. Some time ago, I ordered some seed for the Butterfly Pea relative called Pigeon Wings (Clitoria macrophylla) and, when I got it, it looked like they had actually sent me Spurred Butterfly pea (Centrosema virginiana). So, when I saw Trade winds also had it, I re-ordered. Only thing is, I opened the packet last night and these seeds ALSO look like Centrosema. So either BOTH screwed up the same way, C. macrophylla seed actually DOES look like Centrosema, (not impossible, as I have seen seed for C. fairchilda and that looks nothing like butterfly pea seed either,) or someone somewhere has made a major taxonomic mistake that is being perpetuated.

 

[heirloomgal]

Despite having dogs in my younger years, I didn't know anything about the toxic onion danger to them.

BTW. DD later had dogs and we learned that they especially like cooked carrots. She learned to make carrot and oatmeal treats for them.

My first garden on other people's property was a vacant lot across the alley at a previous home. I had never had any previous interaction with her beagle. I was a stranger who showed up on the other side of the fence and who did all this digging. Howl! Ruff Ruff! Hoowwl! No one at home, the howling from the beagle would go on and on.

I had onions coming up from sets right near his kennel and harvesting them seemed to interest him and he would almost shut up for a time. I passed a green leaf through the wire fence to him. He chewed it up. I began doing that whenever I first came into the garden. It worked but by the second year that I was there, I had learned about onions and dogs. Still, he had come to tolerate my presence for the next 2 years that I lived and gardened there. Thankfully!

Steve

"Beagle" - derived from the Middle French word 'beegueule' meaning "one who whines insistently, gaping throat, noisy person". I'm so glad that I lucked out and got one that is a mute!

 

[heirloomgal]

I was doing some research about the caloric breakdown of the global human diet, just our of curiosity really as a gardener. One thing that jumps off the page right away is the huge percentage of calories that humans consume globally from starches and cereals. I knew it was high, just not that high. Some info says it can be as high as 60% of our calories consumed in wheat, corn and rice. Troubling, given that these foods are very calorically rich and nutritionally empty. Makes sense that chronically poor health is a growing problem. Years ago people were rationed by scarcity which seems to have been a benefit from a health point of view. That beans don't seem to figure into the statistics also surprises me, for the US 9 grams per day per person, but globally it isn't much different.

I spoke with a fellow earlier this year who is big into growing cereal crops, and he sells his seeds. He prefers them above all else as crops, he said, because they are so undemanding, and easy. I don't grow grains, besides a little corn - and that is really a novelty crop for me more than anything - so I have no idea what growing grains is like. But this may factor in to why it comprises such a huge percentage of the average diet. The anti-nutrients present in grains is another reason the high grain consumption is concerning.

Interesting article about grains in light of the global distribution of calories -

Redirecting

 

[Alasgun]

Wow, i thought we were the only people who don’t do much grain. And by much i’m talking a 10 lb bag of steel cut oats per year (for oat meal cookies which im allowed, one a day!) and corn tortilla's around 12 times a year. No beans either. And while were at it, probably less than a 10lb. Bag of white sugar per year too.
This was a good link and im happy to see so many like articles these days Along with those detailing the perils of eating “highly processed foods”.
And i better stop here cause i could still be pecking away at this in the morning if i were to “spell it out”

Good for you.

 

[heirloomgal]

Wow, i thought we were the only people who don’t do much grain. And by much i’m talking a 10 lb bag of steel cut oats per year (for oat meal cookies which im allowed, one a day!) and corn tortilla's around 12 times a year. No beans either. And while were at it, probably less than a 10lb. Bag of white sugar per year too.
This was a good link and im happy to see so many like articles these days Along with those detailing the perils of eating “highly processed foods”.
And i better stop here cause i could still be pecking away at this in the morning if i were to “spell it out”

Good for you.

That is so awesome @Alasgun! I love to hear of people taking such good care of their health. There is real sacrifice involved, but it is so worth it in the big picture. 2010 we left behind all grains, and about 5 years ago we began to include some rice, and a little bit of corn, masa harina. Removing wheat in particular was life changing.

We very much have a home where life revolves around food, not in the typical way, but in the way of . No processed pre-made stuff, and especially anti nutrient ingredients. It takes time to do everything from scratch, as I'm sure you well know. There is a lot of "food" that we simply don't eat. Even as we started to allow the kids a bit of sweetened foods in these early teen years, they were raised with zero white sugar in the younger years - they didn't like them. One of the things I'm most proud of is, that because the foods they've been raised with were so carefully chosen for health giving benefits, they don't seem to like the 'bad stuff'. I made homemade maple syrup based marshmallows last Christmas as a very special 'once in a childhood' treat, because we were were going to roast them on an open fire at grampa's house, who is set up for that. For kids who have never had suckers, or gum, or candy of any kind, I thought they'd think it's pretty neat. They loathed them. If they continue to keep the habits of good, fresh food into their adult lives, and hopefully one day their kids lives, and avoid the quickie junk food so common in culture I'll be one happy mama.

Is the reason you don't include beans in your diet the lectins?

 

[heirloomgal]

The vase seems to be working, within minutes of being stuck in, one of the flopped over bod heads has partially re-erected itself, and the other COMPLETELY has.

Won't help with the treelet, but you can't win everything.

Only other news is that some seeds I ordered from Trade Winds arrived yesterday, and now I'm even more confused than before. Some time ago, I ordered some seed for the Butterfly Pea relative called Pigeon Wings (Clitoria macrophylla) and, when I got it, it looked like they had actually sent me Spurred Butterfly pea (Centrosema virginiana). So, when I saw Trade winds also had it, I re-ordered. Only thing is, I opened the packet last night and these seeds ALSO look like Centrosema. So either BOTH screwed up the same way, C. macrophylla seed actually DOES look like Centrosema, (not impossible, as I have seen seed for C. fairchilda and that looks nothing like butterfly pea seed either,) or someone somewhere has made a major taxonomic mistake that is being perpetuated.

All your transplanted plants still truckin' along @Pulsegleaner?

 

[Alasgun]

That is so awesome @Alasgun! I love to hear of people taking such good care of their health. There is real sacrifice involved, but it is so worth it in the big picture. 2010 we left behind all grains, and about 5 years ago we began to include some rice, and a little bit of corn, masa harina. Removing wheat in particular was life changing.

We very much have a home where life revolves around food, not in the typical way, but in the way of . No processed pre-made stuff, and especially anti nutrient ingredients. It takes time to do everything from scratch, as I'm sure you well know. There is a lot of "food" that we simply don't eat. Even as we started to allow the kids a bit of sweetened foods in these early teen years, they were raised with zero white sugar in the younger years - they didn't like them. One of the things I'm most proud of is, that because the foods they've been raised with were so carefully chosen for health giving benefits, they don't seem to like the 'bad stuff'. I made homemade maple syrup based marshmallows last Christmas as a very special 'once in a childhood' treat, because we were were going to roast them on an open fire at grampa's house, who is set up for that. For kids who have never had suckers, or gum, or candy of any kind, I thought they'd think it's pretty neat. They loathed them. If they continue to keep the habits of good, fresh food into their adult lives, and hopefully one day their kids lives, and avoid the quickie junk food so common in culture I'll be one happy mama.

Is the reason you don't include beans in your diet the lectins?

Yes on the lectins. In the Dakotas i kept bees and we consumed 20/25 gallons of honey per year and completely sugar free. Up here i don’t even take any honey from my bees; they’re position is strictly as pollinator's due to our proximity to sprayed areas. Up here it’s Maple syrup for 95% of our sweetener and the afore mentioned small qty. of organic sugar as well as the Stevia i grow for the remainder.

That’s tremendous that your Children are as willing as you say! They will really appreciate you’re efforts when they age without a lot of the problems most face!

 

[heirloomgal]

Wow, how long have you been managing your sugar intake so well? You must be in SUPER good shape. Maple syrup, such a great source for sweetness. That's been my go to for years, and it's still most of what we use. Having your own honey must have been amazing.

I'm not sure I can credit my kids too much with being willing per say, it's more that it's all they've ever known. My daughter was a newborn when we overhauled our diet, and my son a toddler. If they had been older kids, there might have been pushback. It's just normal to them. To watch their reactions when they see other kids eating heavily dyed food, with the blues and the reds, and how faces and fingers tend to get stained with that, is pretty hysterical. They tell me that they have major trauma from the horror of it.