<\/a><\/p>\n In a garden which can freeze solid down to the bedrock for three months a year, Stephen Barstow supplies himself with a wide selection of fresh vegetables throughout the year. Over 2000 edible plants are found in his unique garden.<\/p>\n Many consider the Norwegian climate to be a challenge for growing food with its long, snow-rich winters, but Stephen finds his location in Malvik<\/a> to be an advantage.<\/p>\n It can get as cold as -23\u00b0C in the winter, but the summer is never too hot for working outside. When I hear about people who can\u2019t work in their garden much from June to August because it is too hot, I think I am lucky to garden here, he says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He can even garden at night if he wants, as it doesn\u2019t get properly dark for three months in summer.<\/p>\n What I have done here is a kind of reaction against the people who said it was too cold to grow many vegetables here. For the plants, it is perfect! It\u2019s never too warm and rarely too dry. However, you have to be willing to think outside the box and choose the right species.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He first started out with mostly annuals, but experiencing the advantages of perennials<\/a> made him switch to mostly perennial types.<\/p>\n They start growing early in the spring utilising the available solar energy to the full as their roots are already fully developed. There\u2019s never a shortage of water in spring, and in my garden the spring-harvested veggies are never damaged by insects or fungi. On the other hand, the annuals don\u2019t really start getting to any size until after midsummer when pests also start to multiply.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Edimental beauties<\/strong><\/p>\n He even invented a new word for edibles that he finds particularly beautiful: edimentals.<\/p>\n There is no reason not to choose perennials if what you want is a beautiful garden, he says and shows me a tiger lily, which indeed is pleasing to the eye.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I started growing veggies in Norway because I couldn\u2019t find enough vegetables in the store.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As a vegetarian, choosing from what was offered in the local supermarket was less than tempting. So Stephen started growing for his own use \u2014 a necessity that has since developed into an unparalleled adventure. His garden of 2.3 decares<\/a> now has over 2000 different edibles, many of which \u2018should\u2019 not be able to survive in these conditions. But they don\u2019t just survive, they thrive! His garden is an oasis to walk around. On a stroll around its gravelled paths, your taste buds are treated with many taste sensations from liquorice from anis, the slightly sour taste of red garden orach (Atriplex hortensis<\/a><\/em>) and the mild, friendly taste of hablitzia tamnoides<\/a>. There are roots from the Andes and Udo from Japan, to name a few. He has a bit of space for a lawn, with two chairs and a table to relax and enjoy the view. But when asked if he ever uses them for relaxation, he confirms: the table\u2019s great for pricking on! Even relaxation is vegetable related in this garden.<\/p>\n Fast food<\/strong><\/p>\n Stephen normally has dinner with about 20 different vegetables ready, 30 minutes after going into the garden to forage.<\/p>\n It would take me longer to go to the shop to buy food, he claims.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Some of the greens he eats raw, others cooked or steamed, stir-fried or as tempura. Variation is the key here.<\/p>\n 80 a day keeps the doctor away, he says laughingly but with a serious undertone.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t worry about which vitamins a plant contains, it\u2019s not relevant because it evens itself out over time if one has a large mix of different vegetables. People used to know this.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For instance, he has discovered various traditional Mediterranean dishes with 50 and more wild and cultivated plants in stews, soups, pizzas and salads. That inspired him to include many species in his salads, and he now holds the world record in vegetable diversity in a single bowl of salad, having made one with 538 varieties in 2003. Decorated with flowers, his salads are a pleasant sight, too.<\/p>\n If you eat a variety of plants you can forget about taking vitamin pills. I really think people would be healthier with a varied seasonal diet containing real food. I even think we\u2019d be healthier here [he says pointing to his head]. We can always look forward to a new vegetable coming into season, the edible garden has a seasonal rhythm, something that supermarket people are losing as they can always buy asparagus, transported from distant fields. And working in the garden is enjoyable work. It also keeps me in shape.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And we can take his word for it. At the age of 59 he uses his bike to and from work, a 45 minutes ride each way. In addition to his full time job and maintaining the garden, he also currently runs the Norwegian Seed Savers, which has gotten a lot of new members lately.<\/p>\n Wide consequences<\/strong><\/p>\n Even though few understood what he was up to when he started his garden in 1983, many have caught on during the last few years. With the growing interest in permaculture, Stephen now frequently gets invited to speak and teach, and spent half of spring 2014 being away from his beloved plants.<\/p>\n Being perennial, they didn\u2019t mind, he explains. I really don\u2019t spend much energy on them. I don\u2019t water them. They get some fertilizer from composted seaweed from time to time, but mostly they take care of themselves. After the establishment phase, they just get on with it. I could never leave a garden of annuals to itself like this, he says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n His work in the garden is often done in intensive periods, like a weeding weekend.<\/p>\n Winter growth<\/strong><\/p>\n I never planned on becoming self-sufficient, but gradually it dawned on me that it would be easy to do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He doesn\u2019t preserve his vegetables by fermentation or drying and doesn\u2019t use a freezer, but keeps many plants alive and growing inside over winter. He carries some pots with plants into his cool cellar, where they “go to sleep” until the temperature rises above 5\u00b0C in March. In early spring some pots with perennial and annual roots are taken upstairs into the light in his house, for an early start. He\u2019s also got big wooden boxes filled with soil on his cellar floor, where kale, swiss chard and chicories grow over the winter. Winter is also a time for sprouting buckwheat, cress, garlic bulbils and peas in buckets full of soil.<\/p>\n These are not difficult techniques with expensive equipment, anyone can do this, he says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When asked to pick a favourite among his plants, he hesitates.<\/p>\n My favourite is the diversity, he says after pausing to think.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t ask a father to choose between his kids, can you?<\/p>\n Exactly! But really, what I love is the variation. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s wise to be so heavily dependent upon the few species that are grown by industrial agriculture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.permaculturenews.org\/images\/Green_Winter_0627-184946.jpg\")
\nStephen Barstow with Angelica atropurpurea, a North American species.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.permaculturenews.org\/images\/Green_Winter_0627-183054.jpg\")
\nUdo (Aralia cordata) is Stephen\u2019s biggest yielding vegetable and totally hardy. The shoots
\ncan be used in tempura or peeled and used raw in a salad dressed with sesame oil,
\nroasted sesame seeds and soya sauce\u2026 delicious!<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.permaculturenews.org\/images\/Green_Winter_0627-181359.jpg\")
\nLilium lancifolium \/ Tiger Lily has edible bulbs and flowers<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.permaculturenews.org\/images\/Green_Winter_0627-181406.jpg\")
\nKindergarden: This year\u2019s young perennials seedlings enjoying summer<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.permaculturenews.org\/images\/Green_Winter_0627-182821.jpg\")
\nIn winter it\u2019s filled with trays of perennial vegetable seed
\nwhich require cold treatment to germinate.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.permaculturenews.org\/images\/Green_Winter_0627-180144.jpg\")
\nFlowering: From the left; Lilium martagon, Lilium monadelphum (edible bulbs and flowers),
\na Meconopsis hybrid (oil seed), Phyteuma spicata (edible roots), and Tragopogon pratensis
\n(all parts edible).<\/em><\/p>\n
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