Medlemmer av Norwegian Seed Savers (KVANN) får igjen mulighet gjennom Årboka som kommer i februar å bestille stiklinger av de gamle Norske humleplantene som er samlet i en klonsamling hos NIBIO Apelsvoll Forskningsstasjon som ligger på vestsiden av Mjøsa i Østre Toten kommune. Nedenfor finner dere tre artikler som forteller mer om samlingen og analysene som er gjort (noen sorter skal være gode sorter for ølbrygging).
KVANN etablere plantelaug for flere nytteplanter (deriblant kålvekster, frukt, hvitløk osv.). Det kan også være aktuelt å etablere en Humle-laug for å koordinere og kvalitetssikre vårt arbeid med humle, en fantastisk ølplante, urt og et av de beste vårgrønnsakene på høyde med asparges når det gjelder smak! Om du er interessert i å være laug leder, ta gjerne kontakt med oss!
The first morning of 2019
The sun finally appeared today briefly above the southern hills and I saw my first sun shadow this year!! Whoohoo! We made it through the long night again!
H for Hablitzia Extreme Salad
The Less than Extreme Salad Man has been in action with the year’s multi-species salad! A few hours before the polar low storm hit and snow covered the greens, I did a forage around the garden, finding about 15 species, mostly onions, but there were fresh dandelions, perennial kales and the first Hablitzia shoots. These were added to a selection of stored vegetables from the cellar, including blanched dandelion and chicory shoots which had grown in the above average temperatures. About 30 different veggies!
January storm
It was a dramatic night here with high winds, snow, hail and there was even a thunderstorm at 4 am (not common in winter here!)….a Polar Low (polar lavtrykk).
Long Horseradish root
We’re nearing the end of a very mild period with no frost in the ground, so I’ve been doing a lot of unseasonal work in the garden. Yesterday, I dug over the horseradish (pepperot) bed and excavated this one root that was trying to escape into a neighbouring area as carefully as I could!
I cut off the top with a bit of root for forcing the delicious young shoots and the root will be ground!
Sally Gap
On my last morning in Wicklow, Orlaith took me on a spectacular wild drive over the Wicklow mountains through the Sally Gap pass stopping off to look down on lough Tay, locally called the Guinness lake!
Bay swans
Six whooper swans (sangsvane) resting in the bay this morning!
Kim Tyner’s wonderful “permaculture” garden in Wicklow!
Continuing my tour of Wicklow gardens which Orlaith Murphy had arranged for me! After a great lunch at Wendy Nairn’s house I was unprepared for the amazing garden that awaited me next: Kim and Angus Tyner’s Honeyoak garden! WOW! Kim is a wonderful plantswoman and Angus is equally passionate about wildlife, in particular the incredible diversity of moths in Wicklow and won an award for his work on registering wildlife diversity (http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/record-biodiversity/distinguished-recorders/distinguished-recorder-2013). He also runs his own local weather station! Observation!
I arrived 20 years after Kim and Angus took over the land! They had their priorities right right from the start and they started their vegetable patch before building the house! Today, the couple are almost sufficient in vegetables and fruit and there are two polytunnels in addition to the large wild looking diverse veggie garden which integrates a number of perennials and herbs. For me, the garden could have been inspired by permaculture as many of its techniques have been employed. Kim hand digs, uses mulches, saves seed, the house is powered by solar panels and a wood-fired range, and as much as possible is sourced locally. They also have hens, bees and a cow, so no longer totally vegetarian as they were for 20 years (doing it yourself is clearly very important here!). The garden is still evolving with new beds being planted, nut trees and many edimentals in the ornamental beds. There is diversity everywhere, this is clearly a fantastic oasis for wildlife and the large pond they created has even been visited by an otter. It was a dull wet day, so I hope my pictures do justice to this inspirational garden! Oh and I was very “habby” to see one of my babies in the garden, the Caucasian spinach (Hablitzia tamnoides) :)
See more at
http://honey-oak.blogspot.com https://www.facebook.com/HoneyoakGarden
Wendy Nairn’s for lunch!
After visiting the Kilmacurragh botanical garden (http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=20724), my next visit in Wicklow, Ireland was to one of the founders of the organic movement in Ireland now with over 30 years of experience and she had invited us to a wonderful vegetarian lunch with local greens at her house! Wendy Nairn is passionate about producing fresh nutritious vegetables using sustainable wildlife friendly methods and her garden was full of interesting plants and is certainly a haven for wildlife! Shame about the weather as all the wildlife was hiding and we didn’t stay outside for long either! Kim Tyner, whose garden Honeyoak was to be our next stop joined us!
Before lunch, we visited Wendy’s daughter Hazel and her partner Davi’s new organic market farm in nearby Ashford (https://www.facebook.com/HazelandDavisWicklowFarm), reminding me of Mandy Barber’s IncredibleEdibles in Devon, both on what was sheep pasture!
Wind, Waves and Warmth
It was stormy on the fjord today, it’s now 8 days since the last frost, and no frost in the 10 day forecast…. :(
It reached +8C here on New Year’s Eve!