Introducing myself to Scott's forum

Welcome, Emily, glad you found us! We’re a nice bunch of folks, and lots of real experts on this list. Be sure to fill out your profile so we know your general whereabouts, and anything fun and interesting about yourself you’d like to share!

Patty S.

Welcome Emily,

Glad you found us. Would you mind adding where you live (your state) in your profile? As you may know, location is a good piece of info to know. This way, people can give your advice suitable to where you live (and grow your trees.). I hope to see more posts from you…

Thanks for the welcome! I will post soon, I’m trying to get my thoughts and questions organized in my mind first :grinning:

Welcome aboard, glad to see some more representation from Missouri. I am interested to hear how you do with your figs.

Thanks @Derby42 I’ve only had figs for a year but I have been very happy with them! I over wintered them in my unheated garage and only had die back on the tips. Our winter was mild this past year so I think in the future I will need to wrap them even in the garage. If you would like cuttings next winter let me know! I should be able to provide at least a couple cuttings of each variety listed in my profile.

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Hello all, this is my first post on growingfruit.org. I joined the GardenWeb forum recently, but noticed that the “regulars” hadn’t posted in a while, but then I found the ole gang here, alright! Guess I’ll just copy and paste my intro from there to here, with some edits.

A little background, we’re in eastern Kentucky on my wife’s family farm in zone 6B. It is a really nice place to live, clean air and water, and quiet in an isolated rural setting. I lived in Texas for 30 years, of which the final 4 years I spent with my wife, in the suburbs of Dallas. I really enjoy that we get 4 real seasons here, as opposed to the brutal summers and pseudo fall and winters in Texas.

It was fine there, and we had good jobs, but my wife and I moved here to be more self-sufficient and get out of the big city. We were getting progressively alarmed at the spiritual, economic and social decline of things, and thought we ought to take the opportunity and get out of Dodge, so to speak. So, in 2014, we made the move. I am so grateful to have some acreage, and privacy, and not have to worry about HOA’s.

To the surprise of my family, my acclimation to the country life has been pretty smooth, mostly. I think it has shocked them that a “city” boy, could make the switch. But, I have a lot to learn, still, and thankfully my wife, who grew up on this farm, and my neighbors and in-laws have also helped me a lot in these two years.

Over the last couple years, I’ve learned how to can food, do some carpentry, some minor electrical and plumbing work, how to run a tractor, with the usual chores of plowing, discing, and bush-hogging. Trying to learn the fine art of shooting, without scaring off our old dog. He does not like the big bangs or thunder, for that matter. We’ve tried to get veggie gardens going, with some degree of success, and even grown some from seeds in the house under grow lights.

We’re in the foothills of the Appalachians, in a valley, on an eastern facing slope with good exposure to the sun, getting about 8 hours of direct sun on average thru the spring to fall. Our weather is warm, not really hot, somewhat humid summers. It rarely been above 90 degrees here the two years we’ve been here. It cools off pretty quickly when the sun dips behind the hills to our west, so we don’t get as many hours of direct sun as a flatter location. The nights are very comfortable, usually in the 60’s on the warmest nights. It’s spring here now, with the dogwoods and wild apple trees blooming and the other trees just leafing out, beautiful.

But the winters, oh boy. Living in Texas all those mildish winters there spoiled me. Last winter, 2014-15, was the worst I’ve ever experienced. Some nights were below zero, with one pleasant night of 14 below, which just happened to take out our water lines. I spent the next couple days under the house playing junior plumber to fix that issue- nice. Plus, a couple one foot snowfalls among others. Even the long time residents said that it was one of the worst in recent memory.

I’m sure folks from New England or more northern climes are rolling their eyes about my winter complaints right now. But, this winter was not too bad, just a few nights in single digits and a couple 6 inch snows. I do think that I am getting a bit more used to it though, just have to layer on more clothes.

OK, enough background info. This winter/spring I got the fruit tree bug, and thought I’d take advantage of our acreage and start a little orchard to augment our vegetable garden output. We just finished planting the last of the trees, and hopefully that will be it for a while. Maybe. From what I’ve gathered from the other forum, fruit tree planting can be somewhat addictive, so I hope I can control it. We’ll see.

Anyhow, I will provide a tree report soon on what we’ve done. I look forward to future correspondence with the growingfruit gang.

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Welcome Subdood,

You finally found Us. I started out with a couple of varieties of Asian pears and a few American persimmons at my old house 20 yrs ago. I moved to my new house ten years ago and now I am up to 100 plus fruit trees now. It is not addicting at all. Grafted new varieties every Spring.

Tony

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Since @MuddyMess suggested that I introduce myself Retail Suppliers who might have GMO seed - #13 by DGGreen, here goes.

I have been a horticulturalist for 25 years with an interest in woody edible perennials. I’ve been retired for the last 21 years so I’ve had plenty of time to mess around with growing plants. The more that I think I know about plants, the more I find that I know less and less. LOL

I don’t use any chemicals at all, neither herbicides, insecticides nor synthetic fertilizers. I do make use of mulch (mostly wood chips) to build SOM. I use fermented plant teas as foliar sprays and periodically as compost pile additions. My compost pile is my source of potting soil. It doesn’t go to the garden. My gardens have many "wild"areas where I encourage pollinator & predatory insects by planting native species that cover the entire growing season. When I have to spray such as with the current outbreak of tent caterpillars, I use a pyrethrum spray made from Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium from Richters - https://www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?product=X4760

I grow pears, mulberry, hazel, plums, apples, apricots, peaches, northern pecans, heartnut. I also grow autumn olive cultivars, currants - black, red, and clove, gooseberries, haskap, Saskatoons. For vegetables, I focus on those that I can take through the winter by drying, blanching/freezing, canning, or root cellaring - potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, squash, kale, carrots, turnips, tomatoes, parsnips. I grow enough barley to keep me in kasha through the winter.

DG Green

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I think of the same thing this way - The more I learn about growing plants and caring for them, the greater the amount that I realize I still don’t know.

Thank you for introducing yourself. Welcome to the forum, DG. What brought you here. How did you find our growing community. I’m always curious about such things.

I hope you take the time to explore the forums and join conversations to share your own experiences. It’s a great place to make friends from many backgrounds who both share your views and differ in their own.

@MuddyMess_8a, how did I find my way here? Hmmm. Mighta been NAFEX’s FB page.

DG

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Welcome aboard, DG! I hope I can learn something from you, I am always looking for low-chemical methods.

Welcome DGGreen and Subdood!

Welcome DG, look forward to the knowledge you share here.

Couple of questions, you mentioned growing barley for kasha. First I am curious if you grow a hullless variety or if not how you hull it. Second, I thought kasha was roasted buckwheat.

Hulless and awnless. I can thresh it by rubbing it between the palms of my hands. Kasha is porridge made from buckwheat. There’s also kutya porridge made from wheat. Basically, any grain boiled with honey added and chilled works. I like to add chopped hazelnuts or sunflower seeds to mine. 1 cup dry yield 4 cups cooked but you can only eat 1/4 to 1/2 cup so you get a lot of mileage from grain this way.

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In Russian, kasha is porridge made from any cereal crop (wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat, rice, etc.). Kutya is any such porridge (originally mostly from wheat, but lately mostly from rice) prepared with sweet ingredients: honey, raisins, jam, etc. Kutya is usually a ritual dish eaten at Christmas and at wakes.

Yep, you use what you’ve got. Hence my use of barley. I wanted something that threshed easily. Cavena Nuda, a hulless, awnless oat is pretty good but I found it to be a bit of a bird magnet. And germination wasn’t as good for me as Faust barley.

A small nit kutya is eaten at Orthodox Christmas. It’s one of the twelve meatless dishes. My Ukrainian wife ate it once a year that way until two years ago when I experimented with barley in place of wheat. I also experimented with barley and oats in meatless holopchi instead of rice. It works. In both cases, I was looking to use ingredients that I could produce easily myself.

DG

Thanks @DGGreen. I am curious what variety of barley it is that you grow, and the length/conditions of your growing season.

I’ve been experimenting with growing grains. Have had good luck with winter wheat (some years). Buckwheat might do well for us, but the deer REALLY like it so I have not gotten a full crop yet. Barley is something I’ve been meaning to try.

Faust Barley - http://www.saltspringseeds.com/products/faust. Bountiful Gardens and Seed Savers Exchange both sell a Faust Barley but I don’t know if it is the same or not.

I’ve got approx 120 frost free days but this barley ripens well within that window. At the peak of summer heat, we get 85-90F temps with 1-12 inches of rain from May through August inclusive.

Greetings! It seems the customary to introduce yourself here on the forum. I’m a park ranger in the state of Maine by trade, so am very familiar with the wild side of plants, but not so much with the cultivated.

Discontent with the quality of produce at the market, and subsequent effects on my health, has lead me to start growing my own food. I’ve leapt in with both feet, planting over 30 fruit and nut trees this spring. I’ve attempted my first tree grafts. ($5 scion wood + $3 rootstocks = fruit tree, was just too tempting, and all the fruits sound so delicious!) I’ve planted 100 square feet of strawberries of various kinds, high-bush blue berries, blackberries, grape vines… the list goes on.

I might be in over my head.

But I’m sure excited about getting there.

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Welcome aboard, prepare to grow, graft, harvest, and learn from some of the best.