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Author: jason (page 10 of 13)

Unique and Rare Potato Varieties for 2014

May 6, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

The seed potatoes that we were waiting on arrived the other day, and within 48 hours we had them in the garden. In total, we planted 9 varieties and we’ll buy 1 more type at the supply store soon to make 10.

We tried to keep the number of plants relatively even, so that we can compare yields among varieties, in addition to flavor, store-ability, and disease resistance. We did this by cutting larger seed potato pieces into smaller pieces, but making sure that each piece still had at least 1 nice eye to grow from. Seed pieces the size of an egg, a chicken egg that is, we planted whole. We ended up planting 176 seed potato pieces, which in a perfect word would make 176 plants. We’ll see….

Seed Potatoes ready to be planted in the garden.

Most of the varieties we planted are either rare heirloom potato varieties, or delicious gourmet varieties. Here’s a brief rundown on what went in the ground.

Of the early potatoes, we planted Early Ohio, an heirloom from Vermont grown since 1871 with a nutty flavor, and Cobbler, another heirloom from the 1800’s that is said to have been discovered by an Irish shoe maker.

We planted a few mid-season varieties, including Carola, a German potato with a creamy yellow flesh, Kennebec, a popular and high yielding variety grown all over the country, and Purple Majesty, a beautiful purple skinned and fleshed variety high in anthocyanins, an antioxidant found in blueberries, currants, and aronia.

Purple Majesty seed potatoes. Check out that color!

The late season varieties were Bintje, a Dutch potato from 1910, German Butterball, a delicious yellow fleshed gourmet type, Katahdin, a high yielding and long keeping variety from 1932, and Red Pontiac, the red potato we grew last year that knocked our socks off and made us potato snobs.

We also planted a fingerling variety named Ozette. This potato has the best backstory of all the potatoes we planted this year. The Ozette potato, unlike every other potato grown in the US came directly from South America by Spanish Explorers in 1791. They brought it with them form the Andes, and it was planted in a small garden outside of a fort in the Pacific Northwest. When the Spaniards abandoned the fort, the Native Makah people found the Ozette Fingerling potato, and have planted, and relied on it as part of their diet every year since.

Ozette seed potatoes. This Andean heirloom has a story behind it that matches it’s amazing flavor.

All other potatoes were first taken to Europe, where the Irish, Prussians, and the rest of the Continent developed new varieties, and then brought these varieties to North America when they immigrated centuries later. The Ozette potato is said to be one of the tastiest potatoes around, and having tasted more than a few Peruvian potatoes myself, I can’t wait.

Grazing and Herding Geese is Simple, Easy, and Productive

May 2, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

Our new flock/gaggle/herd of homestead geese has been a ton of fun to watch and interact with. Compared to chickens (standards or bantams), the geese have way more to offer in terms of personality, and I find myself honking with them in excitement more often than not. They are also more self sufficient than chickens, and are obtaining a good deal of their nutrition from pasture and grass. Geese prefer the tender new growth of vegetation, so we need to protect our new seedlings and young vegetables from their grazing.

Nothing like hanging out with the geese and enjoying a nice cup of coffee

Apart from this, managing a goose herd is pretty easy. We have them in a cattle panel paddock that we move every day or two. When we are at work, they stay in there, and graze the pasture/lawn, and swim in a kiddie pool/pond. On days when we are home and working outside, we let them wander a bit more freely and fence them out of areas we’d like to protect. If they ever wander too far, they are extremely easy to herd back to where you want them, and by just walking behind them 1 person can easily direct them anywhere they please.

The geese seem to want to stay close to us, but if they wander too far…

It’s very easy to herd them back to where you want them to be

They then resume grazing on clover, grass, and lawn weeds

I have been messing around with different portable fencing ideas, using both bird netting and chicken wire in combination with step in posts, and Emma and I have decided that we prefer 3 foot tall chicken wire with white step in posts. This combo is the best for visibility, and is also tops at keeping the geese in/out. The chicken wire easily clips to the posts, so there is no need to worry about zip ties or carbiners, and the system is easily put up or taken down.

This system of portable fencing should help us to better focus the energy of our goose herd, and allow us to practice our own form of intensive rotational grazing. If we add chickens, or even pigs, than we are well on our way to a sort of Salatin or Savory multi-species grazing system. This, in combination with our mineral supplement mix, will increase the fertility and soil life on our land, and make our entire homestead more efficient and productive.

This makes geese a great livestock option for the small farm or homestead

Some of Our Goals at Kuska Wiñasun Homestead

April 29, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

I thought it was time to lay out a post about some of the goals, hopes, and wishes we have about our homesteading endeavor here at Kuska Wiñasun Homestead. We’ve been out here in the country for over a year now, and sometimes I talk with people and I feel like they misunderstand our motivations and goals for homesteading. Nothing major, just some minor misconceptions.

First off, we aren’t trying to grow 100% of our food, medicine, fuel and clothes. We go to the grocery store about as much as any other family, and we are not burning bio-diesel made from cattails in our trucks to get there. We are hooked up to the grid, and watch movies, t.v. shows (my favorite is Survivor), and occasionally blog on the internet. Now, that’s not to say that we aren’t actively trying to reduce all of these things, except the blogging, and turn our homestead from a consumer to a producer, but we realize that achieving 100% self sufficiency is close to impossible, and not desirable

we try to produce as much as possible from our garden because it is the healthiest food money can’t buy

We do have a garden, and we try to grow as much produce as possible without the use of toxic chemicals. We preserve some of this food if we have surpluses, either by freezing, fermenting, or in the case of sweet potatoes and other root crops, storing in the guest bedroom. This spring we are expanding both our annual vegetable gardens, and our perennial based food forest in the hopes of producing more of our own fruits and vegetables.

We do this because you cannot buy this kind of quality at the store. This fresh, and completely free from any, whether organically certified by the USDA or not, toxic herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers and fungicides. We grow varieties of things that aren’t available in stores, and some fruits and vegetables so rare most people haven’t heard of them (loquats, seaberry, paw paw etc.).

We want to eat stuff that is actually good and we try to avoid stuff that isn’t. But we still eat out. We order pizza every once in a while, or stop at a fast food joint even though we know it’s crap. We know that soda made from GMO high fructose corn syrup is less than ideal, but every once in a while, we’ll crack open a can of coke.

We aren’t aiming for perfection because perfect is the enemy of good. Our goal is live healthy and enjoy life. To raise a family out here, to connect with our community (we need to get better here), and to learn a whole lotta stuff along the way. An all or nothing approach won’t get us very far, so join us, as we grow together on the path towards better food, better life, and self reliance. Let us know your homestead goals, and where you are trying to make the biggest difference in your life.

The Where and Why of Our Backyard Food Forest

April 24, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

Over the past few weeks Emma and I have been busy planting over 100 trees, vines, bushes and shrubs as the foundation for our new food forest. A food forest, for those who may never have heard the term before, is a forest designed to provide food for its stewards. They often consist of perennial species, like fruit and nut trees, and are therefore inherently stable and resilient.

A well designed and established food forest is able to cycle nutrients, capture energy, and produce a yield with few human inputs, such as irrigation, fertilization, and planting. Our food forest will take some time to reach this mature, self supporting state, and for now we will have to nurture our young plants to ensure that they become well established and provide for us for decades to come.

Last year, the forest edge, the location of our new food forest, was an impenetrable tangle of small trees and shrubs.

This longevity is one of the key benefits of forest gardening. There are food forests that are over 2000 years old which have provided for many generations of humans caretakers. This is what we are shooting for. Designing a system that will feed not only us, but our progeny for years and years.

Our new food forest is only the home base for our future plans, and is located right outside our back door, in, what in permaculture is referred to as zone 1 or zone 2. The backyard area forms a u shaped, open glade that faces south, and is bordered by native woods made up of oaks, poplar, hickory, maple, and pine among others.We are expanding out from this hardwood forest with our fruit trees, replacing the shrubby undergrowth, and following the curved shape of the woods. This was a conscious design choice and has numerous advantages.

First, we replaced many undesirable and inedible species with productive species. As anyone who has ever walked into a forest knows, the edge is usually where you encounter the thickest undergrowth of thorny bushes and vines that seem impenetrable.

Second, by planting along the forest edge we, and our plants, are able to tap into the complex and well developed fungal network that supports and coexists with our woods. Plants usually prefer to grow in 1 of 2 environments.The first is a bacterial one that is primarily found in grasslands, meadows, and prairies. These environments rely on grazing animals to digest large amounts of plant material and poop out partially decomposed manure that is full of bacteria that complete the nutrient cycle from plant-animal-plant.

The other is a fungal environment, where moist, and shady conditions, as well copious amounts of woody material support millions of miles of fungal hyphae, that break down dead wood, help tree roots obtain and take up nutrients in the soil, and act as a sort of internet that connects the trees in a forest. Thus, by planting our trees on the edge of the forest, their roots are able to seek out the fungal network that forests and woody trees depend on to thrive.This is much easier than having to establish this fungal network from scratch by mulching with woody material, or trying to establish a fungal based system in the middle of a bacterial environment, like a lawn.

forest systems rely on fungal networks to cycle nutrients , maintain balance, and grow large trees

Third, in addition to tapping into the fungal network of the forest, our new food forest will benefit from the established nutrient cycle that is already in place. Our towering hardwood trees have roots that have driven deep into the soil, and are able to pull up nutrients and minerals unavailable to most plants. They then store these nutrients in their leaves, and when fall comes, shed huge amounts of organic fertilizer and mulch all around our young food forest.

In addition to gathering and cycling nutrients, these massive trees are also able to soak up and “sweat” out water. This dew will fall directly on top of our new food forest, supplying it with a decent amount of moisture and reducing our need to irrigate.

All of these benefits are part of the reason we planted our food forest on the hardwood forest edge. Because the mature system can provide so much for our new, immature system, we won’t be planting as many support species. There will be some, but no where near as many as would be planted in a typical food forest.

This diverse forest system will be made up of an extremely diverse group of fruiting and medicinal plants. In addition to the overstory of hardwoods (which also provide shade and moisture for our mushroom logs), we planted apple, pear, peach, pluot, plum, paw paw, cherry, and asian pear trees as the main food species. We then planted shrubs and bushes like raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, currants, gooseberries, seaberry, autumn olive, goumi, goji berry, aronia, and elderberry. We also planted a few vines, like groundnut, grape, and passionflower, as well as herbaceous species like sunchokes, comfrey, fava beans, and, soon, a dozen more medicinal, perennial herbs like black cohosh, astragalus, marshmallow, yarrow, and valerian. Among these will be nitrogen fixers like honey locust, black alder, and siberian pea shrub, as well as a mix of clovers.

All of these species are in an area smaller than an acre, and primarily along the border. Most are perennial, and should provide for food for many years, as well as serve as nursery stock for propagation, ans the expansion of our food forest to other spaces on our property. It has taken a great deal of effort to plan and plant, but our new food forest should start paying dividends in a few years, and then on for as long as there is someone here to harvest.

Take a Gander at the New Homestead Geese!

April 22, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

There are officially four new members at Kuska Wiñasun Homestead! Say hello to our new goose quartet!

Our new homestead geese by their kiddie pond

We drove up to Virginia to bring home three females and 1 male that are about 1 year old. There are 2 African geese, 1 White Chinese goose, and the male is the big white Embden goose. Names coming soon…

We knew that we wanted to add more livestock to the homestead, and when we saw this group on craigslist, we threw the dog crate and some hay in the car, and headed up to the Blue Ridge. Right now we have them in a slide-able cattle panel enclosure, with a three sided “coop” in one corner, and a small kiddie pool in the other. FYI, slim breeds of geese can and will squeeze through the openings in a cattle panel and proceed to roam and investigate the homestead.

It is extremely entertaining to watch our new geese wander and waddle about

Having geese on the farm is very enjoyable, and it’s easy to get mesmerized watching them splash in the pond, graze the grass, follow each other single file, and take turns sitting on their eggs. That’s right, they lay eggs. Big eggs. Big, delicious eggs that make you wonder why anyone would want to eat chicken eggs at all. But more on that, and other goose news, later!

Ready and Waiting for Potatoes

April 16, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

Spring has arrived and many of our garden crops are either in the ground, or started in trays awaiting their turn in our raised beds. Many, but not all. We are a little behind on one cool weather crop, and it’s one of our favorites… the potato.

Last year’s potato crop, harvested the day Jason proposed to Emma.

This year we are planting at least 9 different potato varieties in our garden, about 2.5 pounds of seed potatoes for each. The reason we haven’t planted them yet, is that we haven’t received them. Because we are planting such a diversity, and many of the types are rare or heritage and heirloom varieties of potatoes, we ordered from an online supplier. They should come any week now, and we can’t wait to get them in the ground.

Last year, we did very well growing red Pontiac potatoes, which lasted well into winter and were delicious baked with sausages, peppers, and onions. This year I’m excited to try out the Ozette fingerling, a variety that ended up in the U.S. hundreds of years ago after a ship washed ashore on the way back from Peru, the birthplace of the potato.

Last year’s lush potato vines, in the height of summer.

Potatoes grow best in cool weather, and because they are in the nightshade family, you should take care not to plant them where you grew tomatoes, peppers, or eggplants the year before. We are actually digging a whole new series of hugel beds this spring to house our potatoes. Sepp Holzer often plants his new hugelkulture mounds with potatoes as they are light nitrogen feeders, and give the wood core some time to begin the decomposition process.

After our seed potatoes arrive, we’ll try and get them going as soon as we can, because once you’ve experienced homegrown potatoes, it changes you. It turns you into a potato snob, and makes it impossible to eat store bought potatoes ever again!

A Few Thoughts on Living in the Country

April 15, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

It’s been a little over a year since we moved onto our homestead in rural Stokes County, and while it has been amazing and one of the best decisions we have ever made, there were/are some things that took some getting used to. Life in the country is different than life in a city or town, and some of the things that we had come to take for granted, or depend on, are either not available in the country, or just inconvenient. So, I figured I’d jot some things down that we have experienced so far, to help prepare anyone who might be considering taking the leap to move out into the country.

Garbage and Trash

Our county does not provide a trash pickup service. Most rural counties do not, as the numbers don’t work out when you consider the low population densities on our county roads. While this keeps our taxes down, it means that we have to think about our waste products in a different way.

We have found that we produce less waste now than we did in the city, because all of our leftovers and food scraps get fed to our chickens. This also makes our trash less stinky, which is nice. It also diversifies our chickens diet, which makes their waste a higher quality product that can be cycled back into our farm.

Bolt and the garbage disposals.

But we still have trash to deal with, and for the moment, we are not signed up with a private waste disposal company. Instead, we fill up a few trash bags at a time, put them into our truck, and take them down to one of the county “green box” sites, where we can dump our trash and our recyclables for free. The closest site is maybe 5 miles away, right on the way to and from our city jobs, so this is not a very big hassle.

Septic Systems and Well Water

We have a septic system for our other wastes, and a well for our drinking water. We got both inspected and tested before closing on the homestead (very important), and have not had any problems so far.

An important thing to keep in mind with septic tanks is that the function by bacterial digestion, and that chlorinated bleach and other harsh chemicals can kill your septic systems bacteria, causing it to function inefficiently or worse. We avoid these products, and try to use the most natural and septic approved products we can find, but it does make shopping for detergents more difficult. We still haven’t settled completely on any brand, so feel free to offer any suggestions.

They sell packs of beneficial microbes that boost your septic systems health, but we haven’t used any yet. Our tank was pumped when we moved in, so I’m hoping that by not flushing stupid stuff down our drains, promoting good microbes, and being water conscience, we may not have to have it pumped for a long time. regardless, it’s a simple, and affordable process that only takes a respectable septic pumping company an hour or so to complete.

Our well has been great, providing us with great tasting, chemical free water that city water can’t hold a candle to. However, because it is powered by our electricity, it is dependent on the power being on. This isn’t a huge deal, but is something to consider when preparing for storms and the like.

Drive Times and Distances

We are used to it now, but things are just further away when you live in the country. The nearest grocery store is 15 min. away, which isn’t that far, but is far enough to make us try and get all of shopping done on our way back from work. Our city jobs are almost an hour away each way, which adds up both in time, and gas money. I don’t mind the drive, but it is definitely something to consider when choosing your homestead, or making the move to the country.

Living in the country means more driving, but it’s nothing Bolt can’t handle.

It took us almost a year to find any restaurant that would deliver to us, but we finally found one, a pizza place in Walnut Cove. We are right on the edge of their range, thankfully.

All of these things just require an extra level of planning, and time management. This is especially critical when we are extra busy, or already feel like daylight is in short supply to get all of the chores accomplished.

There are many other things that are different from city living, but most come down to the common theme that living in the country requires you to plan a little more, be more prepared, and take certain matters into your own hands. This isn’t a bad thing, just something to consider when you make the move the country.

Some More Plants from Seed

April 10, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

In addition to the fruit trees and bushes we’ve been planting, I’ve also started some other plants, like honey locust, from seed this spring. Just the other day I did two batches of seeds.

One batch needed soaking prior to sowing, similar to the nitrogen fixing trees we started a few weeks ago, and consisted if sea buckthorn, red Malabar spinach, oca, pomegranate, astragalus, and salad mallow. I soaked them for a day or so, and then planted them in a flat of potting soil. Certain species require a soaking, which allows the seed to absorb water and makes the germination process quicker and more efficient.

Malabar spinach is a vining, tender perennial green that I am very excited to grow this year. It’s seeds gave off a great red color when soaked. I wonder if we could use it for a dye?

The other batch of seeds consisted of plants that require a period of cold before they can germinate, so for these I moistened either paper towels or peat moss, put this damp medium into a labeled ziploc, and then added seeds. These bags are now in the fridge, where they will cold stratify for 1-3 months before they can start germinating.

kiwi seeds stratifying in damp peat moss/vermiculite

This batch included hardy kiwis, Turkish tree hazel, and cornelian cherry.

Most of these plants are perennials, and unlike most vegetables, are slightly peculiar in their germination habits. This is usually remedied by a quick google search, where any scarification or stratification information can be discovered. After that, it takes just a little more effort and time, and then your on your way to perennial abundance!

The First Dandelions of 2014!

April 4, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

Dandelions are here! One of the most useful and nutritious plants you can find.

Spring has officially arrived at Kuska Wiñasun Homestead! The very first dandelion flower has sprung onto our land and I couldn’t be happier. It came up in the first place we housed our portable chicken coop. I’ve seen dandelions popping up in Greensboro for the last week, mainly in parking lots and sidewalk nature strips, and I couldn’t wait for them to start blooming in our lawn, sending their deep tap roots down deep into the soil to pull up all sorts of minerals and nutrients.

Because our homestead is some 30 miles north of Greensboro and is at a higher elevation too, our climate is slightly cooler than the sprawling NC Piedmont city. All that concrete also has an effect on temperatures, and so we generally lag a few days behind in Spring, but we never gave up hope!

The chickens checking out a newly planted “William’s Favorite” apple tree in our front yard.

But the dandelions are back, and that means spring. Spring is a busy time for any homesteading family, and we are no exception. We’ve planted 16 new fruit trees so far (more on that soon), and between our off farm jobs and planning our wedding, we’ve been keeping busy. Emma and I are out almost every day until it’s just too dark to see, taking advantage of the long days and perfect weather, and planting everything from cabbage and broccoli to comfrey and clover.

Spring is a busy time, but it’s a welcome change to the short days of winter. The solstice approaches, and soon summer will come, bringing with it the humid nights, open windows, and chorus of pond frogs we almost forgot about. But for now, we’ll focus on spring and the delicious and nutritious treat of dandelion greens.

Using Chickens to Make Sauerkraut

April 1, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

We moved our chickens to new paddock this weekend, which is in line with our goal of rotating them every 2 weeks to fresh pasture. Because the early spring growth wasn’t very lush, they scratched it up pretty well and left behind a nice 16 ft. by 32 ft. plot of weeded, tilled, and finely mulched earth that was begging to be planted. Who are we to turn down such an offer?

partly planted flat of cabbage and broccoli seedlings.

A few weeks ago I started some broccoli and cabbage seeds in a flat of potting mix. They germinated well and after many nights of ferrying them in and out, protecting them from freezing temperatures and dodger’s butt, a good many have survived and aren’t too spindly. I planted these in long rows, about 12 in. apart in the freshly prepared soil.

Following the chickens with vegetables crops makes good use of the fertility the chickens left behind, both the nitrogen rich manure, and because we feed rock minerals every week, a healthy dose of plant ready minerals ready to rejuvenate the land. The chickens also weed and scratch out most of the grass and weeds that would compete with the crops, and also do a great job of breaking pest cycles that could reduce yields.

It’s also important to fill this new space with something, whether it’s cover crop, trees, grass, mulch or veggies, before some of the nastier weeds come in and take hold. This makes following chicken tractors, or any livestock, with productive species a great multi-functional farm strategy.

permaculture vegetable gardening chicken tractor

transplanting seedlings after running chickens is a quick and easy way to stack functions and obtain a yield

All this should help increase our chances of a nice cabbage crop, and the best part of a nice cabbage crop is sauerkraut. Lacto-fermented sauerkraut actually, but we’ll talk about that later. For now, that’s a quick run down on how our chickens will help us make sauerkraut!

KW Homestead

Pasture Raised Poultry & Edible Landscaping Plants Since 2013