Deedee Dezso

Deedee Dezso wrote:Well, i can't list just 1 book.
As a young gardener, back in my 20s, i was gifted a great resource of a book titled "The Self Sufficient Gardener- the compleat illustrated guide to planning, growing,  storing and preserving your own garden produce " by John Seymour. It was, and still is, my #1 for the growing requirements of many food plants, as it lists each type with headings like soil and climate, soil treatment,  propagation, pests and diseases...I now have and use "The NEW Self Sufficient Gardener "...The book begins with an introduction chapter covering organic gardening, small animals (rabbits and chickens  for meat, eggs and manure), and how nature's cycles effect growing. And I love the Illustrated Index of Vegetables,  Fruits and Herbs.
I have done alot of notations in this book to help keep vital information in one book. The table of contents lists plants according to family and that confuses me,  so I added what I'd understand.  For example, fabaceae is the legumes, and brassicaceae is the cabbage/broccoli family. This book is not listed in the above mentioned list of great resource books.

My 2nd most referenced book is Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte. This is my companion plants resource. I've taken the vitals from this volume and copied them into the inside covers of my copy of Self Sufficient Gardener, listing companions,  allies and enemies for my preferred crops.

And because one cannot be self-sufficient in raising your own food year after year without saving seed, another gifted resource book is Suzanne Ashworth's Seed to Seed. Before this book i didn't realize the level of cross pollination between crops in the same family groups.  I learned the hard way.
I'd saved seed from a zucchini and shared some with a Facebook friend. When hers fruited, those zucchini were the right shape but wrong color; they were white! I was grateful that I had kept a map of what was planted where. Referring to it, I saw that I'd put a white patty pan squash beside the zucchini. I looked up the 2 squash in Seed to Seed and discovered both are pepo types and that in the squash tribe, any 2 in the same sub-tribe can and will cross. So 2 pepo, 2 maxima, 2 moschata, etc. will cross pollinate and the seed saved will often show the effects of this.
I now don't buy squash seed if that sub-tribe information isn't present. And if I plan to save seed with the idea of continuing the variety,  I'll only plant 1 variety.  1 pepo, usually a  zucchini; 1 moschata,  often butternut, etc.

Of course I have other gardening books. My personal library of physical books is far more extensive than I have room for since our cross country move, but these are the volumes I made sure to have available after settling in.

I meant to post photos weeks ago. Life happens.

bruce Fine wrote:all of my trees have come from state department of forestry seedling programs.
if anyone is near what was previously the West Virginia state tree nursery, clements tree nursery in Mason county west Virginia, prior home to Samuel clements (mark Twain's) grandparents
there should be a large stand of American chestnut trees there and maybe even Chinese chestnut trees that the state used to offer for sale.
im still curious what ever became of the place since the West Virginia legislature shut it down.

Well, Google maps says it's permanently closed. I'm now only an hour's drive away and may make it a day trip to see if I can access fallen nuts! I'll report if/when there is anything to report!

Well, i can't list just 1 book.
As a young gardener, back in my 20s, i was gifted a great resource of a book titled "The Self Sufficient Gardener- the compleat illustrated guide to planning, growing,  storing and preserving your own garden produce " by John Seymour. It was, and still is, my #1 for the growing requirements of many food plants, as it lists each type with headings like soil and climate, soil treatment,  propagation, pests and diseases...I now have and use "The NEW Self Sufficient Gardener "...The book begins with an introduction chapter covering organic gardening, small animals (rabbits and chickens  for meat, eggs and manure), and how nature's cycles effect growing. And I love the Illustrated Index of Vegetables,  Fruits and Herbs.
I have done alot of notations in this book to help keep vital information in one book. The table of contents lists plants according to family and that confuses me,  so I added what I'd understand.  For example, fabaceae is the legumes, and brassicaceae is the cabbage/broccoli family. This book is not listed in the above mentioned list of great resource books.

My 2nd most referenced book is Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte. This is my companion plants resource. I've taken the vitals from this volume and copied them into the inside covers of my copy of Self Sufficient Gardener, listing companions,  allies and enemies for my preferred crops.

And because one cannot be self-sufficient in raising your own food year after year without saving seed, another gifted resource book is Suzanne Ashworth's Seed to Seed. Before this book i didn't realize the level of cross pollination between crops in the same family groups.  I learned the hard way.
I'd saved seed from a zucchini and shared some with a Facebook friend. When hers fruited, those zucchini were the right shape but wrong color; they were white! I was grateful that I had kept a map of what was planted where. Referring to it, I saw that I'd put a white patty pan squash beside the zucchini. I looked up the 2 squash in Seed to Seed and discovered both are pepo types and that in the squash tribe, any 2 in the same sub-tribe can and will cross. So 2 pepo, 2 maxima, 2 moschata, etc. will cross pollinate and the seed saved will often show the effects of this.
I now don't buy squash seed if that sub-tribe information isn't present. And if I plan to save seed with the idea of continuing the variety,  I'll only plant 1 variety.  1 pepo, usually a  zucchini; 1 moschata,  often butternut, etc.

Of course I have other gardening books. My personal library of physical books is far more extensive than I have room for since our cross country move, but these are the volumes I made sure to have available after settling in.

I have just recently been diagnosed with major depressive disorder, recurring,  mild. I think there's also seasonal affective disorder (sad). I've discovered when I'm snowed in for multiple weeks and can't get to work (only weekends) my daily spoon count reaches a high of about 5-10 even if I've slept well and eaten appropriately. The effort of finding and making food to eat takes a couple spoons, so instant grab and eat healthy foods are essential.

When I'm not mired in the depression, finding food I want to eat is still an issue. But I'll have more spoons available for my day.

Which is not such an issue when I go to my off-property job as janitorial staff at the local mall, specifically attending the food court. My spoon supply is boosted being there. As hard as the job is, as much as I'm not a clean freak, I find myself transformed into a different person who has plenty of spoons right up until closing. Then my spoons get spent down.

M.K. Dorje Sr. wrote:I was checking out the Good News Network this morning and found an amazing article and documentary about the return of the American Chestnut in Maine, thanks to Dr. Bernd Heinrich, author of Ravens in Winter and many other great books. Check this out:

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/once-wiped-out-by-blight-thousands-of-american-chestnut-trees-are-thriving-on-biologists-land-in-maine/

The American Chestnut was decimated by chestnut blight in the early 1900s, which killed million of trees through the eastern United States. But thanks to Dr. Heinrich, they are making a comeback in Maine. This article was very inspirational for me because I just planted and began stratifying several dozen chestnut seeds a few weeks ago. I'm planning on planting, selling and donating lots of chestnut seedlings once they begin germinating. Chestnuts are amazing trees and can live for hundreds of years. And they are delicious roasted!

Anyone out there growing chestnuts? What species do you grow and where do you live?

I've recently relocated to western West Virginia on acreage and would like to get a few chestnut trees going before I get too old to dig the holes! (Already over 60!) If they aren't too costly, I'd be interested in obtaining a few of whatever you have available.
I've just read that chestnuts require a different variety for pollination, like many fruiting trees. So that clones of the same can't pollinate each other.  And the nursery I'm looking at ordering saplings from doesn't offer that level of information,  only that they need pollinator partners.
But they also are only offering Chinese chestnut at the affordable price point.

Chris McClellan wrote:Cindy, That is an excellent idea. I will run it by the author and seewhat she says.
--Mud

Well, I'd forgotten all about this one.  I guess the answer was "No" on even a photo of a table of contents.  Pity. I might have bought it! 5½ years later and nothing. I'd have thought alot of people would prefer to take a small peek before buying. Like checking ingredients on any kind of consumable.
Oh well. Thanks for trying.

Hi y'all. Tomorrow will mark my 6 year anniversary here at permies. I've learned so much and have a very different life since my discovery of this wonderful place. I found permies as I began researching the life I wanted when I arrived wherever my youngest landed with a shared dream of homesteading.  That ended up being in western West Virginia! Up in the hills the locals think of as mountains! Narrow, windy roads; clay soil on limited flat land (steep hollers on both sides of the roads). Very different from Southern California beaches and deserts.

I am working towards having enough growing space (hugel and raised beds) to feed the 8 of us (daughters family is 6). We are raising rabbits and chickens (14 laying hens and a roo) on my 4 acre, and my daughter has a small flock of ducks and rabbits on her 36+ acres.

How long have you been here, and what brought you?

Hello fellow shroomers!
We arrived in Western West Virginia in May '23. My grandson cut down a sugar maple and I hoped to pull 4-5 logs of approximately 6" diameter before they dried out too much to plug spawn them. I'd read it's best to get fairly newly cut logs as the sugars and moisture help the spawn grow through the entire log, and then I'd still need to keep them off the ground and moist/high humidity to help them grow.  So I put 2 on the ground w/o inoculation and stacked the others criss cross, then I covered it all in a blanket and kept it watered a couple times per week. This all took place in summer.

So the time of tree harvest is as important as preventing other species that can be picked up from ground contact.

This year we had our 2nd season of shiitake on 5 fruiting logs big enough that it requires both of us to move them.

This is an average of $77 + change per backer.  And about 23,000 more than what was asked for to fund the project!  Permies everywhere are awesome people!  I want to congratulate and thank everyone who contributed.  

Now to see how many high school ( and maybe Jr high schools) agricultural programs will accept my challenge to make some of these principles part of their curriculum! I have easy access to WV, KY, and OH!

Time to start calling around to find the programs!