A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

Well, the rice (well most of it) has been hulled to get rid of broken kernels, and, hopefully, my fingers will heal in a week or so (pulling the hulls off of rice does about as much damage to the skin as pulling corn kernels off of ears, with the added complication that you can't use gloves because then you don't have the tactile dexterity to grasp something that small.

The one additional thing I have now learned is that I don't have two kinds of African rice, I have at least FOUR (quite possibly more). Besides the long grain one I separated out before (which has not been hulled, as I probably won't try to grow that until a later year), and the majority short grained medium brown rice, there are also a few kernels of a VERY short grain (almost round) white grained rice, and a few of a very slender grained dark brown rice (as well as one or two white that are longer than the rest, and one or two dark that are fatter). I have separated those out, and they will get their own pots.

You got a rice crop! Awesome! Colors?

 

[Pulsegleaner]

View attachment 70169

In my supply of mead making honey, there are a couple of large jars I don't dare use, because they are manuka honey (they were marked Tea Tree honey, and, at the time I didn't know those two things were the same), and my view is that, if it has all of those extra medical properties, consuming a pound's worth at once via drinking it is probably not a great idea (which could easily happen if my cousin was to take a bottle and drink the whole thing over the course of a meal/ day*.) .

You got a rice crop! Awesome! Colors?

No I did not GET a rice crop, I got seed to TRY and get a rice crop NEXT YEAR. Like I said, I got a small package of African Rice seed from the person in Ghana I buy from on Etsy.

As for colors, as I said, most is medium brown, a tiny bit is white, and a tiny bit is dark brown. The web SAYS there is black African rice, but there does not seem to be any in this particular mix.

*My ratio tends to be 3 pounds of honey per gallon of water. From that I take three bottles (I generally toss what would be the fourth becuase by them I'm down into the sediment, and I'm not good enough at racking it to pull another clear bottle out). So it's actually more like 12 oz of honey per bottle, but even that's a lot for something that's supposed to be serious medicine.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Only remotely interesting story I have is that, yesterday at the Indian grocery store, I saw a bag of what was marked as allspice but looked darker and smaller than any allspice I know. So I bought it, thinking it might be an alternate species.

When I got it home opened it and looked at it, it wasn't just an alternate species, but an alternate genus and family! It wasn't allspice at all, it was cubebs (a black pepper relative, sometimes called tailed pepper or comet pepper.)

On the other hand, I DO use cubebs in some cooking (it's part of my chai mix, for example), it IS a lot harder to find than allspice and usually quite a bit more expensive (and the pack was fairly cheap for the size) and it seems like better quality than the last cubebs I got (a lot of them are hollow inside, so you don't get any "white" pepper with the "black" pepper,) so I suppose I came out ahead.

Update: Looks like these are going into the growing pots instead, the bag expired in February (why they had it still on the shelves then, I don't know.)

 

[heirloomgal]

Only remotely interesting story I have is that, yesterday at the Indian grocery store, I saw a bag of what was marked as allspice but looked darker and smaller than any allspice I know. So I bought it, thinking it might be an alternate species.

When I got it home opened it and looked at it, it wasn't just an alternate species, but an alternate genus and family! It wasn't allspice at all, it was cubebs (a black pepper relative, sometimes called tailed pepper or comet pepper.)

On the other hand, I DO use cubebs in some cooking (it's part of my chai mix, for example), it IS a lot harder to find than allspice and usually quite a bit more expensive (and the pack was fairly cheap for the size) and it seems like better quality than the last cubebs I got (a lot of them are hollow inside, so you don't get any "white" pepper with the "black" pepper,) so I suppose I came out ahead.

Update: Looks like these are going into the growing pots instead, the bag expired in February (why they had it still on the shelves then, I don't know.)

I googled both cubebs and allspice to refresh my memory, impressive that you could spot the difference between them. You'd need a real refined eye to identify the subtleties in the berries, I'd never be able to distinguish them. Not visually anyway.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I googled both cubebs and allspice to refresh my memory, impressive that you could spot the difference between them. You'd need a real refined eye to identify the subtleties in the berries, I'd never be able to distinguish them. Not visually anyway.

It's not as hard as it sounds. Fact is, if I had been paying attention, I'd have recognized them when I was in the store (it doesn't help that, since I haven't been to Manhattan in several years, I haven't been to Kalyustan's where I would be buying properly labeled cubebs) They really only look the same with not background. to cover the major points.

1. Allspice berries are quite a bit bigger than cubebs (or peppercorns for that matter).
2. Allspice berries are brown, cubebs are black
3. Allspice berries do not have "tails" (stems) on them. (those stems are the key difference in the harder thing, telling cubebs from regular black peppercorns)*.
4. They don't smell at all the same, Allspice smells like allspice and cubebs smell like black pepper (more or less).

* Since they have a lower fertility/higher "abortion" ratio than standard pepper, a lot of cubebs are actually hollow inside. So, proportionally they will have a higher amount of the "black" pepper taste (outside) to the "white" pepper taste (insides). If one was to let cubebs ripen and remove the skins (like they do to make white pepper) I'm honeslty not sure I or anyone else could tell them apart, especially visually (since, no skin = no tail.)

The one that WOULD be hard to tell from cubebs is Ashanti pepper (Piper guineense) since those look almost identical. But you don't often find that outside of either very extensive spice shops (like Kalyustan's) or African import shops.) (it'd be like tying to tell pippali (Indian long pepper) from Balinese long pepper (Balinese is a little short and thicker in shape).

 

[Dahlia]

Back to cold nights again. That heat crashed. Going to 10C/52F tonight and not getting much warmer than that for night time lows in the next week. Bummer. If I learned anything this summer, it's how important warm nights are to heat loving vegetables. What can you do but hope.

That said, my tomatoes are tasting awful good on sandwiches these days, and the bowls of fresh salads are so darn scrumptious. I make salads with protein added so they're like a meal. There are a few icebergs left, and then that's it. Such a great lettuce type, all the 'not iceberg' varieties bolted awhile ago. Those head lettuces can really hang on, even in high heat and dryness. I've developed a few go-to diy dressings this summer after all the lettuce we're picking. I can't just do oil and lemon, or oil and vinegar. Not quite enough taste to me.

For anyone interested.

#1 -
Dark olive oil, rice vinegar (I like a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio, no other vinegar will do), 2 cloves of garlic grated on a rasp (important for flavor! chopped won't do) a little splash of maple syrup, salt - sometimes I add fresh basil, but then the taste is all about the basil

#2 -
Big handful of raw almonds, lots of olive oil, huge handful of cilantro, some parsley, a squeezed orange, some fresh squeezed lemon juice (not near as much as the orange juice though), splash of maple syrup, salt (DH's fave dressing)

#3 -
1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1/2 cup mayo, huge handful fresh dill, a clove of garlic grated on a rasp, salt, makes a great homemade ranch

#4
peanut butter, garlic grated on a rasp, soya sauce, a splash of rice vinegar, a big splash of maple syrup, powdered ginger, salt and water to get it to the right consistency - sesame tahini is just as good if not better than the peanut butter version

I like to make all these in a little Ninja, because I like emulsified dressings. I don't like having to reshake the dressings every time I want to add it to my salad

And because I'm talking salads, and am in a foodie mindset right now, lol, here's what I've been adding to the iceberg salads which have been deelish - - -

Walnut halves toasted in the oven for 10 minutes, cooled and coarsely chopped (probably the best addition of all these)
Raw pumpkin seeds
Toasted sesame seeds
Hemp seeds
X-tra Firm Tofu marinated, cut in tiny cubes and baked in tamari sauce, cooled
Feta crumbled
Arugula
Bocconcini

My last salad thought to share is of a great house salad a local cafe used to offer. A friend worked there and forced this salad on me once, which I thought sounded awful, but since they brought it to me anyway I obliged eating it out of courtesy. It was amazing, and my friend was right that I would like it if only i gave it a try. The main ingredients were romaine & baby spinach, covered in sliced strawberries, which were covered in gently toasted sliced almonds, which were topped with crumbled feta and served with a Poppyseed Onion vinaigrette. One of the best salads I ever had. Looked like - - -
View attachment 67554

Sorry, bit of a salad rant. What can I say, I'm a salad freak.

Sorry to revive a dead thread, BUT....
#3 has completely changed our lives! Salads are now loved because of you!

 

[heirloomgal]

Sorry to revive a dead thread, BUT....
#3 has completely changed our lives! Salads are now loved because of you!

Aw, so nice to hear. I really like that dressing too!

 

[heirloomgal]

November 11 and I'm still not done with seeds! Ha! I'm inching closer though. Definitely played a game with myself - done, oh wait not quite, ok done, no but almost there, yadayada.....it's the peppers that really hung me up. I had a full banana box of them to do, mostly small stuff (!), and I got a bit too reliant on outdoor refrigeration to hold them for me until I was ready. Tackled them this week, the whole box minus about 4 large Ziploc bags worth. (The hot wee ones, which I'm not looking forward too....) Sheesh, that was a job. I hang my head in shame that I lost 5 - 10 % of them, I just prioritized computer work too much doing seed entries for 2025. Some went bad. Anyway, that's that.

There were some star performers in there for sure though. 'Piquillo', 'Kampanaki', 'Portuguese Goat Heart', 'Morron de Fabrica' and a variety called 'Sonora'. That's a big pepper that one. Oh, and 'Bola', those were really mega producers. More a paprika pepper though. All mostly sweet. The 'Ajo Mochero' little yellow hot peppers did really good too. I'd say the 'Wiri Wiri' peppers were amazing, cause they were, but it wouldn't be fair because I overwintered that plant. I can't realistically compare to the others. I'll be so glad when this pepper seed job is totally done.

Then it's time to turn my attention to Seedy Saturday. I was tickled that the city organizer reached out to me a few weeks ago to be a vendor, that's never happened before. They usually announce it on social media, and rely on people to contact them to register for a table. I went to the event last year as a sightseer, and her and I did talk at some point that day, so I guess she remembered me from that. It's in Feb, but as most people know, you prepare well in advance so I need to start to get organized and packing up packets.

It's part fun and part agony - what to bring? When I finished my last seed entries on the computer yesterday, I was at 1,400 varieties of stuff. Mentally, that turns what to bring into a grey blur. I think I've at least decided to go with super practical stuff, nothing fancy or rare. People at this event seem to want familiar things and it isn't the place to be emphasizing rarities and lesser known vegetables. Probably on the block will be early red tomatoes, shell peas, bell peppers, bush green beans. Grocery store type stuff. I had the lightbulb go off to sell some electro culture wands, that seems to interest people. Maybe a few little started pepper plants or indoor tomato plants.

DH made me a huge book type display case, almost as tall as me and maybe 3-4 feet on each side from the spine. Haven't been able to use that since 2019! When all the events were cancelled for a few years. This'll be my first one since 2018. Like greasing a rusty hinge. If anyone goes to these events and has ideas, I'm all ears! What do you look for at a seed event?

A sweet little song my friend the Faerie Gardener made about sunchokes with AI
I can't believe AI came up with lyric 'tall like nature's psalm'!
haha, AI doesn't know what jerusalem artichokes are so it made real artichokes for the picture lol

Jerusalem Jive by @gardenfaeriebotanicals | Suno

whimsical song. Listen and make your own with Suno.

suno.com

 

[heirloomgal]

I think I'm going to try this! I need to find some horseradish though...maybe I should get a root and grow a plant.

Fire Cider: Food as Medicine

Fire Cider is a simple preparation made with ingredients you most likely already have stocked in your pantry. Prepare your own to help ward off the flu season.

shelburnefarms.org

 

[heirloomgal]

A longkeeper tomato update. So, mid November and still looking good! The 'Zhiraf' tomatoes, which were the ones that held on the vine in a green state, have turned a bit more peachy (first pic). This one really has staying power, the others are all ripe at this point. Actually, they were mostly all ripe back in September I guess. 'Madagascar' grew in part shade so it was slower but still it had turned color by the time it went in the closet. So Zhiraf is quite different than the others. I have only tasted one of these varieties so far, but it was good. Grappoli D'Inverno did not last (I ate some of those) and I harvested all the seeds awhile ago. That is one I'm certain which needs to be started later than standard timing to be able to have fruits that will keep.

I have lost a few in the last 2 weeks - all of which were due to bruises or cuts the fruits had sustained when either growing or being harvested. Clearly they don't tolerate much imperfections if they're going to be stored. Took these pics yesterday.

Peas this year! A humble harvest, but some were small samples to begin with so I'll need 2 years to build up those ones. 'Ruby Beauty', 'Misty', 'Charlevoix', 'Sapporo Express' and 'Sweet Jade' all did so well! Happy about that!

My now almost 3rd year of experimentation with a Capsicum flexuosum pepper. The new seeds I got to have a pollination partners for my single plant all sprouted so well, but much like the first one they all barely grew past an inch the first year. Like all summer, barely budged. And a just over a month after being brought indoors, they've grown 5 inches, what the!!

The 2nd year plant kept making fruits all summer that would fall off. They'd hold for awhile, then fall. Over and over. There is one last one on there, I'm surprised it hasn't fallen. I'm curious if it might make it. I tried one in August, before it fell. Nuclear.