Tag Archives: KVANN

KVANN meet 2018; Walk along the Homla canyon

Pictures from Saturday’s 5 km (almost 4 hours with all the stops) walk along the Homla river canyon from Storfossen (this area’s second highest waterfall) to the sea at Hommelvik! As usual, a memorable trip!

 

KVANN meet in Trondheim and Malvik; tour of the Edible Garden

Some pictures from Day 2 of the KVANN (Norwegian Seed Savers) meet in Malvik in my Edible Forest Garden :)
As usual, it was a great group!!
Thanks to Margaret M. Meg Anderson for most of the pictures!

PROGRAMMET FOR KVANN-TREFFET I TRONDHEIM

PROGRAMMET FOR KVANN-TREFFET I TRONDHEIM (Program for the Norwegian Seed Savers weekend in Trondheim)

Fredag 15. juni; kl 19  Vi besøker KVANNs planlagte første nytteplante-reservat hos Væres Venner på Ranheim. Oppmøtet ved parkeringsplassen like vest for hagen (se kart); 5-10 minutter å gå fra Væresletta bussholdeplass (buss 38 fra Trondheim, Stjørdal eller Værnes, se atb.no); grusvei fra østeenden av Ranheimsvegen! Etterpå har vi også planer om å besøke Presthus gård hvor vi er også ønsket velkommen til samarbeid. Her planlegges det Trondheims svar på Bygdøy Kongsgård!
Initiativtager og tidligere leder av Ranheim Frivilligsentralen, Sølvi Kvam blir også med og vil orientere om begge prosjekter! Det blir mulighet for skyss mellom Væres Venner og Presthus Gård (det går også buss).

Lørdag 16. juni, kl 10-13  Spiselig hagevandring hos KVANNs leder Stephen Barstow i Malvik etterfulgt av en felles lunsj (med grønt hentet fra hagen). Adresse: Malvikveien 418, 7563 Malvik (bussholdeplass Naustkleiva – nr 38 fra Trondheim, Stjørdal eller Værnes, se atb.no). Plantesalg og bytte. Ta gjerne med planter til salgs!

Lørdag 16. juni, kl 13-17  Tur langs Homlastien i fantastisk natur og for å se de ville standene av strutseving (det blir dessverre for sent å plukke!), andre spiselige vekster og Trøndelags nest største uberørte foss, Storfossen (40m). Vi er avhengig av å komme til startpunktet for stien med privatbiler. Si fra om du kan kjøre! Ta med egen matpakke til turen etter behov! NB! Enkelte deler av stien er bratt! For de som ønsker det er det mulig å gå hele Homlastien ned til Hommelvik (man bør beregne opp til 5t til hele turen med stopp underveis…kanskje 3t om vi går tilbake til startpunktet).

Søndag 17. juni, kl 11-16. Ringve botaniske hages ÅPEN DAG, som arrangeres i samarbeid med hagens venneforening. Det blir plantesalg, aktiviteter for barn, «Spør en gartner», kafé, og stands om humler, spiselige planter, og flere grønne foreninger. Humlevandring kl. 12 og 14. Skjer ved hagens veksthus i Lade allé 58.
Kl 10:30-12:30  For deltagere av KVANN-treffet blir det en hagevandring med Stephen (som er gjesteforsker på Ringve). Vi ser på den nye Allium (løk) hagen som ble plantet i høst samt Gamlehagen (gamle stauder og urter fra Trøndelag) og Renessansehagen. Underveis har vi fått lov å høste spiselige planter fra naturen og samlingene til en mangfoldssalat som serveres til deltagere og publikum fra kl 13.  Serveringen blir fra KVANNs stand.

Overnatting: Vi jobber med å kunne tilby privat overnatting, ta kontakt om du er interessert. Det er også en mulighet for overnatting i landlige omgivelser ca 2km fra hagen på Storsand Camping som har hytter (muligheten for å dele?)!

Velkommen til årets KVANN treff i Malvik/Trondheim!

Deltageravgift: Gratis for medlemmer (det koster bare kr 200 å melde seg inn hos kvann.org – klikk på Bli medlem). Bindende påmelding på lørdagens hagebesøk til Stephen (begrenset plass igjen)!

Bastard digging at Væres Venner

Thanks to Guren Efferus (Efferus Veksthus) for the box of plants which have arrived in good condition….and the box can also be recycled! As the temperature dropped yesterday evening, after a record warm start to May, it was perfect insulation for my afternoon nap after a day of bastard digging at Væres Venner Community Garden so that we could earth in the plants until we find a permanent place at Være and Hurdal! This is the first step for KVANNs (Norwegian Seed Savers first vegetable (useful plant) sanctuaries 

Væres Venner page:   https://www.facebook.com/pg/vaeresvenner.no

Verdenshage and Væres Venner

It was the first time I cycled to my office at the Ringve Botanical Garden today and I took the opportunity to see how the new Væres Venner community garden was looking (starting this year east of Ranheim at Være) . The snow had gone! At the entrance to the garden (Væres Venner) we will plant our World Edible Garden (Verdenshage) – large circular bed with the centre representing the north pole and mainly edible perennials distributed according to where they grow or are used in the Northern Hemisphere (see the first video below, where you can see an inner circle where we planted temporarily some 60 different plants in the autumn…and some are still ALIVE)!!
We have also purchased a couple of hardy walnuts and various hazel cultivars which will be planted along with many other fruit and berry bushes! I’m helping to design and develop the garden with a great group of enthusiasts and I hope that it will be formally adopted as one of KVANNs Vegetable Sanctuaries (KVANN=Norwegian Seed Savers)

Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasus!) has survived!

Moon garden?

Arche Noah at Seeds for the Future seminar

I made a presentation about my visit to Austria and Arche Noah in June at the “Seed for the future” seminar in Oslo last week! The presentation can be downloaded below. The seminar was organized by the Network for Plant diversity (Nettverk for Plantemangfold) which comprises the following organisations  Oikos – Økologisk Norge, Biologisk-Dynamisk Forening, Solhatt Økologisk Hagebruk, Norsk Senter for Økologisk Landbruk (NORSØK), KVANN / Norwegian Seed Savers, Århus Andelsgård and Økologisk Spesialkorn og Sogn Jord- og Hagebruksskole (SJH). The seminar was supported by Landbruksdirektoratet (The Norwegian Agriculture Agency)
A summary of the seminar and all the presentations can be found here  http://www.oikos.no/aktuelt/fro-for-framtida

Download (PDF, 13.05MB)

SAMSUNG CSC

Elderberries are ripe

Sambucus nigra “Samyl” is a new Danish variety of elderberry / svarthyll. It is very productive, the earliest elderberry I’ve grown (they are marginal here), hardy and it has large berries and large umbels of flowers…
I’ll be offering hardwood cuttings to members of Norwegian Seed Savers (Kvann) this winter (to be a member go to http://kvann.org and click on “Bli medlem”!
See  also earlier posts on my web site here:

P1050344

Current offers in Norwegian Seed Savers (KVANN) autumn seed and vegetable catalogue

I’m often asked if I sell seed of my perennial vegetables and other plants I blog about. The answer is that unless you have something I’m interested in trading for, I only “sell” seed through out Norwegian Seed Savers organisation on a non-profit basis!
Here are my current offers in Norwegian Seed Savers (KVANN) autumn seed and vegetable catalogue. I will add more offers later this week.  I hope you will want to support our work!
If you live outside of Norway and want to join (it costs Norwegian kr 200 / year), please go to http://www.kvann.org  and click on “Bli medlem” and fill out your details. You can then either do a bank transfer or you can pay me 200 Norwegian kroner by Paypal (sbarstow2@gmail.com) and I will transfer for you! Once you have payed, I will send you the catalogue.  Please be prepared to cover post and packing  (I cannot guarantee that all members will be willing to send overseas, but I will!).
Note that all correspondence and publications from the club is in Norwegian (not a big deal these days with on-line translators!), but there are brief instructions in English too (or ask me).

Udo (Aralia cordata); seed  see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=7499
Houttuynia cordata, Himalayan water creeper.
Chameleon
Flore pleno (double flowers)
Joker’s Gold
Chinese Market
Grønn
Garlic (Allium sativum) bulbils
Aleksandra
Estonian Red
Cledor
Black raspberry «Black Hawk» (Rubus occidentalis), seed
Ligularia fischeri  seed (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=3114 )
Papaver somniferum (opiumvalmue) mix (see pictures of my varieties here: http://www.edimentals.com/pictures/index.php?/category/52)

Angelica sylvestris «Vicar’s Mead»

Sanguinaria canadensis
Allium pskemense x fistulosum
Taraxacum rubifolium, red-leaved dandelion
Sugar cane, Saccharum officinarum (a hardy cultivar from New Zealand)
Hablitzia tamnoides mix seed
Allium scorodoprasum,  wild and garden forms:
Skåne (via Aud Berit Fjordheim in Gjøvik)
Sandøya
Grums i Sverige
Risør (Leikøya)
Tromøya
Oslo
Croatia
Milde, Bergen
Borøya
Hauge på Lista
Sund, Bergen
Barbarea vulgaris «Variegata»
Phyteuma nigra
Phyteuma orbiculare
Allium cernuum «Pink Giant»
Cirsium eriophorum
Allium victorialis «Lofoten»
Rumex acetosa “Belleville”, sorrel
Rumex acetosa “Vysogorny”/ “Krupolistny” mix(Russian cultivars)
Rumex patientia
Cryptotaenia canadensis
Angelica gigas
Chaerophyllum bulbosum, Turnip-rooted chervil
Allium cernuum “White Max”
Allium cernuum “Dark Scape”
Allium insubricum
Allium schoenoprasum «Black Isle Blush»
Sonchus kirkii
Allium hymenorrhizum
Allium cernuum «Mix»
Symphytum x uplandicum “Bocking 14”, root cuttings
Rabarbra «Træna», vigorous early variety found on the island Træna

Kvannsafari to Olde in Bordalen

On 7th August, I went on my first “Kvannsafari” near the mountain village Voss in south western Norway 
Kvann is Norwegian Mountain Angelica, Angelica archangelica ssp. archangelica, one of the most important plants in Norwegian history, used as a vegetable back to the times of the Vikings and an important exported medicinal herb in the past. It was a very important vegetable of the Sami people! In my book “Around the World in 80 plants”, I tell the story of a special form of kvann, known as Vossakvann, traditionally cultivated in special Kvann-yards (kvannagard) on the farms in this area. A good historical review of this plant can be found in Ove Fosså’s paper (see below) and, in Norwegian,  please search for Vossakvann on Norwegian Seed Savers web site, http://kvann.no).

Download (PDF, 713KB)

The aim of our trip was to visit one of the last farms still growing Vossakvann, Olde in Bordalen. Vossakvann has almost filled (solid) leaf and flower stalks whilst wild plants are hollow …in other words, there’s more “flesh”… It is also milder tasting, perhaps because there’s more flesh, the plant producing the same amount of bitter substances which are spread over a larger volume?

Jorunn Ringheim Hernes, who had recently retired from Landbruksrådgivning (the agricultural advisory service) in Voss, had arranged with the farmer, Knut Arvid Olde, to visit. Some years ago, Jorunn had sent me a couple of plants from a different line of Vossakvann, Elgje. Sadly, this line had recently been lost due to the seed not germinating. Further, a third line at Markusteigen has almost disappeared locally due to the fact that the kvannagard had not been looked after (repeatedly cut down) and only 3-4 plants could be found on a visit there last week. The farmer is now aware of this and will try to look after and build up the kvannagard again! The Markusteigen line is the one line from which plants still exist away from Voss (in Oslo and in Orkanger) (seed were collected a few years ago).

I’d heard that Knut Arvid Olde was enthusiastic to conserve this unique variety on the farm and this was confirmed during our visit, although there was a sense of panic in his voice when he heard that his kvannagard was the only one left, partly as he had planned to sell some of the harvest to a local cheese producer! There were about 30 flowering stalks full of seeds and below the plants many self-sowed young plants. I was surprised that all the young plants I tested had solid stalks and Knut Arvid said that they hadn’t selected for this property… I had previously learned that only a percentage of seed propagated plants had the characteristics of Vossakvann, but here they all seemed to be true to form!

Jorunn Hernes will return in a week or two to collect seed during drier weather (it was wet during our visit and only a few seed were ripe). Landbruksrådgivning also have a project to make a trial kvannagard and Knut Arvid was positive that it could be on his land using his line!

Norwegian Seed Savers is, confusingly here, called KVANN (see http://kvann.no) as this is our most important native useful plant traditionally. We have a project, coordinated by Stephen Barstow and Åsmund Asdal and new web pages are planned) in which we are trying to conserve the different lines of Vossakvann with help of the seed saver network and perhaps also further develop a more stable cultivar.