Today I made / bought / learnt .... (for a post oil world) 2

mommy22 · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 22, 2005 Posts: 270

Is Stevia an annual, or perennial plant?

ohcomeon · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 10, 2006 Posts: 140 Location: USA

I am not sure how to answer that. From what I am learning it can come back the next year. But it produces less in successive years. People who have raised it inside tell me you can get a second year out of it, and occasionally more, but it grows weaker each year. Something about the root system. Though it's easier to grow once the plants are going, the seeds have poor germination rate so the best way to keep a constant crop is to keep cutting and rerooting it. I just learned that today, so as I am drying mine will take a few cuttings and make several new plants. Atleast, I will try to... Also, I learned there are different varieties and some root better than others. So you might want to research that as well. I am going to before I buy anymore.

Bought 6 asparagus plants at the farmers market for a great price this morning. Trying to decide now where I have room for them.

And the new chicks are in the brooder with the first set.

RedStateGreen

Planted a bunch of onions and a strawberry plant today.
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Conservation is conservative

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change. -- Charles Darwin

Shannymara

Planted 8 strawberries (in pots in our atrium) and 1 more squash plant (in the ground). After my son has a rest we're going to plant a small bed of baby corn.

Edit: Decided to go a little further and made a sheet mulch bed with baby corn, 2 kinds of beans, and some scallop squash instead of just the corn. Son bailed on me, but had a good time playing on his slip-n-slide while I worked.
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"Every junkie's like a setting sun..." - Neil Young

AnIowan

Planted the following:

tomatoes
green peppers
acorn squash
cucumbers
parsnips
green beans
green peppers
red peppers
hot peppers (salsa time is coming soon!)
spinach
carrots
basil
lavender
sweet corn (hopefully tonight still if not maybe Monday)

Tomorrow, a day off. Nephew's confirmation and maybe a trip to wallyworld to get some cheap flowers, and start slowly building up some supplies. Until I can get my wife on board, slowly but surely is the name of the game..... Smile

pumpkins

Ludi

Planted some sweet corn.
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow." - jboogy

DryObserver · Coal Joined: Feb 23, 2008 Posts: 15

Helped erect part of a grape arbor.

WisJim

We have a stevia plant that is going into its fourth year, and it looks about the same every year. It is very productive, but is kept trimmed and is a one gallon pot.

I spent 8 hours today chipping brush with a rented brush chipper, with a son and 3 or 4 of his friends helping. A long day, but we now have piles of wood chips where we heaps of brush and limbs, mostly poplar, cottonwood, and box elder with some soft maple and elm mixed in. Next chance I get I will use a lot of the chips to mulch fruit trees and berries.

Then I helped my wife plant pepper plants--she had been planting beans earlier in the day, but likes me to help decide which peppers go where and to help with water and compost and record keeping when she puts transplants in the garden. It started raining enough to drive us into the house as we finished the first row of peppers--4 varieties of sweet peppers--and then stopped about the time we got supper started. Will have to finish planting peppers and eggplant tomorrow.

wisconsin_cur

Had more people show up than I could efficiently use. Got all the trusses up, we ate well and will sleep well...

back to work on it Monday.
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“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”

J.R.R. Tolkien

"The time has come for men to act like men; and for women, well, to act a lot more like men."
-Ma Cur

SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 950

Friday I took half a day off and planted potatoes, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and beets.

Saturday I planted some strawberries and worked the big garden again.

I also finished cleaning out the remainder of the cattle manure from the barn and made a new compost pile over by the big garden.

I got ambitious and tore out most of the stalls from the old barn. I'll be tearing out some of the mow floor over where the horses are going to give more height and to investigate why the building is shifting that way.

Sunday I'll be off to the horse farm to work with "my" team of percheron mares and continue my teamster training. If the fit is right I may put $500 down to show my good intentions of buying them. I'm pretty choosy though, so I'm confident I'll be able to tell if they are a good fit for me or not.

Monday I'm hoping to get started planting the big garden with more potatoes and cabbage and onions. Good keeping staples that'll stave off starvation.

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1761

wisconsin_cur,
The barn is looking good! I have a woodshed/storage shed that size to finish, awaiting trusses.

We got the brother in law moved in, not unpacked yet, but a good start at it. That is the last link in the family community of my wife's siblings. Most of them are starting to adapt to a lower energy life, but this one is a poster child for consumption. He drove home from many years in Texas, in a 32 ft (?) motor home/454 V8, with relatives driving the 9 passenger van, and the new Ford F-250 superduty, with a powerstroke diesel, pulling a 23 ft. boat on a trailer!!!!!! Long ways to go with him. This convoy cost about $250/ fillup on the way here! At least he is looking at buying a VW diesel Jetta.

I'll give him a time to settle before I start working on what the future looks like. At least he is among friends and relatives, and has 5 acres of the old family place on which to grow something to eat. He's a sensible guy, conservative in many ways, but clueless. I really want to help, but the best I can do just now is offer to plow up a garden for him.
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Local fix-it guy..

Ludi

I'm so happy for you patience that you're able to get your family rallied around. Smile

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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow." - jboogy

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1761

Thanks, Ludi,
That's part of our basic preps, to get a network of family close together. The old saying was "blood is thicker than water", referring to family loyalty in dire situations. Of course there are some very close friends that are part of that network, too.

Now it's off to Home Depot for wire to hook up the sunporch, and a list of other things. I'll stop to see the ones who came in for Grandma's birthday party today (94), but hustle home to get the sunporch canning area in shape. Gas stove hooked up yesterday, and gas coming this week to fill up at $1.99/gallon.

Then comes the ceiling and insulation, the melamine on the walls over glued on foil/foam insulation on the masonry. Then a poured slab on each end for a stoop, and I can start on the passive solar panels on the 6 windows. This project has been inching along for 3 years, and I'm wanting it DONE!
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Local fix-it guy..

Jenab6 · Last edited by Jenab6 on Sun May 18, 2008 8:37 pm; edited 1 time in total

I've discovered several more milkweed plants in my yard, for a total of five of them so far found. I also have discovered several more clumps of goosegrass. And, of course, dandelion and clover continue to be abundant. But the big news is...

I found a basswood (or linden) tree growing in my large and jungley front yard among a stand of maples and birches. I was looking around for useful plants, and I noticed a tree with large, simple heart-shaped leaves, with serrate edges and about 8 inches long by 5 inches wide, growing alternately along the branches. I had no idea what it was. Then I looked up its silhouette here and found a photograph here. Then I looked up Samuel Thayer's description of its edibility here. Then I went out and picked off a leaf and ate it. They are very good indeed. So a new source of salad greens for me.

I actually like dandelion leaves: they are slightly bitter, but not so much that I'm complaining about it, and they sometimes leave an oddly sweetish aftertaste. But I have to admit that linden leaves are better.

Soon it will be time to harvest Staghorn Sumac shoots.

Ludi

Linden leaf tea is considered a medicinal herb, used to treat colds, anxiety, and stomach problems.

You're so lucky to live with one of these beautiful and useful trees! Smile

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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow." - jboogy