Post by thegrit on Oct 8, 2016 18:24:13 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
What a hugely helpful forum this is! I am so happy to be here among folks of your caliber. This forum challenged my beliefs about plant breeding and what "backyard' "hobby" breeders are capable of.
About me, I started my way into farming as an ever obsessive gardener. My friends called my garden an arboretum and I was always clamoring for the next/new/best/rediscovered/ 'it' varieties. An avid state hopper, I gardened in UT, CA, CO, WA, and OR, learning about each climate and picking up tips and tricks as I went. When obsession turned to addiction I transitioned my budding (life sucking) career in sales towards anything that would get me one step closer to growing plants for a living. Fast forward a couple of years and I have now been a commercial vegetable grower and manager of a 20 acre market vegetable farm for 2 seasons. Conventional commercial growing on the large side of a small operation taught me more than I could have ever imagined.
Now this fall I am returning to my gardening roots, working our 3 acre rural yard into a mini homestead farm. This summer we focused on adding animals, small sheep, pigs, ducks, and rabbits. The compost pile is growing nicely. This fall I am preparing beds and MOST IMPORTANTLY on that grand hunt for new seeds for our new and especially harsh climate.
Growing for market opened my eyes to what I really wanted from my seeds. Now I feel tired of crossing my fingers that suppliers will have the seed that I need. I am on a mission to develop landraces for our staple crops like beans, potatoes, garlic, winter squash, cherry tomatoes, peppers and melons. I hope to share these projects with you, receive your feedback, and maybe even collaborate or share in a seed project or two. The goal for my projects is two fold, first, find varieties that can handle the extreme temperatures for early planting or growing through the thick of summer with as little water as possible, and second (and a real passion that is only second to climate because it has to be ) selecting for nutritionally superior lines that hopefully have flavor potential too. I'll post these projects to the breeding section, probably something on TPS soon!
I'm in N. Oregon, just east of the cascades. Our neighbors dryland wheat farm. It is arid, windy, hot, cold and everything in between! We average only 9"-14" precipitation a year and our last frost is the first week of June, first frost anytime after Oct 1st. Summers are exceedingly hot, many weeks above 90 and several above 100. They call us zone 6 but the occasional super cold spell kills everything off that isn't hardy to zone 5. I really like a good winter for my garden but I'm worried about how the thawing I noticed last year in February and March will impact my overwintered and earliest plantings. If you are in a similar climate I'm eager to hear from you.
In the past my gardening has been such a personal escape and nerd out activity of lists and charts and rankings- after the blank stares from family and friends I have been really bad at sharing. I think you guys are a bit more my speed when it comes to these things so this time around I'm hoping to plug in early and consider working in this biome as a mass collaboration. Thanks!
What a hugely helpful forum this is! I am so happy to be here among folks of your caliber. This forum challenged my beliefs about plant breeding and what "backyard' "hobby" breeders are capable of.
About me, I started my way into farming as an ever obsessive gardener. My friends called my garden an arboretum and I was always clamoring for the next/new/best/rediscovered/ 'it' varieties. An avid state hopper, I gardened in UT, CA, CO, WA, and OR, learning about each climate and picking up tips and tricks as I went. When obsession turned to addiction I transitioned my budding (life sucking) career in sales towards anything that would get me one step closer to growing plants for a living. Fast forward a couple of years and I have now been a commercial vegetable grower and manager of a 20 acre market vegetable farm for 2 seasons. Conventional commercial growing on the large side of a small operation taught me more than I could have ever imagined.
Now this fall I am returning to my gardening roots, working our 3 acre rural yard into a mini homestead farm. This summer we focused on adding animals, small sheep, pigs, ducks, and rabbits. The compost pile is growing nicely. This fall I am preparing beds and MOST IMPORTANTLY on that grand hunt for new seeds for our new and especially harsh climate.
Growing for market opened my eyes to what I really wanted from my seeds. Now I feel tired of crossing my fingers that suppliers will have the seed that I need. I am on a mission to develop landraces for our staple crops like beans, potatoes, garlic, winter squash, cherry tomatoes, peppers and melons. I hope to share these projects with you, receive your feedback, and maybe even collaborate or share in a seed project or two. The goal for my projects is two fold, first, find varieties that can handle the extreme temperatures for early planting or growing through the thick of summer with as little water as possible, and second (and a real passion that is only second to climate because it has to be ) selecting for nutritionally superior lines that hopefully have flavor potential too. I'll post these projects to the breeding section, probably something on TPS soon!
I'm in N. Oregon, just east of the cascades. Our neighbors dryland wheat farm. It is arid, windy, hot, cold and everything in between! We average only 9"-14" precipitation a year and our last frost is the first week of June, first frost anytime after Oct 1st. Summers are exceedingly hot, many weeks above 90 and several above 100. They call us zone 6 but the occasional super cold spell kills everything off that isn't hardy to zone 5. I really like a good winter for my garden but I'm worried about how the thawing I noticed last year in February and March will impact my overwintered and earliest plantings. If you are in a similar climate I'm eager to hear from you.
In the past my gardening has been such a personal escape and nerd out activity of lists and charts and rankings- after the blank stares from family and friends I have been really bad at sharing. I think you guys are a bit more my speed when it comes to these things so this time around I'm hoping to plug in early and consider working in this biome as a mass collaboration. Thanks!