The Many Faces of "B"

When I first sat down to write this post, I had a hard time thinking of words relative to farming and agriculture and prepping that started with B. Clearly I just need more coffee, because once I put my mind to it, there were all kinds of ideas.
The obvious first choices are broccoli, beets and beans. Because my family enjoy both raw and cooked broccoli, I'll be planting some and we'll likely freeze it and eat it raw. Beets are enjoyed as well, though I imagine there will be fewer of these since it has fewer fans in our family. These will be easy to put up pickled. Beans are important to both homesteaders and preppers alike. Many people put up bags and bags of them in case they need to one day rely on their own food supplies instead of the grocery stores. Heirloom beans have as an interesting and varied a story as the history of North America. There are dozens of types, colors, shapes and flavors. I'll be growing green beans and yellow wax, and I'd like to grow butter beans and a new-to-me type called "Orca"
(That's them below)
I'm fascinated by the whole process of taking a seed that looks so interesting, planting it and watching it grow, and then discovering what the pod might look like!

Of course, along the way, there will also be bugs, both good and bad. I'll have to learn how to spot the good guys like Brown Lacewings, Ground Beetles and the bad such as the Mexican Bean Beetle, as well as learn how to take out the bad guys in a way that won't do harm to the ecosystem.
Let's not forget bees too. We'll be planting flowers and herbs throughout the yards (front and back) to encourage bees and butterflies to not only visit, but pollinate as well. It frightens me a little to think about the "dead hive syndrome" that so many bee-keepers are hit with. Whole hives suddenly dying off mysteriously, but there is a theory that chemicals insecticides are the killer. Just one more reason why Monsanto's greatest legacy is wrong for the environment and people.

One of our goals for next year is to plant a few more berry bushes. The fruit will help us produce reams of gleaming jars full of jams and jellies. Raspberries, strawberries, locally foraged blueberries, and high-bush cranberries. I always thought of grapes as berries when I was growing up, and those will be planted in a bright sunny spot as well.

One of my goals this fall is to prepare different vegetable beds throughout the yard. I've put a lot of thought into what size beds I'd like to plant. They'll be anywhere from twelve to fifteen feet long and four feet across. These dimensions should allow me to build enclosures to keep out excessive sun (for those cool weather crops like lettuce and peas), cold, and even the chickens on their free-range days. A bed that is only four feet across allows for much easier weeding from either side. In case you're wondering why I don't just plant traditionally, in rows, I plan on instituting a three year crop rotation plan. This will help cut down on soil diseases and pests, as well as allow for green manure plantings.

I suppose there are dozens of other "B" words that relate to life in the Urban Trench, but the goal here is to get you thinking.
What other "B" words can you think of that might relate?

On The Humble, Sweet Tomato

The following information was found in a Lee Valley gardening newsletter from June 2008, written by Ron Rossini, Master Gardener. I'm sharing it here in the hopes that we all enjoy it, as I have.


"Textbook definitions of heirloom plants suggest that any variety cultivated before 1940, the first year of hybrid introductions, can be declared an heirloom. However, purists contend that the only true heirloom plants are those that have been passed down through generations, not just those that date prior to 1940.

The tomato is biologically categorized as a fruit and is similar to other seed-producing garden favorites such as peppers and melons. Gardeners have historically referred to it as a vegetable, and little effort has been made to change that distinction.

Hybrids Versus Heirlooms
 A hybrid plant is the result of crossbreeding two genetically different varieties to create a new one. Heirloom plants are open-pollinated. Their seeds are true to type, meaning they produce plants with exactly the same traits as the parents.
Many hybrids have built-in disease resistance; most heirlooms do not.
Hybrids have a generally higher yield than heirlooms.
Hybrid plants and seeds are easy to find and purchase in garden centers; heirlooms are not.



 Sourcing Heirlooms
 Heirloom plants and seeds are often hard to find at garden centers simply due to low demand. Organizations such as Seed Savers Exchange (www.seedsavers.org) and Seeds of Diversity (www.seeds.ca) are dedicated to saving heirlooms and are a great resource for gardeners looking to do the same. These groups provide information on companies that sell heirloom seeds and plants and many host seed exchange events.


Recommended Heirloom Varieties
 
Purple
'Black Krim' is a mahogany-colored variety with a true tomato taste. A very heavy producer that's prone to cracking. Second choice is 'Black Prince'.

Orange
'Mennonite Orange' is a large, bountiful tomato and truly one of the best-tasting orange varieties. Close second is 'Kellogg's Breakfast'.

Red
'Sioux' is a productive heirloom with smaller rich deep-red colored fruits that have a full-bodied taste. Others include 'Rose de Berne' and 'Costoluto Genovese'.

Green
'Green Zebra' is a smaller-sized milder-tasting variety, but it's a heavy producer that shows pink and yellow on its shoulders when ripe. Others include 'Aunt Ruby's German Green' and 'Green Grape'.

Pink
A tie between the 'Caspian Pink', with its mild sweet flavor and flat fruit, and the 'Pink German Tree Tomato', which has a mild but sweet low-acid taste and treelike stems.


Yellow
'Jaune Negib', a moderate yielding, early-season, small tomato with clusters of golf-ball-sized fruit. Second choices are 'Dr. Wyche's Yellow' and 'Limmony'.

Bicolor
'Northern Lights', with its inner rays of yellow, red and pink, is one of the most beautiful tomato varieties to cultivate and is a highly productive heirloom with a rich taste. 'Big Rainbow' and 'Marvel Striped' are other notable choices.

Beefsteak
'Giant Belgium' has a sweet-tasting fruit that can weigh up to 5 lb. The taste is so sweet that some use it to make wine. Other choices include 'Aussie' and 'Mexico'.


There are thousands of heirloom varieties available and a gardener's only limitation is the size of the garden. Cultivating a tomato that has a rich past adds historical significance to the vegetable garden and rewards the gardener with colorful, tasty culinary presentations. Once you have cultivated an array of heirloom tomatoes, you may never grow an ordinary hybrid variety again."

Saving The Past and The Future

Those of you who have been reading this blog for any amount of time know I am an organic gardener, and dead set against science messing with plants.  I know that heirloom seed is important, for a lot of reasons, but I was shocked to find out how many species of tomatoes, peppers, garlic and other vegetables disappear every year because they "slip through the cracks" as it were. Not sure exactly what a heirloom plant variety is? Neither was I when I first started down this path. Generally, an heirloom cultivar is a plant species introduced  before 1950, and is usually understood to be a "true-type" variety. Which means that if you plant, let's say, a Brandywine tomato, let it grow, save those seeds and plant those next year, your crop of tomatoes next season will be exactly like it's predecessor the prior year. Now, a hybrid tomato will be one that has traits from two different parent plants, and is bred for specific reasons; color, size, productivity, etc. This is how we've been able to buy green cauliflower, orange watermelon and so on.

So why should we save heirloom seed? To preserve thousands of species that have a lot to offer, to preserve our agricultural heritage, and in many cases to preserve nutritional heritage that hybrids can't meet. I've posted before Who Killed My Tomato? on the rapidly diminishing nutritional value of our vegetables, and the facts cannot be brushed aside. Generally, we are lacking in natural nutrients, so we tend to eat more of what's not good for us, leading to obesity, and many other health challenges. Part of that solution is to take a hard look at what we grow. There's more to it, but that's a lot of information to cover, so we'll leave that for another time. No one can deny that the tomato that you buy in the grocery store is a hard, round, tasteless little thing. That's because they are bred to grow as many  fruits as possible, in as little time as possible and as uniformly as possible. These  are picked green, and gassed to make them an appealing red. Yup, gassed. Ever wonder why the "on the vine" tomatoes offered at some grocery stores are  more expensive than their "hothouse" cousins? Because they are allowed to ripen a bit more on their plants. Not completely, mind you, but a bit more. The tomatoes allowed to stay on their plants have increased flavor, but most people still have no real idea how a tomato is supposed to taste. (This is why so many people put  salt on their tomato sandwiches. Otherwise that sandwich would have no taste at all) So a return to flavor is a very good reason to grow heirloom vegetables.

In today's agricultural world, chemicals reign supreme. Many farmers, gardeners and growers don't know how to grow without hybrid types, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Fans of genetically engineered crops  like to say that the solution for famine is to grow crops that are bred for increased yield. So they focus on hybrids that can be tampered with at a cellular level. Every time a farmer or gardener plants hybrid seed, the demand and market for an heirloom variety disappears. I disagree with those folks for a lot of reasons, but here, I'll pick just one that's relevant to today's post. Did you know that through political influence, there are many countries in which it is illegal to save one's own seed? The easiest way to guarantee that folks cannot trade seeds over the water pump is to pass laws that make it illegal to buy seed other than government approved types. Hybrids. Varieties that Monsanto and the like have developed and made available. It's true. Many of these countries have an ever-growing hungry populace that would benefit greatly by growing and saving their own seeds, but it's against the law for them to do this! This is wrong on so many levels, and a crying shame that politicians have allowed Monsanto and their cousins to poison and starve growing numbers of people that deserve better. But I digress.

Here is just a short list of endangered tomato varieties, although the long list numbers in the hundreds.

*My Girl Tomato
*Kenilworth tomato
*Ryder's Midday Sun Tomato
*Whippersnapper Tomato
*Beefsteak Tomato
*Broad Ripple Yellow Currant Tomato
*Pink Cherry Tomato
*Hugh's Tomato
*Tomato Tiger Tom
*Aunti Madge's Tomato

And here is a short list of endangered heirloom vegetables, whose long list also numbers in the hundreds,

*The Runner Bean
*The Dwarf French Bean
*The Kale Daubenton
*The Afghan Purple Carrot
*The Red Elephant Carrot
*The Shetland Cabbage
*The Walla Walla Sweet Onion
*The Giant Tree Tomato
*The Macedonian Sweet Pepper
*The Crimson Giant Radish
*The Salford Black Runner Bean
*The Boothby's Blonde Cucumber
*The Colossal Leek
*The Loos Tennis Ball Lettuce
*The Rousham Park Hero Onion
*The Mrs Fortune's Climbing French bean
*The Blue Coco Climbing French Bean
*The Gravedigger Pea
*The King of the Ridge Cucumber
*The Jeyes Pea
*The Brighstone Dwarf French Bean

Remember, neither of these lists are complete or extensive.
So now that I've laid out what's at risk of disappearing, and why we should all save heirloom seed, how does one get started on this path? Learn all you can about heirloom vegetables, or flowers if that's your thing. The other big step is DON'T BUY HYBRID!!
Use your hard-earned dollars politically. Buy from suppliers that carry heirloom types. This takes some legwork, but not as much as you'd think. If you Google heirloom seed suppliers, you'll find lots of resources. There are some online resources that are better than others. Seed Savers has an awesome website focused on saving heirloom varieties. From their website,

"Our mission is to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.
At the heart of Seed Savers Exchange are the dedicated members who have distributed hundreds of thousands of heirloom and open pollinated garden seeds since our founding over 35 years ago. Those seeds now are widely used by seed companies, small farmers supplying local and regional markets, chefs and home gardeners and cooks, alike."

 Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds also has an educational and informative website. From their website,
" Baker Creek carries one of the largest selections of seeds from the 19th century, including many Asian and European varieties. The company has become a tool to promote and preserve our agricultural and culinary heritage. Gardeners can request a free 196-page color catalog that now mails to 310,000 gardeners nationally.
Baker Creek started hosting festivals in 2000 as an idea to bring gardeners, homesteaders and natural food enthusiasts together to exchange thoughts, seeds, listen to speakers and enjoy vendors, old-time music and much more. These festivals gave birth to the idea for our pioneer village, Bakersville. Other projects include our trial gardens, seed collecting expeditions, our popular online forums at idigmygarden.com and educational produce exhibits.
Over the last several years, Jere Gettle and his wife Emilee have branched out into other related projects as well, including the nationally distributed, Heirloom Gardener magazine, which is now in its eighth year of publication.
They also work extensively to supply free seeds to many of the world’s poorest countries, as well as here at home in school gardens and other educational projects. It is their goal to educate everyone about a better, safer food supply and fight gene-altered, Frankenfood and the companies that support it.
All of our seed is non-hybrid, non-GMO, non-treated and non-patented.
We do not buy seed from Monsanto-owned Seminis. We boycott all gene-altering companies. We are not members of the pro-GMO American Seed Trade Organization! We work with a network of about 100 small farmers, gardeners and seed growers to bring you the best selection of seeds available! Many of our varieties we sell were collected by us on our travels abroad.
We offer over 1300 fine varieties! Unique seeds from 70 countries!"

If those of us who grow plants, both flowers and vegetables, do not focus on growing, saving and preserving endangered varieties, we risk losing even more of our heritage, and losing our nutritional resources. By growing heirloom varieties you can help preserve genetic resources that can help feed your family, as well as help prevent possible food shortages. Not to mention the fact that you'll discover a whole new world of tasty vegetables!