In recent years, I’ve been experimenting with seed of perennials for winter greens, here the first time I’ve tried lovage / løpstikke sprouts. I sowed in November in a large pot left outside as they may not germinate without cold treatment. I then moved inside to an unheated room at the beginning of March and now there’s been mass germination and the taste is pretty good too :)
Nordic Permaculture Festival workshop
I will hold a 3+ hour workshop on perennial vegetables (in English I think) at the Nordic Permaculture Festival, Stjernsund, Sweden on 8th August!! Looking forward to visiting and meeting the good folks at Stjernsund for the first time!
More information on the festival here:
Svartelistet søtsak (“blacklisted goodies”) article
Norwegian article on sweet cicely published on the following sites / Norsk artikkel om spansk kjørvel er publisert på følgende steder:
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=737 (all my articles from the magazine Sopp og Nyttevekseter er available here / alle mine artikler fra Sopp og Nyttevekster er samlet her)
and
http://www.skogoglandskap.no/temaer/spiselige/subject_view
Sowing Ground Elder seed
I don’t think many people have sowed ground elder seed before :) It won’t be easy to shake off the Mad Salad Man tag now ;)
When I saw seed of ground elder /bishop’s weed / skvallerkål (Aegopodium) on offer on a Polish seed trade list a couple of months ago I just couldn’t resist (I have never – understandably – seen seed offered before….). I thought I would sprout the seed for ground elder shoots….
Russian veggie seed
One of the members of Norwegian Seed Savers emailed me that she was going to Russia and would I like any seed….now, I have genetic defect that leads to me not being able to say no to seed…so I said yes please and if you find any perennials like cutivars of sorrel (Rumex acetosa) I’d be particularly interested. The package arrived today. I had never imagined I was saying yes to 40 packets and there was one packet of Rumex acetosa, a variety called Schavel (Sorrel) “Belvijsky”. I’m wondering if this could possibly be the elusive French cultivar “Belleville” which I mention in my book?
Perennial kale cuttings!
I take cuttings of my perennial kales each autumn both to share with others and in case the mother plants die outside (they are marginally hardy here). They are in the loft bedroom where there’s no heat and it can freeze, but this winter it hasn’t. They are all looking good, only a couple haven’t rooted! I keep them isolated up there with the door closed to keep aphids off the plants.
White-tailed Eagle at the railway station; 20th February 2015
At this time of year, the mornings are now light on the way to work… I’m not quite ready to start cycling to work (maybe next week), so I get some exercise by walking to the railway station which is about 20 minutes from the house. There’s no snow left now in the lowlands in this very mild weather and some birds are singing. I heard blue tit / blåmeis; great tit / kjøttmeis; siskin / grønnsisik; bullfinch / dompap and greenfinch / grønnfink on the way to the station this morning. Then as I approached the station, an impressively large White-tailed Eagle / Havørn appeared above me, mobbed by hooded crows / kråke…. I crossed the railway line down to the shore to get a better look and maybe a photo and he’d landed on a small island, Vikhammerskjæret…… I missed the train!
In the postbox…..14th February 2015
In the post box….12th February 2015
Permaculture Magazine excerpt from the book!
And now adding a pdf of the article:
The latest Permaculture Magazine arrived yesterday with an excerpt from the book “The many uses of UDO” (Aralia cordata)
I write about one of the most unusual veggie cultivation techniques in the book!” There are underground caverns of blanching Udo under Tokyo? At the top of my things to experience list!! I found some pictures on the net , but couldn’t use them in the book, sadly! This is a slide from my talk about the book