Weekly Garden Thread - April 23-29, 2022 [Phenology and You Edition]

Tomatoes; As long as I can keep the determinate and indeterminate tracking varieties is not that important, although it is good to keep shorter determinate ones at the front of the garden.

I use markers if I am trying something new and need the name to know if I need to get rid of the seeds, or use them next year. Since I have a small garden I do want to keep stuff that ripens at the same time together. Makes it easier to clean the bed and replant.

Taken last Friday, never got around to posting. I could use the lettuce now, but I'm going to let it get bigger. I will put some marigolds next to the tomatoes and basil back behind it. (Maybe some lettuce in the tomatoe's shade, at least until it gets hot.)

The Aronia is doing well and putting out lots of flowers. I have two 3rd year plum trees. No blossoms this year. Read somewhere that blossoms will die in the winter if the temperature gets down to -17 below, which it did several times. Could also be grass right up to the trunk. I will remove the grass and get some mulch out to the drip line. I hope you get some warm weather sometime soon!

Yesterday's 'Living Off The Land' experiment was Nettle Tea. Yep. STINGING NETTLES. The ones that give me a blistery, itchy rash if I even DARE to walk by them?!?! Beau picked the nettles, then gave me rubber gloves to wear. Pick the TOP leaves for the best results. Cover a pot-full of leaves and steep them in boiling water until you get the color that you like. Strain and then drink hot or cold. Refrigerate the leftovers. It tastes really nice - very similar to your basic Green Tea. Supposedly a 'Spring Tonic' for folks to give them a kick-start in Spring after a long winter.

Yet another reason to garden;

https://www.coreysdigs.com/global/new-controlled-food-system-is-now-in-place-and-they-will-stop-at-nothing-to-accelerate-their-control/

In 2017, AeroFarms received a $2 million grant from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), a nonprofit organization created in 2014 via the Farm Bill, to improve the characteristics of plants grown indoors to feed urban populations. As of 2021, AeroFarms already had nine farms and was working on building a tenth. They state that they can go from seed to harvest in 15 days with their patented technology. In 2021, Cargill announced its partnership with Aerofarms in a multi-year research collaboration on extending cocoa bean yields by experimenting with indoor growing technologies.

In February, 2021, the CEO of AeroFarms released a short video describing how they utilized one of their ten farms to scale up proteins for the Covid jab and boosters. They also indicated in a presentation that they had participated in growing an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient for Covid-19 therapeutic trial sponsored by the NIH.(COVID chewing gum)

CRISPR tech, mRNA, 15 days from seed to harvest? Food plants that never see the light of day or the sun. Ain't natural.

AeroFarms serves grocery stores, distributors, and online grocers, some of which include:
Amazon Fresh
Baldor Specialty Foods
FreshDirect Express online grocer
ShopRite
Singapore Airlines
Stop and Shop
Walmart
Whole Foods

80 Acres Farms was founded in 2015 by Mike Zelkind and Tisha Livingston and is a private company headquartered in Hamilton, OH. They provide fruits and vegetables to over 600 retail and food service locations. Their robot-powered indoor farms are said to produce 300 times more food than a conventional farm, while using 100% renewable energy and consuming 97% less water.

Kroger has been selling their greens and vegetables at 32 of their stores, and in 2021 expanded to 316 additional stores after a 15-month pilot program. These stores are all located in:

Alabama
Arkansas
Indiana
Kentucky
North Carolina
Ohio

Vertical farming to feed the masses in the cities? Fine. Doing it all with very high tech methods like CRISPR, mRNA, Gene Editing? not so much. FrankenSalad

I think I'm going to make it my goal to grow salad greens year round and/or buy from a local Farmer's Market.

Salad Greens are probably the easiest thing to grow year-round in most zones.

Make sure you’re growing more than just ‘lettuce’ for greater nutritional value such as Kale, Spinach, sprouted seeds, Chicory and Watercress.

It’s funny, but I consider ‘lettuce’ to be the ‘carrier’ that gets more nutritious stuff into my salads and into my body.

Lettuce is a ‘gateway vegetable,’ LOL!

Iceberg types for crunch and all the other ‘greens’ for nutrition. I had salad yesterday from two different lettuce blends from the grocery store. American blend of four items was the crunch and baby greens blend with 6-8 items was the green. Cherry maters. Parmesan cheese and Ranch dressing for the fats and flavor. Mushrooms for the nutrition.

Speaking of which, got my shiitake logs brought up from the woods. I think we’ll drill and inoculate them today.

Winter is the easier time for growing greens where I am in 6a/b. Most years. Couple of winters ago we had -10 but that only happens once every ten years or something. Normally low 20s - high teens is the lowest and only happens for a few hours in the morning, 4-7 or 5-8am and mostly only in Jan/Feb. Two layers of plastic, lean-to greenhouse on South side of house, window grow boxes. I’ll have something built for this winter.

Can always grow baby green indoors under grow lights.

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