Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:
Also, I make Kirsch from the wild cherries we have around here. I don't know what they are: they are not the tart cherry but sweet cherries can't survive our winters in zone 4, so it is not a sweet cherry either. It is sweet enough to eat out of hand but does have a large stone relative to the flesh. The whole fruit is the size of an overgrown snap peas.
It seems to be a "prunus serotina": The timeline for flowering and fruiting seem to mesh. The immature bark looks like that too. However, in the liquor I make, I ground the flesh and the pits and the seeds inside them, and everything goes in the Vodka to make an extract. The Wiki says that the seeds are poisonous, just like the pits of apricots & peaches, but I assure you that liquor is pretty darn good and has not even given me the slightest tommy ache. Perhaps it is the Vodka in which it macerates for 3 weeks that kills the poisonous effect? I'm not sure.
Another thing that does not quite mesh with the Wiki: These trees are quick to fruit, like 3-4 years, abundantly from the get go [some trees look red/black from the house] and the mature bark doesn't look as furrowed as the photo they have here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_serotina
Next year, I'm hoping to try the same treatment on mulberries, as I expect to have quite a few, red/black and whites.
James Landreth wrote:
Cam Haslehurst wrote:Hey James, thanks for posting this. I am definitely Gen Z as I was born in 1998. I am pretty much brand new to permaculture.
I learned about the state of our civilization and our planet around the end of last year and it shook me up quite a bit. For a few months I think I was depressed now that I look back on it now. My parents grew worried because I wasn't making all the dumb jokes I usually do and we eventually talked about it. From there I improved until I got to where I am today. Active Hope by Joanna Macy was and still is a big inspiration for me. "Hope is something you do, not something you have" she says. And she's right. The big change was going from waiting for humanity to do something to getting off my ass and doing something! I now consider myself a builder of whatever world follows this one. I see in my mind's eye of network of people fighting for our planet in diverse ways: some tell the story of ecological collapse or climate change, even if few listen. Others teach about how to survive and thrive in a changing world. Some fight to change or replace the corrupt systems that are in place now with something better. Many folks are getting to know local farmers, and starting to garden, and turning away from endless consumption. I see myself as just one tiny part of this growing network of people who are, in big or small ways, doing their part to love and protect our collective home. It's this thought that gets me out of bed in the morning and what drives me to do what I do.
As of now, I'm learning as much as I can about permaculture as possible. I am lined up to visit a permaculture homestead this summer and I am oh so excited to get my hands dirty and to soak up as much knowledge as I can. I hope some more folks respond to this thread, I am curious about how many younger folks there are out there.
They're out there, for sure (younger permaculture and activists in general)
I know a big challenge for our generation is access to land. But we've been coming up with all sorts of solutions to that across the board. Some people practice responsible guerilla planting. I volunteer to help religious groups set up food forests and pollinator gardens. Every bit helps, for sure. I've been so lucky to see as much progress as I have