I live at about 4000 ft elevation in NW Montana outside of Missoula. My 10 acres is a mountainside. Southfacing. I've been thinking about a forest garden, but it's rough here. We generally don't see the end of frosts until sometime after Memorial Day and we can see a frost occasionally before Labor Day. I don't want to grow mushrooms because I don't have the confidence.
One person suggested that I look around to see what already grows here and cultivate it. In a nutshell: mullein, arrowleaf balsamroot, yarrow, common mallow, globe mallow, glacier lillies, Juneberry, snow berry, oregon grapes, a couple of elderberry, I think we have wild black cherry (not sure on this), and plenty of knapweed. We have white pine ponderosa, and a number of conifers. Yeah, really limited.
I realize the elderberry is popular but I'd do better going into the state forest to pick them. Mullein is somewhat popular, but heck, it's a huge weed here. And if I do manage to come up with a variety of crops, I'm not sure who would be interested in buying them from me.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Places to find information?
Bryant RedHawk wrote:We don't have ours yet but will be getting some pygmy goats next year when we move onto our homestead. This year has been the get it ready to occupy year.
Mountain Krauss wrote:I'm new to having goats, so perhaps I don't know some of the difficulties involved, but they've been great so far. No attempts to escape, and they've respected the regular 4 ft wire fencing I use for the chickens-- I haven't needed electric or barbed wire. I know they can bark your trees, but I thought they only did that if there weren't sufficient leaves available.
It seems to me that there is a tremendous opportunity in letting animals turn our waste stream into fertilizer. Chickens, pigs, and ducks do a great job dealing with food waste, but goats seem to be in the best position to handle yard waste. Any wood left after goats have stripped it of leaves and bark could easily become the base of a hugel bed.
Fresh goat's milk is better than cow's milk. In fact, it's sweeter.
Yes, goats will need better pens than other livestock, but nothing that a good electric fence can't contain. (Minimum of 1 joule)
Buck goats do stink during rut. They smell like buck deer during rut. We rub our coats on my buck when we go hunting to throw off the human scent. True story.
1 LaMancha x Oberhaasli buck
1 LaMancha x Oberhaasli doe (looks Oberhaasli)
2 LaMancha Does
1 Pygmy cross Doe
1 Alpine Doe
2 Boer Crosses Does
5 Wethered kids (we had a LOT of bucklings this year)
2 Doelings (1 LaMancha x Oberhaasli and 1 LaMancha x Oberhaasli x Boer x Alpine)
The wethered kids are our meat supply this year. My does have decided to go out of milk. Sigh.
I'm a fantasy and SF author with more than 35 books of both fiction and nonfiction to my name. Oh, and I lost my mind many moons ago (no surprise there!) and became a publisher three years ago (there may be a connection there ). My publishing company is Sky Warrior Book Publishing LLC at Sky Warrior Books. I also write for Mother Earth News and you can check out some of my articles at Eating Wild Montana.
Goat's milk requires it being cooled down fast. If you aren't pasteurizing it, it's likely to go bad fairly quickly. Even with pasteurizing it, the best I could get is about a week.
Victor Johanson wrote:Box elder is a maple. I remember reading years ago in a Euell Gibbons book that it makes great maple syrup; he rated it third best, after sugar and silver maples.
Yes, it is. If an odd maple tree. But it is seldom thought of when people think of maple syrup.
Steve Gabriel wrote:Basically, Maple, Walnut, and Birch.
There is also a little bit of documentation on tapping Sycamore, but mostly for the nutrient-rich sap.
So Maple, Walnut, Birch, and Sycamore are the only 4?
Are there any caveats on syrup collection? Does it need a really cold winter? I ask as I am in the sub-tropics in Queensland Australia, so no snow where I am, maybe only a couple of days of frost a year.
Mat
I've had Box Elder Syrup. Has a woody-smoky taste. Very tasty.
Woody smoky taste? Sounds delicious!
Yes, it is! A fellow who lives in Missoula had some maple and box elder syrup for sale a couple years back. I tried the box elder syrup and it was very, very good. A Grade A type of syrup too. Had much more complexity and depth than maple, if that makes any sense. He had the jars marked what tree it actually came from.
Steve Gabriel wrote:Basically, Maple, Walnut, and Birch.
There is also a little bit of documentation on tapping Sycamore, but mostly for the nutrient-rich sap.
So Maple, Walnut, Birch, and Sycamore are the only 4?
Are there any caveats on syrup collection? Does it need a really cold winter? I ask as I am in the sub-tropics in Queensland Australia, so no snow where I am, maybe only a couple of days of frost a year.
Mat
I've had Box Elder Syrup. Has a woody-smoky taste. Very tasty.
i would definitely put it in a greenhouse, i bet you could make it happy there even if its unheated, and even in your being a bit outside of its comfort zone. its hard to say without seeing your set up, but i might even go about making some kind of more permanant bed for it if you have a greenhouse. but then again it would make a nice house plant if you have the room inside, and might do better if you keep your house warm. i guess it depends on how effective your greenhouse is, even if it just takes the edge off the cold it might be ok there.
and totally soak it, for a long time, but do make sure its totally ripe before you pick the pod, which should have a few seeds in it.
My greenhouse is a walk-in unheated greenhouse and is about 5'x6'x6'. We put it on my south-facing porch, which actually helps keep it even warmer for the winter.
How would I know if it was ripe? It's been hanging on the tree for several months.
BTW, for those who are picking leaves and bud, I have a whole bunch of buds coming up. Do I pick the bud and the two closest leaves? Then, I need to ferment them if I want black tea, yes?
well all you can do is try your best and hope it makes it , then wait and see.
i think tea likes a cooler climate, its not a tropical plant, but it is a little bit on the extreme, temperature wise what you are talking about. from my research camellia is somewhat hardy though, stronger and more cold tolerant than you might think. its just very sensitive to proper and frequent watering. i would take it inside for the winter, for sure.
and probably the funky pod is the seed. they are huge seeds, round balls that form in big pods. i would plant it now, or keep it wet, in the fridge. soak it in water for a long while before planting it...they dont like to dry out, the seed or the plant.
i'm hopeful that my tea plant will make it here, but i have to water it all the time cause its very dry here.
Okay, that tells me a lot. A container tree it is, then. The seed is HUGE for what I would expect (an inch across, maybe?). So, I should soak it first before trying to plant it?
I do have a small greenhouse that I can slip it inside when the temperatures drop below 0F. Would that be better? Or inside? Thanks!
Hey! I have a tea tree that I bought in Missoula but I'm not sure it will survive the winter outside my containers and the ability to take indoors. I live at 4000ft on a mountain. I think I'm a zone 4 because it can get to be around -30F when we get an ugly cold snap. So will it survive or are my instincts correct?
BTW, there's a funky pod on my Camellia Sinesis -- is this a seed? When should I plant it, if it is?
Long story short I have about 10 acres of land in the mountains at about 4000 feet. I've stumbled on forest farming and it seems like a really good use for my land, but honestly, I don't know what would be best to grow in this area. We're mostly up and down and fairly rugged, but we do have some areas that look like I could put them to use. I attended a webinar on ramps and discovered the NW has wild onions too, but I'm not sure if it would work for us. I think we're Zone 4 where I live (it gets -30F occasionally). Suggestions?
Also, as an aside, could you or someone tell me if these are Oregon grapes? We have a boatload on the property.
). My publishing company is Sky Warrior Book Publishing LLC at 
