From: angel johnson Date: Sun Jan 19, 2003 6:20 pm Subject: Survival on a Budget A POLESHIFT WITH CATACLYSMIC DESTRUCTION SEEMS A MUCH MORE FIT TOPIC OF THOUGHT WITH REGARD TO AN IDLE MIND PLAYING WITH IMPROBABLE POSSIBILITIES SUCH AS "IF I HAD THE RESOURCES I WOULD....................." BUT HERE GOES NOTHINGJ I THINK BEING RESOURCEFUL MIGHT BE THE BEST PLACE TO START. PLANTS If you simply look around outside there is much in the way of useful plants free for the digging. In only a few days I came up with quite a list. With the spring weather we're having this January everything listed here was easily identifiable and in very good shape for digging. {It looks like April out there! I've even seen male finches sporting breeding color!} ACORNS {Oak trees take a while but are incredibly useful trees. Acorn flour, tannic acid for leather and harbingers of kindly spirits. REALLY!} I missed out on the Chestnuts and the squirrels had their day. ROSE HIPS {many rose varieties out there are loaded with nice big ones. Vit. C is going to be a must!} RED CLOVER CHICK WEED TRUE DANDILION WINTERGREEN LAVENDER {Pest repellent.} SAGE ROSEMARY THYME HAIRY VETCH {Excellent legume for soil building, ground cover and presumably tasty hay/seeds.} ST. JOHNS WORT {A well known antidepressant.} SALIL {SIC? I think the berries were used by Native Americans to make pemmican, a naturally preserved meat product.} ORE. GRAPE {Very sour but edible berries that I think may have some med. applications} CALENDULA ROSA RUGOSA {leather gloves a must.} EUROPEAN BLACKBERRY {Not such a pest from a post shift mentality} VINCA MINOR {I think this is a useful med. plant but I need to double check.} FERNS {I'll need to do a look up to properly identify fiddle head and licorice root varieties} WILD STRAWBERRY {Used extensively around here as ground cover} BLUEBERRIES {OK so getting these guys involves a little trespass but there about to be bulldozed by the city for a parking lot soon.} CATTAILS {I've read that Native Americans used the tubers in some fashion.} WEEPING WILLOW {I think if you cut a piece off and plant it these lovely trees root easily. Willow are well known as a headache remedy as well as a source for weaving material.} WORMS ! WORMS! WORMS! LOAD EVERY POTTED ITEM DOWN WITH WORMS! Worms make topsoil! Worms break up clay! After extreme wind clay and rock may be all that's left in the way of topsoil in the Northwest. That's all there was to start with in a number of my previous gardens around here. Worms eat the nastious organic materials and make them useful. Worms feed poultry and people. Somewhere in the ZT material are instructions for purging these guys for human consumption. AVOID STORE BOUGHT REDWORMS!! Local worms may have a slightly reduced rate of reproduction but a much better chance of survival under adverse conditions. Remember; WORMS DROWN EASILY! SEEDS There are many sources of bulk seeds most people never think about. CELERY and DILL {At Rite Aid drug store there is a spice section that for .99cents you can get a good size jar.} DRIED CHILIES DRY BEANS AND LENTILS RICE and BARLEY {I am planning to try sprouting these two to see if they are viable} RED WHEAT BERRIES {Health food section at QFC.} HAZEL NUT {or Filbert} WALNUT ALMOND BLACK {OIL} SUNFLOWER SEEDS {Bird food section} POP CORN I am thinking a trip to Top Foods and Fred Meyer bulk food section may turn up many more possibilities . Also down at the Pike st. market as well as many health food stores you can find seeds for sprouting like ALFALFA AND RADISH. Probably numerous others I never thought of too. Now here's a few items that you can easily get that have seeds inside. Of course a little grafting knowledge and some dwarfing root stock will reduce your years till fruiting by quite a bit .Down to only three to five for the new bush types. If I remember correctly it's about five to seven for the Mallings stocks.{I am referring to apple stocks here.} Also a little research on seed requirements such as stratification {usually freezing} and germination temperatures would be handy. Also remember that many orchard fruits like apples must have a different variety that blooms in the same time period for cross pollination. Although this may not be a problem considering the genetic diversity available from growing trees from seed. To my knowledge apples won't produce at all in tropical areas. Perhaps other orchard fruit have similar chilling requirements. I am listing some tropicals and subtropicals here since I looked at the New World Map {ZetaTalk} If the Zetas are right about the shift and new position of the equator that makes us up in the Pacific NW {on the 47th lat.} the New Tropics. We'll know soon enough if saving citrus seeds was best not forgotten. I defiantly need to do some homework on culture and propagation of these. RIPE PEPPERS {usually meaning red.} TOMATOES APPLES PEACHES APRICOTS PEARS PEARAPPLES {Yummmmm!J Wonder what sorta root stock for this tasty fruit?} PLUMS {Look for prune plums if you can find them this time of year along with the fancy ones} OLIVES {Raw of course! Don't think there'll be any in the markets up here. Maybe you Californians could bring some extra with you when you come. Unless of course you've decided to wait till later and swim up!}J MANGO TROPICAL NUTS RAW PEANUTS LEMON {I think limes are seedless?} ORANGES {Valencia's are a good choice for seeds} BLOOD ORANGES {I think these maybe more cold tolerant but not sure} GRAPEFRUIT {Again check for seeds since many new red varieties seem to only have vestiges} POMELLO {This is most likely SIC. These citrus fruits were the fore runner to the modern grapefruit and are one of the most cold tolerant of all trees in this category. I saw it as an offering in the Raintree Nursery catalog some ten years ago. They may still carry it and they're online.} PAPAYA AVOCADO {Remember you need a male and a female tree for these to fruit} GRAPE POMEGRANATE {A very sacred fruit.} WINTER SQUASH SUGER PUMPKIN ENDIVE {Slow growing but very cold tolerant.} Now a thought about seed saving! Evan most experienced gardeners have only touched on this one except in unwanted terms. Seed production in other than say dry beans, popcorn, grains et. usually signals the end or well past it for the typically useful part of an edible crop therefore gardeners tend to employ many techniques to delay it. THIS WILL NO LONGER BE THE CASE! ABUNDANT SEED PRODUCTION IS NOW CRITICAL!. There is an enhanced difficulty level you may want to consider. Gardeners know and the newbies will quickly find out that getting any crop to produce can be "VERY" challenging. Feeding the bugs and the compost pile {don't forget our furry friends either} is a very common occurrence under favorable conditions. For the uninitiated it is certainly the most common. Now take into consideration that many staple crops are biennial. Meaning you're going to have to get those plants to maturity and then through a winter in one reasonably healthy piece before flowering can start the seed bearing phase which can last for many months before complete ripening has taken place. A GOOD INDICATION OF SEED RIPENESS IS HOW MANY BIRDS STOP BYE FOR BREAKFAST! It seems logical to try and speed this process up thereby reducing some of the pit falls. Following is a list of items that can be purchased with the first year out of the way and most of which can be stored for awhile under root cellar conditions for weeks or even months. These jump start suggestions presumes of course conditions in yore area are at least marginal for vegetative growth and dry enough in a few months down the road to harvest something more than mold spores. You should really take some time to investigate pollination requirements and have a few small paint brushes handy. ONION SHALLOT GARLIC {Onion propagates via seed and sometimes division. Shallot and garlic are generally by division. Get as wide range of variety as possible to ensure the best chance of survivability. Onion seed is very perishable} GREEN ONOIN LEEK RUTABAGA BEET PARSNIP RADISH CARROT {Queen Anne's Lace which is very common here and will cross with carrot} TURNIP {Look for as much root and crown area intact as possible} HORSERADISH {A slow grower but very hardy. Just throw a chunk in, mark the spot and be patient.} CELERIAC {This type of celery is for its large root. Here in the NW it keeps right in the ground over winter most years. Celery can be a slow grower and needs plenty of water.} GINGER AND YAMS {These make lovely houseplants very quickly and should thrive in subtropical regions. I'll need to check more for solid suggestions on culture. I think yam leaves are edible. CHECK FIRST!} GENETICALLY ENGINEERED VEGETABLES SHOULD BE AVOIDED! MOST MARKET VARIETIES OF VEGETABLES ARE HYBRIDS. MEANING THAT THE SEEDS PRODUCED WILL NOT IN TURN BEAR A UNIFORM OR DEPENDABLE CROP. IT TAKES SEVERAL GENERATIOS OF SELECTIVE BREEDING TO STABALIZE HYBRIDS. THIS IS A STOP GAP MEASURE ONLY! {Cert. Organic can solve GE concerns but by no means is a guarantee of OP varieties.} IF AT ALL POSSIBLE ORDER OPEN POLLINATED SEED VARIETYS FROM REPUTABLE SEED DEALERS! Here's a consideration for post shift farming; If you can // divide seed into threes and then again into thirteens. Planting one portion per lunar cycle over the course of three years. There are bound to be some difficult times till the weather settles and many subsequent crop failures. BE SURE TO CONSIDER THESE THREE HARDY WINTER GROWING VEGETABLES. {If you get some snow be sure to take a broom and gently brush plants off before heavy accumulation or freeze.} GREEN ONION {Start this one early summer from seed for winter use The LEEK fits this category as well.} BOK CHOY {Mustard family} TENDERGREEN MUSTARD {Mustards grow quickly during the regular season. They seed very easily in summer. Think about using these varieties for the production of sprouting seeds for wintertime.} FAVA or ENGLISH BROADBEAN {Persons of certain Mediterranean descent may have a genetic predisposition to a severe toxic reaction with this one. Me Irish! Me eat anything!:-q THE SUGAR BEET SHOULD BE A VERY USFUL CROP AS WELL. Beets are easy to grow with the sugar beet reaching a foot in length Sugar beets are used as a very nutritious stock and people food. A well grown sugar beet can contain as much as five ounces of sugar making it a very good candidate for fuel grade alcohol production!