Seeking Yacon, Mashua, Oca, bright Andean Tubers

[khoomeizhi]

Jan 12, 2012 22:29:25 GMT -5 @degzing said:

Do you find that you need to add anything, to help the sunroots go "sour?"

nope. standard kraut-style lactofermentation. ingredients: grated sunroot (sometimes other roots/garlic/ginger), a bit of salt. no sugar, no vinegar, they go sweet&sour on their own.

[ahto]

Yacon seems to me as very good fuel ethanol crop in warmer climate. High yield, no diseases, easy to grow, low input.
Inulin in Yacon tubers seems to have shorter chain length. It is easier to hydrolyze and ferment short chain length inulin compare to long chain length like in JA tubers.
I have dry yeast available which has strong inulinase side activity (it produces it is own inulinaze enzyme during fermentation). This activity is not enough to brake long inulin chains in JA mash alone but might be enough for Yacon.
This yeast is unique and produced by German company for our "JA to fuel ethanol" project exclusively. Unfortunately Yacon could not be cultivated at large scale in our Estonian cold climate.

[Deleted]

I wonder whether it would be possible to obtain a land grant, for these purposes, where I live. We have uncultivated wastes with sufficient surface water, and occasional, light frosts.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Jan 14, 2012 13:16:47 GMT -5 @degzing said:

I wonder whether it would be possible to obtain a land grant, for these purposes, where I live. We have uncultivated wastes with sufficient surface water, and occasional, light frosts.

Over the years I have done a good deal of my farming on a land-grant basis: Find a piece of vacant ground, and ask the owner if I can farm it. The first time it was land owned by the township that had been purchased for a fire station that would be built some day. The vegetables were donated to the food pantry. More recently it has been due to people coming up to me and saying, "I wish that you'd do something with my land". It is generally easier to arrange on unfenced land... That way you aren't competing with folks who want to run livestock on it. Depends on the neighborhood: Can't do that out on the range where the policy for livestock is "fence out", but it works great in the valley where grazers are required to be "fenced in".

The usual and customary rate for rented farm ground in this area is 15% of gross. Many people are delighted for someone to be taking care of their land, and don't want any compensation. I usually offer all the vegetables they can use.

Then there is always guerrilla gardening: Toss seed-balls over the fence. Use a sling-shot for greater distance. Surreptitiously plant things using a tube seeder/planter disguised as a walking stick. And then try not to be too sad when the property owner sprays the whole thing with herbicide.

[Deleted]

I'm donating some of my produce to a farmer's fruit stand, and helping him with his projects. He will cover irrigation.

Any more references for exotic root and tuber crops would be greatly appreciated.

I presently have small starts of:
white, striped, and purple yacon
white, yellow, orange, and pinkish oca
whitish, yellowish, pinkish, and purplish mashua
green ulluco
purple potato (and many varieties of seed)
purplish and beige Jerusalem artichoke
purple and beige sweet potato

[davidintx]

Hello everybody. I am very interested in growing Yacon here where I live in Texas. If anybody has any crowns that they can send me, I would be pleased to first send you some postage $ in order to make that happen. Just let me know. Thank you

David