Hope to see you there, George, depending on the weather of course. We had a bumper crop of Jerusalem Artichokes this year--grown in an 18 gal feed tub--so will bring some of those.

Well, looks like we're not going to have very good weather. We've decided to put this meeting off until December 15 (Sunday next week). All the other details remain the same.

George

Well, we finally met on December 15. Dorothy asked me to post something about the meeting, as, due to a personal matter, she and Glenn could not come. Here's the write up which should be coming out in the local paper.

Dorothy, I dug some sunchokes on the 14th, and just to be safe, I brought a couple with me. So I handed out a few to those present. Hopefully we can meet again, say in February, though I will already be teaching an introductory beekeeping class, by then.

George
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The Green Country Seed Savers Network met last Sunday to swap seeds and provide information on heirloom varieties that do well in our area.

Coleen Thornton with Heaven Sent Food and Fiber offered seeds of the following varieties:

Hulless Oats
Hulless Barley
Chowder peas
Pinkeye Purple-Hull Peas
Black Sesame Seeds

Homesteading and agricultural magazines were offered for anyone who wanted them.

George McLaughlin then offered a mini-workshop on staple crops featuring sweet potatoes as the highlight, telling participants that without the sweet potato many southern families would not have survived the depression in the 1930s. He offered samples of Red Wine Velvet (George's favorite), Ozark County which was often passed from generation to generation as a wedding gift an Appalachian tradition, Cordiner Red and Brinkley White. George also indicated that Grand Asia did very well this year. Some varieties do better with long dry spells while others seem to do better with milder weather as we had for the 2013 growing season.

George indicated he will be offering sweet potato slips for sale next spring for people in the community who want to grow their own. He encouraged everyone to eat more sweet potatoes for their excellent nutrition and cost effectiveness, as well as the sweet taste. Historically Americans ate up to 60# of sweet potatoes a year in the 1930s and 40s. These are a staple crop that grow well here and should be a part of everyone's garden.

George also indicated that he grew this year's crop under black plastic and mulch with irrigation reducing the weeds and likely increasing the yield. He will be growing next year's crop the same way to get a definitive result on using black plastic in the garden for increasing production and reducing labor.

Instead of what many of us know as "Irish" potatoes, George is growing Peruvian potatoes, small and very tasty, he is working to grow them from seed rather than from cuttings due to the disease issues many potatoes get here. This can be a challenge as our hot summers don't allow the potato seeds to ripen well and the seeds are not true to type as the divisions ("seed" potatoes) are.

Corn, too, has historically played a key role as a staple crop, but it is very hard to keep from becoming contaminated with GMOs through wind pollination. The Tahlequah area is lucky in the fact that there is little GMO corn grown here so the 1/2 mile isolation distance that corn needs is a bit easier for our community. Unfortunately, the plant population size for saving seeds also needs to be high. Seed savers need at least 200 plants planted a minimum of 12" on apart on all sides, in a block formation (rather than rows).

There are no GMO varieties of white or blue corn and these two colors are recessive genes, so by planting them, one can always tell if there's been any cross pollination with a neighbors corn plantings. If the cob has any yellow kernels, its been hybridized by wind or insect pollination and shouldn't be used for the following year's plantings. To save seed from corn, use cobs, completely dried on the plant from the middle of the planting area to reduce the risk of cross-pollination. George grows dent corn for meal rather than sweet corn, as he developed a preference for this corn in Mexico when he was a missionary there. Corn is very easy and cheap to process, older varieties tend to be much higher in protein in the range of 10-12%, rather than the 8% in modern corn varieties. It is therefore more nutritious and better for feeding livestock as well.

George also offered growing instructions and divisions for Jerusalem Artichokes a native plant to this area, another staple crop option and a member of the sunflower family, therefore a pollen producer for honey bees.

For more information or to join the group and garden discussions go to http://www.seedsavingnetwork.proboards.com/.

Everyone is welcome.