Figs...in Minnesota...at the end of November. Who else is doing this?????
Winter came too damn early...and Im a big softy after living
in Phoenix and now Los Angeles...thin blood for sure.
When its -5F before December...it makes me wonder why my
parents are still sticking it out up there!
One thing for sure, it definitely weeds out the weaklings!
Anywhere there is awesome weather year round youre bound
to find lots and LOTS of people...definitely not so in Minnesota!
And whats interesting is the guy that wrote
"The World in 2050", which just came out,
said that northern areas will be very desirable to live,
and he even mentioned minnesota! Crazy!
I filmed loads so there are more coming soon.
The dome was still toasty warm, at night it would get to about 33-34F,
but outside again was 0F and SOOOO windy.
On the sunny days it got up to 70F - so that is paradise.
The figs just lost the rest of their leaves,
and because the tomatoes went bananas they started to
block out the comfrey and Jake's goji berries.
I rescued them in time though,
and chopped up those cherry tomatoes really well for the compost pile.
My whole thing now is mushrooms growing from logs.
(turkey tail...the first ones to really take from the plugspawn)
There is a vid coming soon about it, but it was a revelation
to me last week. The fungus can continue to break down the wood
in the greenhouse, but outside nothing would progress until
april at best - so this way the whole understory will be sprouting
with mushrooms in the winter. Im passing on growing winter veggies
in here because I want to focus on the perennials and give them
as much energy and lack of competition as possible.
The idea of broccoli or spinach hurting the hachiya persimmon
or the gojis is pure blasphemy!
(under these oak leaves are inoculated logs...this way it will feed the
soil instead of feeding from it...the trees agree.
Damn...they look so meek without the leafy goodness from summer.)
(white sage...started from blackbird seeds - check them out HERE)
(pick a few and use them to freshen up your ride...so pretty too)
I still have the front strip open, and Im debating
whether it should be a leafy green patch or if I should
fill it with some kind of low growing berries that I couldnt
grow outside in Minnesota...the leafy greens would be pretty
key though - and its not available to the deer so we would actually
be able to eat it ourselves! What a concept!
I did a sq foot this september full of brassicas,
16 squares filled with two kinds of cabbage, broccoli, and brussel sprouts.
One day my mom called and said they there were all nibbled
down to the nub...nothing left at all.
hmmm.....can you feel the frustration?
Or when Javelinas dig up and destroy the papaya and grape vines
in Phoenix? I cant get a break here!!!!
In nature we must protect our food - we are the jaguars
hiding our food up in the tree away from hyenas.
I cant blame the deer or the woodchuck...they gotta eat too,
but jeez...all a guy wants to do is grow some cabbage to make
sauerkraut and he has to fence the damn things in a veggie fema camp!
I doubt Ill do cherry tomatoes in the dome again,
if I were there all the time and could prune off the suckers it
wouldnt be an issue, but they go so wild when Im not there,
blocking out the sun, sucking up water and nutrients..
Next year they will all be in the sq foot gardens
and also covered by a temporary hoophouse to keep
the rain from getting them all blighty.
I wouldnt even think about growing them exposed to the elements,
they got so blightly from all the rain we had this year,
so with the hoophouse, its temporary and mobile,
cheap as well, and it extends the season and keeps the water from
causing fungus on the leaves...this is key!
Geese were flying over constantly, and I even filmed
a buck chasing a doe right across the eastern slope
of the food forest! Awesome! I tried to call him in but
the scent of the doe was hard competition.
Maybe he is the one nibbling on the mulberry trees! Damn!
That edible fence IS NOT GROWING FAST ENOUGH!!! hahaha..
I think its time for a little electricity or a motion sensor sprinkler,
which sadly could only function 6 months out of the year here because
of the cold - so maybe thats the key - go electric until the edible hedge is
up and running...because the deer knock me back so much -
beating up on the trees and berries, eating all the annuals -
its a tough ball game for sure!
No one ever said that wild animals were easy to beat.
When youre hungry...and the acorns were very light this year...
you get REALLY crafty at finding food.
more to come...editing the videos now.
