Spiny Amaranth

I believe I have made a new discovery with my plant identifications. I am going to contact a local expert for verification, but in the meantime I am tentatively identifying a previously posted plant as spiny amaranth.
Here's a photo of my plant. One key characteristic that I am not really sure of is the plant's spiny texture... but I will confirm that tomorrow. It sure looks like a scary plant to me, and I used to regard it as evil. Alas, it may be quite valuable to us, as amaranth is a very nutritious food source.

I'm not going to go on a research tangent, as this was an accidental discovery during another research project. However, survivallady.com has a nice little blurb about amaranth in her post "Using Wild Plants As Food."

Last week Seth and I watched a documentary called "A Family Undertaking" by POV, which airs on PBS. The documentary touched on the same ideas as explored in the New York Times Article: Home Burials Offer and Intimate Alternative. The point is that funeral homes in the US have a monopoly on the arrangements made after death, though after-death care by family members has been a traditional part of human life throughout history and offers incredible emotional benefits.

In my family the general attitude has always been "put me in a pine box and bury me in the back yard." I've never been subject to attitudes condoning spending tens of thousands of dollars on a funeral. I've never even understood why the costs would exceed 1k in any situation.

The film and the NYTimes article are inspiring in that they show that people in American really aren't afraid to care for their own loved ones in death. There is a growing return to that way of handling funerals and I'm happy to see it.

I think more people are starting to take responsibility for their own lives and their own humanity elsewhere as well. Perhaps it's just because of my personal interest, but I notice more and more people gardening, homeschooling and even expressing interest in homesteading around the country. Indeed, many of us are still in the earliest stages but at least there is the interest. What, ultimately, will be the result of all of this?
Are we finding our way out of this consumer madness? I sure hope so.

The lady chickens are doing well.
I'm taking a stab at growing some fall tomatoes. We'll see how this works out... hopefully it does some good. I am saving the rest of the seeds for next spring.

I would really like to work hard on getting a winter garden going. Nothing makes me happier than leafy greens and now is the time to plant broccoli from seed.

I'm working on looking for other sources of income so that we can get some of these things going. That's right, dirt and seeds cost MONEY! At least good dirt... all we've got here is clay and fire ants.

Wild and plentiful.

As far as fruit goes, just a bit of seasonal planning around here would have us covered for most of the year. The blackberries are so plentiful that we have to cut them back and mow them over to keep them under control. Good fruit May-June. Some of the bushes have gotten attacked by "rust."
I've also discovered a few patches of muscadines for late summer fruit, though I'm not sure what type of muscadines or whether we'll even get any if we are competing with the wildlife. It will be interesting to see what happens this year, anyway. Perhaps in August I can also try to root a few vines and plant them closer to the house. Most of those that are growing are pretty high up in the trees.

Aside from those, I have the figs and I would like to have mayhaw berries and plums but I'm still working on finding some plants. I've considered growing some citrus. Ronnie's kumquats are delicious and he's able to grow lemons and oranges over there, but they have been overtaken by bamboo and aren't doing so well. My mom thinks I should grow bananas! We will see about that...

There was a solitary pink wild morning glory plant growing by the road and I was waiting for it to make some seeds so that I could spread them around, but the city came and mowed down all of the plants and I finally found its mangled remains. No seeds, but perhaps something ate them.

There is good news for the morning glory, though not that one specifically. Over at Ronnie's he had a big pecan tree fall down during a storm and knocked down his power lines. As a result, all of the wild weeds in his front yard had to be bulldozed and the dirt was scraped bare. It was mostly privet and air potato vines over there anyway so he wasn't too heartbroken about it.
I wandered over there today and in the bare dirt has germinated hundreds and hundreds of little morning glories. There are some wild type as well as some cultivated (that Ronnie claims he planted years ago in another part of the yard). I find it quite amazing just how many seedlings are popping up, so I'm planning on transplanting a little patch of them to my part of the property to see how they do.

Funny all those little seeds must have been waiting there for years-- waiting to get a chance to touch the bare Earth.

As usual.

Slow and steady as usual. I've been putting a lot of energy into helping Seth with a job, getting things around the house to go more smoothly, daily chores, and recently I've been browsing the forums at survivalistboards.com. There are a lot of bright individuals over there with quite a bit of good dialogue. I'm also reading some fiction and listening to audio lectures online. (FYI: I'm "ss834" in the forums)
A lot of intake, not a lot of output.

Okay, I have a big galvanized wash tub to use for outdoor washing... dishes, laundry, whatever. The chickens are doing well. I want to get serious about creating a big run for them and when they are old enough I may recruit Ronnie's rooster to breed and start some new chicks next spring. Ronnie has also been talking about mating the pygmy goats. Seth says he heard that pygmy milk is no good, but I read the opposite, so I think it's worth trying.
We'll get a goat yard set up and maybe take a nanny and her kids. That'll do it for animals for awhile-- goats and chickens were our primary interests. Oh, and the rabbits! We have rabbits and Ronnie has quail.




Other than that I've got to get the vegetable bed going. I am thinking about starting with intensive potted veggies and a deep raised bed. I know I need to start small for now, since it is only me, and if some people can do it on 1/10 an acre then I should have no problem growing right off the porch.

The rest of the figs will go in the ground this weekend and that'll be it for my trees that have needed planting.

The other plants have suffered from the heat wave of the past 3 weeks. Though the chives, the trees, the mint and the wildflowers are still doing well.

I'm going to start some tomato seed this weekend as well and whatever else I already have. My compost is getting pretty nasty and awful. I think I'm either failing miserable or succeeding. Its got grubs of all sorts in there and tons of fire ants because they are everywhere and they get into everything. They eat about half of what I put out there.

... sigh...

Business Plants, Homestead updates

What's been going on around here the past couple of days?
We've made a more permanent chicken coop by tying a tarp over the hay ring that we were already using. Then we fastened the wire around the ring to make it more secure. It's a good little run area for the 4 hens we have now and it will be easy to move. We had planned on constructing a chicken tractor but I'm actually more pleased with this because it was essentially free.
We are still moving them from the run to the little chicken house at night. Soon we are planning on fastening some nesting and laying boxes to the run so they'll have somewhere safe to go at night.

In the next few days we will probably be cutting down some of the Tallow trees. I think it's important that we cut them down before they go to seed. Some already have little green seeds forming.
Callum and I walked around yesterday morning pulling up dozens of little seedlings near the fenceline. They come up very easily when they are young.

I planted two longleaf pines that I had dug up from another area of the property. They are so tiny right now. One is about 4 inches tall and the other is maybe 7-8 inches.

I also have 3 figs I'm going to be planting soon, now that they've got some healthy leaves. These were given to me a few months ago as root cuttings. I thought two of them were going to die but they are doing great now.

Hm... other news is that we are looking into business options, such as becoming an LLC. It was Andrew's idea and I'm exploring that idea. I think it would be a great thing to get started. Not sure what all we would produce but I have QUITE a few ideas.

Abrupt end.

Overall land survey.

I've been busy researching the few different species that I can identify out here. The purpose of doing this is to try an catalog any native species we may have growing. It has slowly sunk in that because this is old pastureland, the chances of any healthy remnants of prairie being out here is pretty slim. The original composition of this area was probably pine forests anyway, so it's very unlikely that native prairie plants would suddenly show up in a heavily grazed field.

Here's a quick description of what I have identified (sorry, my pictures have come out blurry):
Around us:
-Horse Nettle

-Bahia grass

-tallow tree, of course
-dewberry, blackberry

-smartweed

-thistle (bull thistle I think)

In the bog:
-lizards tail
-pickerel weed

Some other things I *may* have identified:
-little quaking grass?

-vasey grass?

Without having identified everything, at least a few things are pretty clear. Almost all of these species can be considered invasive *but* most are especially common in disturbed soils, or land that has been overgrazed. No big surprise there, but it's useful information because that means with a good management plan, we can get some more native species established. Eventually, after several years, some of the plants that rely on overgrazing to be competitive will back off and some of the native grasses and wildflowers will start to take over. According to the Meadow Makers, when the natives get established, controlled burns can be used on a regular basis to manage the health of the prairie.

Our neighbor Rodney came with a bush hog yesterday to mow the area around our house and he also cut some paths through the fields and cleared the areas around my newly planted trees. A little bit of lawn makes the place seem so different and I won't deny that I kind of enjoy it. Especially for now, because it gives me a better idea of how much room we have and how the different gardening areas (wild grasses vs vegetables vs some ornamentals and shade trees) can be arranged. He left two huge patches (maybe 2500 sq ft each) out front with a path bording them. The path gives it kind of a "neat" look, plus makes it nicer to walk around and look at things.

I am thinking if we leave those areas for the native grasses and wildflowers, we can even have a border. Ronnie has a bunch of piles of antique bricks that are behind the old hay barn (lying beneath the bamboo forest). I think those would be beautiful as a border, though I'm not sure if there are enough for that whole area.

This is what I've been up to the past few days. A lot of my time is spent on research and walking around looking at things, trying to visualize and plan the best arrangement.

I also tend to have a problem with excessive enthusiasm. In other words, I'm easily distracted so it takes me quite a while to finish different projects.

Even writing this blog has taken nearly two hours because a little yellow songbird came and sat in my window and I spent awhile trying to figure out what it was at whatbird.com.
Then I got sidetracked again by Cornell University's Project FeederWatch.

I'm a huge nerd.

Philosophy of grasses.

How GREEN!

As I walk through the fields I find myself grabbing the stalks of these plants, tugging at the inflorescence (the flowering part-- I have recently learned courtesy of the University of Florida), and feeling a subconscious satisfaction when my hand is quickly filled with little grass seeds. Then what do I do with these seeds? I toss them aside-- for what do I need this strange plant material?

I had never considered it before, but my subconscious habit to grab the seeds and spread them around is a perfect example of the brilliance of nature's system. Things are meant to work together in this way. As we become more aware of our surroundings, we also become more aware of the impact even our smallest, most insignificant habits have on those surroundings.

As much as we unconsciously aide the spread of certain species, we also unconsciously destroy others (or even the same). It takes much awareness and an extremely open mind to develop an understanding of our true impact on the Earth's systems. Even then, can we really change ourselves all that much? Do our changes truly make a difference, or do they just shift the impact to another area?
This question reminds me of Newton's simple observation: "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Can we really do "good" without then enabling, somehow and somewhere, something "bad"? Is there really any way that we can assign these values-- "good" and "bad" at all if they both exist simultaneously within the same action?

Okay, I'm not here to delve into moral rhetoric, but I just want to expose a bit of my own belief that there isn't and never will be a "good" way to do things versus a "bad" way. Our actions are all just experiments; conscious experiments; unconscious experiments; observations and explorations. We are just tinkering with our world in the ways in which we were designed. Our world is also tinkering with us.

This thinking isn't an attempt to absolve myself from making choices which I perceive to be the right choices, the compassionate and considerate and generous choices that I really do hope to make. This thinking is only a way to comfort myself when I feel that I havent done enough-- that I haven't made a difference and that what I am doing is worthless or trivial. Nothing is worthless or trivial. Nothing at all.

Enough of that... let's talk about grasses.

I am in the process of learning about grasses and meadow plants. Funny, cuz I never would have imagined myself interested in grasses. Who cares about grass? It's everywhere! Big deal...

I remember in the early days of my plant scholarship (I say that as if I am an advanced botanist, because it makes me feel good) I would browse through the college catalog looking for horticulture courses and I would find all these courses about "turfgrass." The only turf I knew existed on golf courses and I found that stuff repulsive and absurd. I'm somewhat sorry to say that I've changed my opinion. Okay, I still think golf courses are repulsive and absurd, but the little plants that inhabit them are only doing what they have been manipulated into doing-- and they sure do seem to be doing well!

So this entry is my tribute to the grasses short and tall, the creepers and the taprooters and everything in between. Oh I just love grasses!

What got me started on this? Right next to our trailer we have a huge circle of mud from where the septic tank was dropped into the ground. Under the trailer we have pure red clay. When it rains this place is terrible-- mud on everything. It's a little better now that we have built steps off the other side of the porch, but not too pleasant either way.

So I look out into the field with envy. Delicate easter basket grasses, thick weedy grasses, strange plants of all sorts and, of course, the ever-present tallow shoots. I don't care, I just want something to cover up this mud!

I walk down the road and look at my neighbors extensive, manicured lawns. When I say extensive I mean it! These people have taken perhaps 100 acres (together) or more and they have set free these tough, durable little plants which have probably been created in some research lab at a university somewhere (LSU perhaps?). I am shocked, repulsed, and impressed by this! Of course, it's not only my neighbors lawns, but lawns all over the parish, the state, the country. It seems grasses are creeping and crawling slowly to consume to all four corners of the Earth. Some do it with the assistance of chemicals and fertilizers (also created in some lab somewhere), and some do it with the assistance of ignorant homonids.
Either way, it is a full blown invasion.

And I love it. Why do I love it? I love it because it is a perfect example of nature at its finest. Sure, some may say that turf grasses are not natural, especially those that are fully dependent on our obsessive-compulsive nature, but the funny thing is that they are natural. Nature has provided for these dear little plants a species so deeply concerned with their survival that they will do just about anything to promote it. That and a little sunshine is all anyone needs, right?

Let's hear it for the grasses!

Quiet times.

Today has been a slow day. Our neighbor was supposed to come by today to help bushhog but he hasn't gotten around to it. As it is, the grasses and tallow trees are growing up all over the place. Most of the vasey grass has had time to make seed and the seeds are ripe now. I'm not familiar with how that stuff grows out here but the pasture was always short before, because of the cows, so there's a possibility that things will really get crazy now that it has time to grow up and propagate. We will see.
I mentioned to Seth how nice it would be to be able to maintain data with GIS technology and then we could *really* get an idea of just how agressive some of these invasive species are. The blackberries are nice for fruit (the fact that they are growing wild means we don't have to tend to them!) but in open patches that haven't been mowed, fresh green growth is shooting up all over the place.
I have a few plants around the place that I still haven't identified. There's something Ronnie calls "tea weed" that I haven't been able to find out about. That grows just as wildly as the thistle and the tallows. Maybe I will take a picture sometime and someone will be able to help me identify it.

Ah yes, and the hens made it through the night. I hope we can set something up for them this weekend.