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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jan 14, 2018 16:16:18 GMT -5
p.s. thinking about trying to prevent sending diseases to other gardeners when swapping seeds, could such diseases by killed by simply treating your own seed under a UV lamp?
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Post by shmack1 on Jan 14, 2018 16:34:38 GMT -5
Ok, to respond to all the feedback..
A bit about me and my goals. I am a small organic market gardener/ subsistence farmer, while growing i experienced lots of failures and successes. learnt alot about seeds, their origins how and why they were created, why most commercial seed failed when grown in my conditions and why some would fail and some thrive, I studied carol deppes books and I own and have read Luther burbanks 12 volume set. Which in my opinion is probably the best material for learning how genitcs and breeding works without all the over complicated scientific jargon. Whilst researching a couple years ago I stumbled across Joseph lofthouse and his methods, which totally resonated with me. I then proceeded to create landraces for all my crops, which is where I'm up to now. I have spent literally thousands of dollars on seeds doing this watching most of these fail dramatically, but when you find an individual plant that for some reason actually does well or thrives it is such a joy! i have spent most of my time doing this, whilst I should probably be out trying to make more of an income!
My conditions are no till, dry land for staple crops (corn, dry beans, grains, fava, etc.) I scythe and mulch like jim kovaleski, which is basically the routh stout method.
I am constantly moving towards trying to farm with nature and only using farm generated fertility, no crop protection, or external inputs. As you can see my crops need to be resilient. We get temperatures sometimes up to 45c in summer and down to -7c in winter. Rainfall is around 800mm for the year, but might go months without a drop and then dump a huge amount overnight. It's a land of extremes here. I have moderatly fertile black cracking basalt clay soil.
I wanted Joseph's seeds for a a couple of reasons,
I think they would be full of genetic diversity, which is very limited in AUS, I think they would be resilient and handle not being babied and spoilt like just about all crops are now, Joseph also shares some growing pre requests and weather conditions as I do.
And I also would like to see what a lofthouse landrace looks, and tastes like and see how it actually grows in my conditions.
Hope this gives you a bit of a snippet of me and my doings, and my motivation for those seeds. I will endeavour to post more and show my projects. But sometimes children and life seem to scream louder for attention than me getting on a forum!!
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Day
gardener
When in doubt, grow it out.
Posts: 171
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Post by Day on Jan 15, 2018 11:22:01 GMT -5
I have spent literally thousands of dollars on seeds doing this watching most of these fail dramatically, but when you find an individual plant that for some reason actually does well or thrives it is such a joy! i have spent most of my time doing this, whilst I should probably be out trying to make more of an income! Apart from the basic monetary essentials, I honestly believe that the only 'point' of extra income is to make us happy. And there are few things more amazing feeling than growing plants in difficult circumstances and having them rise up to the challenge! Sounds like you're already spending your money in all the right places  Hope this gives you a bit of a snippet of me and my doings, and my motivation for those seeds. I will endeavour to post more and show my projects. But sometimes children and life seem to scream louder for attention than me getting on a forum!! Excited to follow along as your develop your landrace! Here's the link to Rowan's blog (Victoria, Australia): garden-larder.blogspot.com/I really enjoy reading it, especially during the winter months here when few of my fellow US gardeners are still planting. I'm sure there are a ton more aussie blogs out there, this is just the only one I have bookmarked atm. |
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Post by paquebot on Jan 16, 2018 0:05:28 GMT -5
I just went through this thread twice and wondered where in Hell I landed. It was just a year ago this time I was buying some obscure seeds to send to NZ via this forum. Nothing to Australia last year but almost every year before back 15 years. Indonesia last month along with Canada and Germany. Romania going out tomorrow. Just won't send anything bulky so quit beans. I guess that I'm a gardener without borders.
Martin
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Post by templeton on Jan 29, 2018 19:07:58 GMT -5
Hi folks, I think shmack is a member on my Aust forum, and has been for a couple of years now. I'll message him.
T
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