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Post by MikeH on Sept 8, 2012 3:50:32 GMT -5
I didn't know John Gordon or even of John Gordon, and yet I do believe from the short list of his varieties mentioned by Castanea that I have at least three of them in my garden. Thank you John, and bon voyage. I had planned this spring to visit him. His farm - www.nuttreesnorth.com/ - is only 6 miles from a friend who we visit each spring. So many of these horticultural pioneers are not young - Jerry Lehman, Ron Lombough (died earlier this year), Bert Dunn (Bert is retiring and will not be offering grapes next year), Ernie Grimo (although his daughter, Linda, has taken over the business), Charles Rhora, Diana Beresford-Kroeger. Hopefully, there are younger folks in the process of taking their place. Yep. When we moved to Peterborough in 2001, we joined the Hort Society. I was struck by the lack of young faces. Having moved farther east to escape the big city, we're no longer members but do periodically attend a meeting if the speaker is interesting. The last time that we did, there was a noticeable number of young people. By young, I mean in their early 20s. And this past spring when we tended the Seeds of Diversity booth at Seedy Saturday in Peterborough, I was blown away by the number of people in their 20s and 30s who were there looking to start vegetable gardens. A lot of them were involved in community gardens. Perhaps horticulture will go viral.
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Post by benboo on Sept 8, 2012 9:06:54 GMT -5
Being young and having an interest in horticulture is a tough thing. I know from experience. I am still a senior in high school and strangely enough, from the same area as John Gordon.
Its hard to pursue horticulture when growing veggies, fruits, nuts, and everything else except "weed" isn't cool. You are also constantly reminded that a kid with a 4.2 GPA should pursue something more monetarily rewarding than horticulture. I would love to go into some sort of horticultural research, but for some reason it is frowned upon, as many people insist on a degree in liberal arts... This generation is screwy, and probably going to be a mess.
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Post by MikeH on Sept 8, 2012 9:25:42 GMT -5
Being young and having an interest in horticulture is a tough thing. I know from experience. I am still a senior in high school and strangely enough, from the same area as John Gordon. Its hard to pursue horticulture when growing veggies, fruits, nuts, and everything else except "weed" isn't cool. You are also constantly reminded that a kid with a 4.2 GPA should pursue something more monetarily rewarding than horticulture. I would love to go into some sort of horticultural research, but for some reason it is frowned upon, as many people insist on a degree in liberal arts... This generation is screwy, and probably going to be a mess. Follow your heart and the money will take care of itself. Follow the money and you will lose your heart.
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Post by benboo on Sept 8, 2012 13:43:24 GMT -5
That is a problem today. most people go straight for the money. I would prefer to live a happy life feeling accomplished, than have lots of money and a feeling of regret.
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Post by circumspice on Sept 8, 2012 13:44:50 GMT -5
Steev's daughter and my son are going to sell both farms and spend the money in Rio having a great time while Nero fiddles and it all burns. My son's last girlfriend told him that she thought I was intimidating because I can do so many things. ...... I'm intimidated too......... DITTO!!!
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Post by synergy on Oct 5, 2012 10:37:05 GMT -5
It is a dearth with the experience lost to us from great people like John Gordon. I did not know the man but I grew up as part of the first generation in my families ancestry lost to the ways of food production, farming, food processing. My parents turned their backs on it in favour of suburbia and the ability to buy fast food when I was a coming of age . Now I have embraced having my farm and sacrifice a lot to better it , I am collecting canning equipment, planting, fixing and building all the time with little real knowledge other than some books and what I read on the internet. Slowly it is becoming a little more viable. I am starting to feed my family from it a bit more. But I think the real knowledge of tree selection and plant breeding are needed now more than ever in the face of losing much to the corporate industrialization of food as an industry.
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Post by castanea on Oct 5, 2012 21:35:13 GMT -5
Both of my parents grew up on farms but left in their 20s. My mother liked farming and always wanted to have another farm, just as long as she didn't have to pick cotton. My dad thought it was too much work and preferred driving trucks. Nonetheless, they were part of a huge movement that left the farm.
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Post by circumspice on Oct 6, 2012 6:55:03 GMT -5
My dad was a North Texas farm boy. He was raised on a farm during the Great Depression. He turned his back on the farming lifestyle from the time he was old enough to leave home. He said he never wanted to ever pull peanuts, pick cotton or plow a field with a mule again. He stayed away from any type of agricultural activity until he was in his late 50s, then he began gardening. It seemed that he found a great deal of contentment when working in his garden. He taught me a lot in that time period. I'm really grateful that my son & I were there to benefit from his knowledge & experience.
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Post by steev on Oct 7, 2012 23:00:35 GMT -5
My family moved off the farm two generations ago; big mistake. Now that land, some of the best in California, is semi-detached condos; how stupid! Oh, well, Big Ag will feed us while we huddle in cities. How bad could soylent green be, anyway?
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Post by castanea on Oct 7, 2012 23:07:24 GMT -5
SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!!!
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Post by steev on Oct 8, 2012 22:00:47 GMT -5
Oh, yeah. Well, I think I've made my position clear on anthropophagy. What happens in the kitchen, stays in the kitchen, unless one has a nice patio, weather permitting.
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Post by mwamsley on Mar 20, 2013 16:09:07 GMT -5
This is sad news. John Gordon was my go-to pawpaw guy. He was the "selector" of PA Golden and some of the other pawpaws still grown today. I have planted quite a few of his farm-grown seedlings around Seattle (right of ways) and in my yard. He was always great to talk to and very knowledgeable about early ripening crops. His prices were more than fair....so fair I always offered to pay more. Although it is somewhat disjointed, I would encourage everyone to download his FREE 172 page book last updated in 2011: www.nuttreesnorth.com/book210/book210.pdfContents: COVER OVERVIEW BASICS BLACK WALNUT BLACK WALNUT CUTTER CHESTNUT FILBERT AIR LAYERING & STOOLING HEARTNUT PERSIAN WALNUT HICKORY PECAN NUT PINE ALMOND, OAK, EDIBLE LANDSCAPE PERSIMMON PAWPAW GRAFTING BREEDING INDEX METRIC CONVERSION I hope I am as energized about growing obscure crops as he was when I get in my later years. Mark Wamsley Seattle, WA
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Post by castanea on Mar 20, 2013 23:10:44 GMT -5
Hi Mark,
Glad to see you here.
Mike
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