Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Who Cares for Whom?



See this glorious variegated corn? I'm so drawn to its colors, its beauty. 

This is one multi-use variety we're growing in our no-till slashmulch 3-sisters garden of corn, beans and squash. This was intended to be a "plant it and forget it" type of garden. But I just can't forget this beauty. 



Instead, I'm spending a little extra time tending and nurting this planting, drawn to want to tend this beautiful plant. And that is deep ecology. 

In a very literal sense, this plant has evolved to coax gardeners like me into tending it. Just as all cultivated plants have: through their usefulness, their great flavors, their intoxicating aromas, and of course their beauty. 


No doubt the synergy goes both ways. I take care of  them, they take care of me. Surely, they provide me with a high-calorie carb crop that provides me with the energy I need to garden. And the rich, brilliant flavor of the corn in its milk stage keeps me near, protecting the seed crop when its at its most vulnerable. And yes, this food is medicine. 

But beyond that, could this plant offer me healing and nourishment through its beauty? Does it hold me as a devoted protector with its inspiring colors? When I sit and look at it, is it building my connection with my ecosystem, teaching me to be a better steward? Healing my relationship with the earth and my community? 



When I tend her, I tend the soil, I tend the myriad of beings that dwell therein. And so, I tend myself: making the habitat that supports me richer, more fertile, more abundant and healing. This is part of the magic of forest gardening. 


I'm drawn to the beauty of this diverse landscape. I want to increase its health, enrich its diversity. And so I make the land better for myself, and all the beings I share it with. It has transformed me, a lowsy destructive human, from a "pest" into a beneficial. 


Through forest gardening, I no longer want to "control" the landscape, go to war with it, limit its diversity. I want it to be wild, free, healthy and diverse, and I prioritize techniques that lead to that end. 



"Come to me. Tend me. Give me water. Cover my soil. And I will nurture you, too. I can heal the sickness that has grown in your heart...." 

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Towards Easier, Productive 3-Sisters Gardens

Growing 3-Sisters, corn beans and squash in a no-till garden, using "slash-mulch" techniques. 

(For those placing bets on this project and whether or not it will work, this is update #3 in what will become a series on "slash-mulch" 3-sisters gardens using a no-till, minimum [or no] dig techniques.)

Many researchers have identified "slash-mulch" gardening systems as the most sustainable form of annual gardening ever divised by homo sapiens. This traditional technique, found around the world, does not till the soil, which releases carbon into the atmosphere, requires heavy labor or fossil fuels, causes a loss of soil nitrogen, and an extreme loss of biodiversity and soil life. In fact, slash-mulch systems, which cut vegetation and use it as mulch in place, tend to increase the diversity, health and fertility of the fields they're used in. This same technique has even been found to increase the biodiversity and prevalence of broadleaf plants in meadow systems, fast-forwarding succession and reducing the dominance of grasses. 

 

So it's a perfect system to try in our "edible meadow," where we're trying to gradually convert lawn into productive flexible garden area without EVER digging, tilling, spraying or otherwise de-foliating the area.  

It is also widely believed to be the way Native Americans grew their famous 3-sisters gardens of corn, beans and squash, though I'm aware of no other experiments trying to replicate this technology. 

 

If we get it right, the implications for homesteaders and market gardeners are HUGE: we can convert large areas of lawn or field into perennial productivity without ever tilling, while at the same time sustainably growing these important crops - with minimal time investment and almost no off-site materials or fertility. 

GROWTH. So, with good germination achieved, the next major test is on growth! And so far, so good: we appear to be ahead of schedule, already reaching "knee high by July," with most of our plants passing this height in mid June. We do have some stragglers, but nothing conclusive as regards prepping method. One of our straggler mounnds was minimally dug, and two were sown into mulch piles. So far, it appears that an excess of green material without enough "browns" is the common factor in the slow mulch mounds. 

 

FIRST SLASH. In these images, you can see that we've begun our first whole slashmulching of the area, cutting down the big growth to make mulch in  place. So far, the benefit has been an immediate increase in the feeling of soil moisture retention. But it hasn't been without drawbacks.

FIRST CHALLENGE. The first challenge we've run across is planting out beans into the slashmulch system. Since we slashmulched before the corn was tall enough for the beans, (knee high) I had trouble planting the beans into the mounds. In one case, I was forced to dig (with my finger) too close to a corn stalk and caused one plant some apparent stress by disturbing its root. This challenge could either be addressed by another top-dressing of compost at bean-planting time, or by designing to have a wider "ring" of finish mulch or soil around the corn plants for planting the beans into. 

Some notes:

3-Sisters: Traditional 3-sisters gardens were grown across North America in a way that combined corn, beans and squash as ideal companion plants. Other plants like sunflowers, jerusalem artichokes, and amaranth were also frequently grown as 4th or 5th "sisters." These systems are theorized to have been sustainable, no-till, and more productive in terms of calories than conventional organic European agriculture of the time. 

 

"Mounds." One astute observer in our garden noted that our mounds were not very pronounced. This is because they were mostly made with only the soil dug from the cirlcle, or from mulch, which subsided in a few days. We also have moved towards a system where our "mounds" include a watering ring around them for planting the beans. This makes them easier to water, if necessary, and helps keep water in place in a rain. Native Americans reportedly used river-bottom lands for their plantings, using only the best soil for this intensive production system. These lands would have been naturally "irrigated" to provide good moisture all through the season, especially with a slash mulch layer to protect the soil. This is how they were able to reliably leave to go hunting for a few months, letting the crop grow without watering. However, it also left the plants more vulnerable to rotting and flooding, hence the mounds. On our sloped site, there's almost no danger of rotting or flood and little reason to use pronounced mounds. It's all a matter of using judgement and instinct. 

Multi-use varieties. For homesteaders and small producers, the ideal is always to get the most bang for our buck. So rather than grow varieties that are specialists, such as growing a storage  dry bean and a separate fresh bean, we looked for varieties that could do both well. Luckly, this is also what Native Americans selected for, so many of the varieties most appropriate for 3-Sisters gardens are also multi-purpose crops. 

Corn: We are using a small planting of our own corn seed, along with a multi-use variegated corn that can be eaten as sweet corn, used as popcorn or ground as corn flour. We're also using Oaxacan green corn, a variety we've had good success with in 3-Sisters gardens in S.W. Michgan sites. Ideally, we hope to add these genetics to our own genetically diverse "landrace" corn variety adapated to our site. 

 

Beans: This is the sister we've had the least success with, so this year, we did our homework and hope to have the right varieties. Modern beans have been cultivated to put their energy into fruiting, instead of producing extra vine mass, so they have more compact plants. Great for monoculture, but bad for 3-sisters, where they have to compete with the corn stalks for light. The Native American varieties specifically grown in 3-sisters produced leaves on longer stems, inefficient for monoculture, but allowing the plants to reach out away from the corn to catch excess light. We picked two related varieties which reportedly have the right form and are also good multi-use veggies, Mayflower and Turkey Craw. 

Squash: Again, we picked two Native American heirlooms, Delicatta and Seminole. Seminole is our favorite for 3-sisters, extremely vigorous and disease/pest resistant, very good eating. Delicatta is less well adapted to 3 sisters, but can be eaten under ripe as a summer squash and makes a good fall squash, whereas the Seminole is one of the best storage squash we've grown. 

 

Styles: 3-Sisters plantings were adapted locally to suit the climate where they were grown. The style of planting in Michigan would have been very different than the style of planting in Texas or Montana. For the Eastern Woodland Region, including the Great Lakes area, we recommend what's been called the Wampanoag style, named after Squanto and his tribe, who taught this style to the settlers. In more southerly locations, these were planted in circles at 3'-4' spacings. In more northerly areas, this distance was increased to 5'. We're using the 5' spacings (approximately) this season, but have used 4' and 5' previously. We've found a possible advantage to the 5' on our site. 

 

Timing: Some sources disagree on the planting timing. The traditional planting schedule I researched and have used sows corn and squash together at the same time, then beans later once it gets to knee-high. We've mistakenly planted beans to early and found the corn over-run with beans before it could reach productivity. Corn harvest was negatively impacted and the beans outgrew their "trellises." So this makes perfect sense. Meanwhile, in one of the western styles of 3-Sisters, the squash is planted in with the corn in the same mounds, or nearby, so that they can better shade the corn and reduce watering work and waste. In that style, it makes sense to plant squash later, after the corn is grown out some and can better wwthstand the competition from the squash. But in the Wampanoag style, where the squash is placed a few feet away from the corn mounds, there is no threat of competition. Moreover, in our shadier, cloudier climate, the bigger danger is that starting squash too late is proven to dramatically reduce yields. So I strongly recommend planting squash at the same time as corn, and believe this to be the most historically accurate version for our region. 

 
   

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

High-Quality Edible Native Hawthorns

High Quailty Edible Native Hawthorns for the Great Lakes Region


Looking for a "native" plant that is also good to eat, beautiful, and easy to grow?

Consider some of our native hawthorns. It's true: most hawthorns have poor tasting, small, seedy fruit that's best left to the birds. And most the birds won't even bother with, leaving them on the tree even through the winter and into the spring. 

But a few hawthorns are quite good to eat, and some are even being cultivated for commercial production. They're especially good additions to "native gardens" or where grant funds or other regulations require that a planting be "native." 

I cross-referenced the USDA's listing of Michigan native hawthorns with edibility ratings from the Plants for a Future database and my personal knowledge of breeding programs and commercial varieties to come up with this list. You'll notice that I always use the term "native" in quotes, since what is considered a "native" is often more a subjective matter of politics and opinion, rather than science or concrete fact. The crataegus genus (hawtorns) are a particulary good example of this, with very poor understanding and documentation, and many previous specie now being considered synonyms for the same species. In other cases, species such as crataegus pennsylvanica are thought to have walked right up to the Michigan border (with known populations in northern Ohio,) and then skipped over to establish themselves as natives in Wisconsin, but somehow its seeds (and the birds carrying them) refused to cross the future MI border. Or perhaps just maybe some specimens made it here but researchers have just not yet verified it as a Michigan native. 



But given distribution patterns and habitat preferences, I would personally consider it difficult not to consider all of the following species as "native" to Michigan and the broader Great Lakes region. PFAF edibility ratings in parentheses. Take my personal tasting notes with a large grain of salt, as my sample sizes were VERY small, and I can't be really certain I correctly identified the species.
(Specifically listed as Michigan natives by USDA)
holmsiana (4/5)
douglasii (4/5. I've tried this fruit and considered it an acceptable trail snack.)
macrosperma (3/5, but often noted for large fruit and historic food use. I've tried it and thought it too mealy for fresh eating.)
mollis/submollis (4/5, but receiving special mention for commercial production. I believe I've tried these and found them a nice trail snack.)
pedicelata (5/5)

(Near Michigan natives found near our border in continuous states.)
Pennsylvanica (5/5)
champlainensis (4/5)
illinoisensis (4/5, with special mention for commercial production)
ellwangeriana (5/5. I've tried these from a few individuals and found the color very apetizing but the flavor less attractive than other haws. Often the most recommended for commercial fruit production, but most specimens have sharp thorns. Some specimens available without thorns but fruit quality is unknown. Some are now reporting this as another synonym for mollis, which seems likely, which would again make it a Michigan native "species.") 

Sunday, June 4, 2017

No-Till 3 Sisters Update: Germination!

 
(Corn germinating in piles of mulch plopped directly on top of slashed meadow, with no barrier. Most of the mulch material was taken from our nearby hedgerow, which also acts as a fertility belt, mostly slashed comfrey, sorrel, chicory and autumn olive. This was covered with a layer of "brown" plant material like dry jerusalem artichoke stalks. A thin "finish mulch" of compost, cocoa mulch, and coir was used to create a seed bed for germination. )

As a quick update, we've overcome the first hurdle in our No-till Slash Mulch 3 Sisters planting. We had nearly 100% germination by day 5, with a few stragglers bringing close to probably 98% germination, much better than the 75% average expected in conventional corn plantings. All germination happened within the expected average 5-7 days for corn.


(Here we turned over the sod to reveal a seed bed, and used the up-turned sod to make slight watering basins. An inch of compost was mixed with the soil.) 

There was no measurable difference between our "dug" circles and our mulch piles in terms of germination time or percentage, growth appears even between both sets, though one mound MAY show some small signs of excess nitrogen "burn" in one or two seedlings. This is very encouraging, because it was not a given that in such an experimental style of planting that we would have good germination. 

 

Our next step will begin to "slash mulch" more of the existing vegetation to provide good mulch for the growing corn and squash, much in the same way that we (and other Peramculturists) do in our other no-dig garden beds. This will NOT completely remove competition, leaving the "weeds" other edible plants and grasses largely in tact, but instead just give our three sisters a "leg up" on the competition. In a few South American studies, similar slash mulch techiques have been found to outcompete organic corn production by 4 times, and even out-yield conventional chemical agriculture. However, I could not find any temperate-climate studies (or at least North American ones, there was one high-yielding study on traditional slash mulch in temperate Nepal) on slash-mulch production, so we'll have to see how our planting does. 

 

In the meantime, with this important hurdle cleared, I feel I can recommend others who might want to also try this technique, and have extra seed to play with. While I can't yet guarantee an outcome, because this technique took so little time to prep and plant, I can assure you that you can significantly increase your 3-sisters planting area relative to the amount of time you have to garden. 

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And stay tuned for more unusual adventures in Permaculture, home restoration and homesteading, where we will answer the questions:

What's the relationship between Permaculture and Science? 
How about Permaculture and Preppers? 
What is limewash, and is it sustainable? 
And: What makes the best mulch for a Permaculture garden? 

Coming soon....