Messages

"Return to resistance" by Raoul Robinson is a great book explaining this and other great info from a very well seasoned breeder. Its a free downlaod to.

Imagine what your plants can do in a normal garden, after being bred for super arid.

I use to think that would be the case, but I now think with every "desirable" condition there comes a "non desirable" condition, good and bad are one and the same. They wont have had exposure to diseases and parasites that are associated with a more humid enviroment etc.. things need exposure to develop resistance. things might thrive in a certain environment but fail in another. But i would imagine there would be enough genetic diversity in my varieties that some would do ok or even thrive.   

I live in Queensland Australia, and can tell you its been extremely hot and dry, We reached 38c in the first week of spring. thankfully we have just had 38mm this last week it settled the dust and cooled of a little, but the rivers and creeks are still dry. I market garden here and found most off the shelf varieties fail. So i started saving seed, and breeding my own varities. If you are "prepping" I would mostly concentrate on staple crops of starches and protiens,  greens could be come by from edible weeds. wild lettuces, mallow, purslane, plantain, etc.. I think Mexican people call them "Quelite's"
I have a book by Gary Nabhan called "Growing food in a hotter drier land" which has some great concepts.
We have here in Australia a grains Gene bank which has also field crops like dry beans , tepery beans,  etc. When looking for accesions I mostly look for ones which come from places like the south west usa or hot places in africa or iran etc.
I am slowly building up a collection of varieties and breeding new ones that are adapted to our extreme climate here as I think this is becoming the "normal" my ambition is to start a seed company which sells this collection, as alot of our seeds from local seed companies are imported and sh*t their pants when they germinate here!

My little one just turned two. He has some books like "Up in The Garden and Down in the Dirt" that we both like. It's never too early to start influencing the youth.

I wonder what he will be like in twenty years after spending his formative years with my extensive collection of botany, mushroom id, insect id, bird and mammal id, foraging, animal husbandry, homesteading, gardening, and plant breeding books? Maybe he won't be influenced much by it. I know some of the books though I use on these topics came from my grandparents and I still use some that technically belong to my parents but which pretty much only I use. Also when he does visit his grandparents he will be exposed to even more of said books because they have a pretty good collection. Like I don't have a copy of the Humanure Handbook but I know my mom does! So it seems like a multigenerational fascination and I suspect the little guy is doomed to learn to enjoy nature.

Don't be surprised If he turns out to be a cross dressing heavy metal drummer though! kids have a habit of destroying these grand ideas us parents think will or would like to happen!!   

All the ridiculous legal baggage really takes the joy out of what is such a wonderful art/craft/science! Think of the energy that is going into trying to avoid all the crazy legal jargon,  or the non advancement of wonderful new varieties for fear of litigation. It saddens me, and I hope It doesn't discourage anyone from creating their masterpieces or even new people looking to get into doing breeding.. 

On my farm, I have adopted a no-records-at-all policy. I did that primarily as an over-reaction to my former life as a research scientist. I generated many file cabinets full of records per year in my work as a chemist. Then when I started plant breeding, used those same types of protocols. And I hated it. These days, I do plant breeding as an artist instead of a scientist. It's nice to finally be working in my native mode as an artist, instead of in the mold that society brainwashed me into when I was young. I love, love, love being a carefree artist.

I Love it!!!

I have found so far in my short time spent with breeding that I get great yield increases just by a season or to of farmer saved and selected seed saving, with no intentional cross breeding of any sort. But Im sure coupled with intentional crosses Yield potential could be increased even greater. "Organic" farming is such a broad definition, every farmers situation and practices are different. There is a massive void in the organic sector with seed and varieties bred specifically for organic practices. I think a good system to get "organic" yields comparable or greater then conventional is for breeders to "get the bones" of the varieties there for farmers and the rest needs to be farmer selection driven. If farmers dont want to or cant keep there own varities then the next best step is regionally produced seed to have a better yield.

These "studies" make me laugh! such short sighted lineal minds spend hrs and many $ on these scientific "facts" or sometimes It is just blatant propaganda!
I dont think there is any need for me to rant on about all the things that arent taken into account with this and other "scientific" studies...

We don't need a lot of recipes, but a mention of taste is important.  Carol does this - if a dry bean is tasteless, she writes that.  So many bean growers are enchanted with the markings on the seeds - maybe they make necklaces with them instead of eating them.

Im guilty of that....

I Love these podcasts! its a great way to hear how different breeders create their masterpieces.!

I have 4 plants in this lot that are the bush type. I also have 10 or so of this original bush selection growing in another bed which I was gifted. I will continue to develop these as a separate line, they seem just as vigorous and early as the normal vines, but the nodes are extremely close together. these plants have a few half grown fruit on them but only span 2ft at the most! Would be a great variety for market gardens with 30" beds and home gardeners with not a lot of room or even container growing. The leaves are very large and seem to shade the fruit well which we need here with our scorching sun.
Does anybody know of any bush melon varieties other than what Joseph has?

An update on these melons..
Growing great as the pic shows. We have had many 38c /100f + days with strong wind heatwave conditions. Lots of flowers and fruit set. fruit growing fast, with lots of diversity of shape colour etc.. The pumpkin beetles seem to have left them alone now. really impressed so far, looking forward to the taste test!
With the pace they are maturing and stated days till harvest, should have plenty of melons in time for Xmas, which in the future will be great to have a large crop ready for the markets leading up to Xmas. I will be able to harvest this season collect seed and replant with plenty of time for a second crop, and maybe a 3rd if all go's well!

Richard, I tasted mine from a wild growing plant, it could of been pretty old, and our climate is alot harsher then yours in NZ, this could of been the difference?
Goes to show, you have to try something in your circumstances, whether that is something said to be terrible or raved about... I have tried many of the "raved" about varieties with very poor outcomes!

I don't know much about it, but was thinking of doing the same thing. It grows very well around here as a weed. I tried some once, it was very fibrous and not very appealing. It was put into "I know I can eat that if there is a famine, but would rather not if I dont have to" group... But looking at Queen Annes Lace, I think Salsify is in a much better place to domesticate then QAL, and look how nice carrots turned out!
I haven't seen or tried the semi domesticated varieties either.

I think the mere act of saving ones own seeds year to year will give a pretty good resilience to these changes. More so using the Lofthouse Landrace approach. By delaying, planting early, not watering, watering to much, to push things out of their comfort zone you can add a more "erratic" weather adaption to them.  come to think of it thats pretty much how things happen for me anyway...