New Fruit Trees

We bought our 1st set of trees on clearance from Lowes for $5 each. Hopefully they'll all turn out OK. They're all pretty large (6-8 ft tall), semi-dwarf, showing a little bit of leaf drop, are in 3.5 gallon jugs, and all on clearance, presumably b/c they've been sitting over there all summer waiting to be purchased. A few of the blueberries and pears we also picked up at *Petals from the Past in Jemison (full price), #Green Thumb in Decatur (half price) and peaches for free from a friend.

Pecans
*1 Excel - $30
*1 Amling - $30

Peaches

4 Belle of Georgia (white)- Orig $20

2 Unknown (Peach or Nectarines, same type leaf, not sure)- Orig $20
2 Elberta (yellow)- Orig $20
3 Neil (coworker) - Unknown but it's a white peach

1 Diamond Princess (white)- Orig $20
1 Hale Haven (yellow)- Orig $20

Nectarines

1 Sweet Pearl - Orig $30

1 Western Pride- Orig $30

Pear

1 Bartlett- Orig $20
*1 Warren - $22
*1 Ayers- $22

Apples

1 Jonathon Apple- Orig $20

1 Golden Delicious Apple - Orig $20
1 Red Delicious Apple - Orig $20

Apricot

2 Golden Sweet - Orig $30 each

Blueberry

1 Tiftblue - Orig $20
#1 Tiftblue - Orig $16
#1 Premiere - Orig $16
#1 Climax - Orig $16
*1 Powderblue - Orig $9

Total Original Price = $575

Our Price = $215

Actual Value = Hopefully something. They're looking pretty sad right now, 1 week after purchase. The plan is to wait till fall to plant, once they go dormant, if they survive that long :(

Field Soil Tests

We just collected soil from 4 different areas on the property that appear to be different types. 1 was over 5 times slower to drain, highest in clay, and darkest brown looking. 1 was the fastest to drain and seemed to have sand. It would hardly hold it's shape when squeezed. The other 2 were halfway between the other 2 extremes except one was a very bright red and the other more of a brown. Weird. Below are the various tests were performed on the soil samples:

1. Drainage test: using a post hole digger, dig 1 ft deep hole, fill with water and allow to drain completely. Immediately refil and measure depth of water. Wait 15 minutes and measure again how much it's dropped. Multiple this # by 4 and this is "/hour drainage rate. < 1"/hr is poor (clay) drainage. 1"-6"/hr is desirable. >6" excessive (sandy) drainage.
2. Root test: dig into soil near an established plant. Look for fine hairy roots (not just coarse roots which indicate poor drainage) going deep with no sharp turns (hard pan)
3. Smell test: good earthy smell indicates good biological activity. Some people even taste. If sour, it's acidic, if bitter, it's alkaline, if sweet, that's good.

4. Ribbon test: this is to test soil texture. Take a handful of soil (not too dry, not too moist) and squeeze. If it won't stick together at all, it's sandy. If you can stick it together in a rod shape, 1" in diameter much longer than 1" in length w/o it breaking up w/o support, it's clay. In between the two is loam.

5. Topsoil Depth Test: Observe where the color changes in the soil. < 6" is not good. The above picture is of a soil probe which is also great for collecting 8" deep samples to send to the lab for pH and mineral composition testing.
6. Bedrock / Hardpand Test: take a rod with a sharp end (like what you stake tomatoes with) and poke into soil to max depth able to by hand. Test in several spots to account for individual smaller rocks that may be in the way.
7. Earthworm Test: If soil is somewhat warn, and somewhat moist, dig out top 6" of 1 foot square. >10 is very biologically active soil, 3-10 is good but could be better. < 3 is not very biologically active.

Small Farm & PYO Potential

This is a photo, not a painting, of a u-pick in Washington. So pretty!

1st step is developing a small section for personal use. Next, decide on a basic strategy: u-pick or not. Since it's a small farm, we'll probably be most successful in specialties and not mainstream varieties.

With u-pick, we'll need a plan for excess fruit: beer, wine, jam, fresh wholesale, dried, juice / ciders, chutney. Possibly we'd like to start our own nursury stock for on-farm use, online sale &/or retail sale. There's not much u-pick in northeast Alabama, possibly because residents typically grow their own, but there's a fair amount of thru traffic between Memphis/Florence and Hunstville.

• blueberries - perrenial, can sell fresh, dried, wine, beer, jam, frozen, or juice, easy to grow organic??
• blackberries - perrenial, highly perishable, can sell fresh, dried, wine, beer, jam, frozen, or juice, well suited for growing in Alabama?
• figs - perrenial, easy to grow organic, highly perishable, can sell fresh, dried, or jam
• kiwis- perrenial, highly perishable, can sell fresh or juiced
• muscadines - perrenial, can sell fresh, dried, wine, jam, or juiced
• watermelons - very good selling price, good market in Alabama
• pumpkins - would make Kaitlyn very happy, good late season u-pick item
• pecan trees - takes 7-10 years to start getting fruit, beautiful tree, possible timber value much later
• other fruit trees: have 3 white peach trees already

With non u-pick, we'd probably want to specialize & develop cultivars best suited for Alabama & sell online to specialty grocery stores & restaurants.

• green onion - good market rate, easy to grow organic
• parsley, basil, and other herbs - good market rate, somewhat easy to grow organic, highly perishable
• garlic - would be interested in varietal plantings of gourmet and selling to grocers, restaurants, and online
• kale
• asparagus - perrenial, love this veggie

Regional Annual Avg Daily Traffic

County Population

Regional Climate

Alabama Wine Tour (we're the pink dot)

Here's a link to a great blueberry reference guide for Alabama:
http://www.agrisk.umn.edu/cache/ARL01713.htm

Puerto Rico Vacation - Agenda Ideas

In a nutshell, Puerto Rico is an American territory (no passport needed); square shaped island, 40mi (N-S) x 110mi (E-W), with several small surrounding islands. Spanish is the main language though the dialet differs from Mexico having been infuenced by Africa, Spain, Armendian, & US.  Approximately 20% of the population speaks fluent English. The median income is $19,000. The landscape is mostly mountainous with coastal beaches to the north & south. The highest point is 4,393 ft. Caverns are located to the north west, rain forest to east, & the world's largest dry coastal forest to the south. The Puerto Rican Trench is the deepest trench in the Atlantic, 5.2 miles deep, found 71 miles north of the island. Average annual temperature is 82 degress without much variation. Baseball & cock fighting are big sports, pork & plantains are common foods, and music & dance (tango) are also big. San Juan is the 4th largest port in the Western Hemisphere & has been subject to many attacks throughout history, thus all the forts.Fort La Fortaleza:  The last 170 governors have resided here, oldest mansion in New World (1533). A World Heritage site.

Fort San Felipe del Morro (see top picture)

Fort San Cristóbal: built in 1797, once walled the entire city of San Juan but 1/3 was demolished in 1897 to ease traffic

El Yunque Dwarf Rainforest: Only rainforest on island. Located in large
park on east end of island. Yunque is in the center of this park.

San Pedrito:  rain forest bird

Coquí: rain forest tree frog

Cock fights: Hosted at Club Gallistico (San Juan) and in Salnia (southern islan).

Mona Island: Snorkling & rock climbing, pristine coral reefs & underwater caverns. Half way b/w Dominican Republic & Puerto rico, about 25 miles off shore

Mosquito (Phosphorescent) Bay at Vieques island: 5 miles east of main island, accessible by ferry. Vieques is a military base though mostly empty. Iguanas & horses roam the island. The 3rd picture is of 300 yr old Ceiba tree. The bio bay is claimed to be most impressive on Viegue island but others can be found at Lajas in La Pargera on southern part of the main Puerto Rico island & Fajardas on the eastern part of the main Puerto Rico island. Some claim the most beatiful beaches in the Carribean are found on Vieques island.

Café Restaurant La Nueva Union: 35 miles west of San Juan. Famous for goat stew, coconut flan, octopus salad & bbq pork.

Historic City of Ponce: Southern part of island, 2nd largest city, known for it's architecture (& crime, like San Juan)

Playa Flamenca: claimed as 1 of Puerto Rico’s prettiest beaches – about 10 miles east of main island of Puerto Rico

Arecibo: NW part of island. Home of the world's largest radio telescope

Camuy: NW part of island. Known for caves & caverns. Puerto Rico hosts the worlds largest underwater river? (not sure if reliable source)

Luquillo: public beach on eastern part of island w/ reef swimming & view of rainforest & easy access to ferry


Caja de Muertos Island: Uninhabited but beautiful small island 5 mi south from Ponce. Known for turtle traffic.

Plantations: Coffee, sugar cane, & tobacco, some museums & some still in operation open for tours. Coffee is still widely made here.

Puerto Rico Museum of Art:

Noche de Bohemia & Canvas Resturaunt: in central part of island, Caguas, Puerto Rico Big on tango & maracas. Other good restaurants- Ostra Cosa, The Parrot Club, Dragonfly, & Tantra.


El Convento Hotel In San Juan: 350 yrs old & $120 - $150 / night.

Cathedral of San Juan-Basilica built in 1520. 2nd oldest (building or church?) in Western Hemisphere, oldest in Dominican Republic.

Casa Blanca gardens: are supposed to be spectacular. Structure orignally meant to house Ponce De Leon but he died before hand. Housed his discendants until 1700s.

Paseo de la Princesa: a very pretty park/promenade in Old San Juan

New Land

We purchased ~9.5 acres of land in North Alabama recently with a stream and a moderate amount of trees (unlike the heavily forested google image). Still deciding how best to use it since it's 1.5 hours from home and won't have day-to-day care.

One idea we're tossing around is pecan trees:

1. Beautiful
2. Eat and sell pecans from years 7-30
3. Timber value after 30 years (around when we retire)

Visited the property last weekend and an Army Corp of Engineer contracter was overseeing trees being hauled away after the tornados. We spoke for quite some time, and he was insistent on the value of pecan trees. He even quoted a timber value at $10/ft for board. I queston the accuracy of this quote (sounds terribly high), but prompts further investigation into the orchard then timber concept.

As you can see, there's a lot of fallen trees: around 30 total. Planning to call a lumber company and see if they're worth anything.

While we were visiting last weekend, a little beagle puppy followed us around all day. So cute, so shy. He seemed homeless (all cute dogs with no collars do), but the neighbor's grand-daughter was so eager to take care of him, he think he's in good hands.

Here's Mark cranking up his new chain saw. It's a little rough around the edges but does the trick (on part of 1 tree, that's the extent of testing thus far).

Our neighbors to one side have cows, to another have a horse, and to the other have chickens, just a few on the loose. Snapped a shot of them SLOWLY crossing the road.

Upon inventigating of pecan plantings and tree nursery's in the area, came across Westervelt timber company in Tuscaloosa, Al that grows 6,500,000 loblolly pine seedlings/yr on 17 acres to keep their 500,000 acres in max production. Had to look at the picture a few times to make sure I was seeing it correctly, thought it was a field of grass. Very neat.

Organic Pesticide - Ladybugs

If you see these rascals in your garden, their friend not foe for the vegetable gardener. These baby ladybugs will eat tons of aphids as well as other soft bodied insects including caterpillars.

Nasturtium Flowers



Lipstick Nasturtium Flower

 I'm a bit of a utlilitarian gardener you might say. However, I do want a pretty garden. My idea of pretty might not be everyone's idea of pretty, but I do try to keep that in mind. This year, I've tried to be utilitarian and a bit more pretty at the same time, thus Nastirtium flowers come into the picture. They're an extremely hardy edible annual. Leaves and flowers can be used in salads. Seeds can be used in place of capers. I'm going to try to be open minded and actually try eating these guys.

The leaves look like lily pads. The plants attract the aphids away from the veggies. They're supposedly blind simple to grow. Time will tell. We purchased the following:

1. Papaya Cream - compact, good for borders
2. Lipstick
3. Jewel - compact, good for borders



Nasturtium Ravioli Antipasto from CafeNilson.com



Seeds Arrived

Our seeds arrived today from R.H. Shumways. My daughter and I went to the Botanical Gardens where they had a large selection of seed catelogs. R.H. Shumways old school looks caught our eye, then the 5 free pack of seeds with $20 order won us over.

Almost time to start the cold hardy spring plants either outdoors or inside for later transplant. The experimental varieties were the freebies. They didn't indicate variety name on those, only descriptions. I'm guessing they don't have names yet. Strangely, they didn't ask us to give feedback on the "experimental" varities.

Plant	Variety
Pea	Experimental
Snow Pea	Mammoth Melting Sugar
Squash Medly	Butterstick, Clarimore, Goldbar, Sungreen
Tomato	Experimental Hybrid Med. Red Determinate
Tomato	Goliath Hybrid 'Pio' Large Red Indeterminate
Cucumber	Bush Pickle Monoecious
Bean	Experimental Green Bush
Arugula	Rocket
Kale	Dwarf Curled Scotch
Radish Medley	Sparkler, White Icicle, Easter Egg II, French Breakfast, Champion, Early Scarlet Globe
Carrots	Sweetness III Hybrid Orange
Basil	Experimental Dwarf Blend
Beets	Bull's Blood - Red, Round
Pak Choi	White Stem
Corn	Trinity Hybrid se+
Corn	Experimental Hybrid se+

Then here's some saved from last year

Oregano
Spinach Mustard
Cilantro
Okra	Heirloom (from Mark's uncle)
Okra	Stewart Zee Best (cajun)
Okra	Bowling Red
Corn	Silverqueen
Dill	Mammoth

Winter Garden

Ok, so now that it's the new year, it's a little too late to start a winter garden, but winter's on my mind, so winter garden planning I will do (for next year of course).

Here's a list of winter plants in order of cold hardiness according to Eliot Coleman. I plan to update this based on my personal experience once I've tested these specific varieties. In my experience though parsely belongs at top of list; turnips, mustards, collards above lettuce, and kale earns a high place on the list.

SEQ	CROP	CULTIVAR	SUPPLIER
1	Mache	Vit	J
2	Scallion	White Spear	J
3	Spinach	Space	C,J
4	Tatsoi		J,S
5	Carrot	Napoli	I
6	Claytonia		C,J
7	Sorrel	De Belleville	C
8	Chard	Agentata	S
9	Minutinia		C,J
10	Lettuce	Samantha	J
11	Beets	Red Ace	J
12	Arugula	Selvatica	C,J,S
13	Escerole	Coral	J
14	Endive	Salad King	J
15	Raddichio	Augusto	J
16	Chicory	Bianca	J
17	Parsley	Riccia	J
18	Mizuna	Forest Green	C,J,S
19	Dandelion		C
20	Turnip	Ameliore	J
21	Mustard	Hakurei, Red Giant	C,J,S

C = Cook's Garden
J = Johnny's Selected Seeds
S = Shepherd's Garden Seeds

Crop Rotation Sample Plans

This book contains many example crop rotation plans.
Haven't had a chance to review it myself yet.

Example 1:
1) Peas & Beans-> 2) Cabbage -> 3) Corn -> 4) Potato -> 5) Squash -> 6) Roots -> 7) Beans -> 8) Tomatoes

Green manures started as undersowing for matching #
1) Clovers -> 2) White Clovers -> 3) Soybeans -> 4) Rye -> 5) Sweet Clover -> 6) White Clover -> 7) Vetch -> 8) Oats

Example 2:
Potato -> Peas & Beans -> Brassica -> Green Manure -> Onions -> Root Crops
Manure before potato. Lime before legumes. Compost before brassicas.

Reasoning:
Legumes benefit from loosened soil from potato. Brassicas benefit from nitrogen. Onions are ok to compact soil from brassicas. Root crops beenfit from loosening from onions.

Example 3:
Potato -> Squash -> Carrots -> Peas & Beans -> Corn

Reasoning:
Potatoes and squash are cleaner crops meaning they smother weeds. Carrots are poor competors to weeds so perform well proceeding cleaner crop. Root crops loosen the soil which legumes benefit from. Carrots are usually a negative preceeding crop but legumes are immune. Legumes add nitrogen to the soil which is good for the heavy nitrogen feeders such as corn.

Recipe Nutrition



Tortellini Soup From Pioneer Woman


Found a website for determining the nutritional content of home cooked meals. You plug in ingredients, then it calculates the nutritional content. I love it. Although a little time consuming, if you're health consciouse like me and like to keep all your favorite recipes written down anyway, this site is perfect.
Click below link to see an example nutritional content posting for this recipe then click "All Nutrients"
http://recipenutrition.com/MRBshowRecipe.aspx?recno=20122&bck=2&recname=Tricolor%20Tortellini%20Soup