Dealing with chipmunks and other issues

When it comes to high calorie gardening we often face issues.

Disease, insects, rodents, etc.

A typical example is below posted by a woman trying to grow potatoes.

“I would love to have success with potato planting! My husband and I have tried twice, and yet they all get dug up and stolen by chipmunks and the like. Any suggestions? We have tried container planting also, but those rodents are persistent.”

A key to high calorie gardening is to never put more calories into growing the crop than you get out of the crop. Another key is to grow what is easy to grow. So in the case of the chipmunks the answer seemed easy but was not.

There were many possible responses to this issue.

1.      Kill the chipmunks was a number of response. It was interesting that many Americans were ok with a cat killing chipmunks but were not ok with live trapping chipmunks. So this type of solutions involves legal issues as to killing chipmunks and social issues as to how acceptable is it to kill or remove chipmunks.

2.      Give up growing potatoes. However, there is only one constraint at this location to growing potatoes. It is very unusual to find a high calorie crop that does not have a single issue that can impact its growth. In this case it may be as simple as growing enough for the chipmunks and the people. Generally this type of problem is worse early in the growing season. The chipmunks can take all the seed potatoes. If one provided a alternative food, say whole corn for the chipmunks the impact on the potatoes may be less. Potatoes are planted in the early spring when other sources of food may still be scarce. It is not uncommon for rodents to survive in spring by eating root crops.

3.      She said that she tried growing potatoes in containers. I have had a similar problem with chipmunks. They got into the chicken grain and stored it in all my 55 gallon pots. I have spouted grain coming up in every single large pot I had. The first thing I did was to stop the chipmunk raids on the chicken feed. The second thing was to put chicken wire around my large growing containers. In the worst case one can put electric netting around their area. No chipmunk is going to take on electric netting.

4.      Finally the chipmunks are taking the potatoes to eat. Soaking the potatoes in water with ghost peppers would make a world of difference. Just use gloves and plant a ghost pepper with each potato. Chemical warfare against the chipmunks!

Now let us assume that one of the above methods actually works for the lady with the chipmunk problem. We than have to ask, is it worth the effort? A peanut is a great high calorie crop that I have not gotten to yet. My grandmother raised a peanut plant in Alaska. It was an amazing thing to do and it required a lot of effort and a special window box with a heater and grow light. In all, she got a handful of peanuts. So it can be done, but just because you can does not mean you should.

The point of high calorie gardening is to produce calories that can be consumed. It is assumed you have limited land, money, and labor. So the focus is on that which is easy to grow and trying to have no more than 20 percent of your calories in any one crop if possible. This is in case something happens to one crop the others will still carry the day. Just think of the Irish potato famine. If you have resources left over than you can think of other crops that you can grow. However, I would tend to devote my resources to foods that complement the high calorie crops such as herbs and spices. Carrots, celery, and onions complement many of the root crops.

So that is it for this posting please leave your comments.

Cassava

Cassava or Yucca Root

There are 330 calories in 1 cup (7.3 oz) of Cassava (Yucca Root), raw

Cassava is Africa’s second most important food staple, after maize, in terms of calories consumed. Cassava is a major source of calories for roughly two out of every five Africans.

Yucca root, also sometimes spelled "yuca," is known by the names manioc and cassava. Native to South America, this starchy tuber is eaten throughout Latin America, South Asia, the Caribbean and Africa. Used to make tapioca flour, yucca has a texture a little chewier than the potato and a milder taste. Rich in a range of nutrients, yucca can be used as a substitute in almost all of your favorite potato dishes.

Better known to Americans as tapioca, the pudding favorite is produced from the roots of this bush-like plant. But the crop can have deadly consequences. If prepared incorrectly, the cassava plant can produce cyanide, a deadly compound when consumed. A small number of people are also allergic to the plant — the American Cancer Society warns that those with a latex rubber allergy might be more susceptible and should consider opting for a different dessert.

Something to know is that all cassava produce toxic cyanide, but the two main edible varieties produce it in different amounts. "Sweet" cassava is the root most often sold for home cooking and has its cyanide concentrated near the surface. After peeling and normal cooking, it is safe to eat. "Bitter" cassava has cyanide throughout the root and can only be eaten after extensive grating, washing, and pressing to remove the harmful toxins. Bitter cassava is not typically sold for home use, especially here in the US, and is more commonly used to make tapioca and other cassava by-products.

NEW CHALLENGES IN THE CASSAVA TRANSFORMATION IN NIGERIA AND GHANA
http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/eptdp118.pdf

Save and Grow Cassava
http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3278e/i3278e.pdf

Cassava Utilization, Storage and Snall-scale Processing
http://betuco.be/manioc/Cassava%20-%20Utilization,%20storage,%20small-scale%20processing%20cabi_17ch14%20.pdf

Starting a Cassava farm
http://www.infonet-biovision.org/res/res/files/1855.Starting.pdf

How To Remove The Poison From Cassava Flour in English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09UHqc313Us

harvesting cassava in rwanda: part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djtPxN6cIlM

harvesting cassava in rwanda: processing (part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM-3bZh0vJc

Humble spud poised to launch a world food revolution

Humble spud poised to launch a world food revolution

Dutch team is pioneering development of crops fed by sea water

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/18/humble-potato-poised-to-launch-food-revolution

Edible canna lily - a.k.a. Arrowroot, Indian Shot

Edible canna lily

Canna lilies are an almost unknown edible, at least here in the US.
I do not have nutritional information on this plant, which is a surprise because much of the plant is edible. For high calorie gardening I am looking at the starch in the roots. You can eat the roots raw, or bake them like a potato. One can also shred or grind the roots and put in a bucket of water to remove the starch in them.

Since Cannas are a relative of bananas the leaves can be used to rap food for cooking just like a banana leaf. The flowers are also edible along with the unripen seedpods. Where I live in the Midwest I have to dig up the roots every fall and replant every spring. However, the roots are generally shallow so they are easy to dig up.

One thing to remember is that canna like wet soils. They will absorb pollutants/contaminants from wetlands. So always be careful about the runoff that feeds your edible canna. I have grown canna lily since the 1990’s and only discovered a few years ago that it was edible. I purchased some specimens that were grown for food in South America and they have done very well in the Midwest where I live. The only issue I have found is Japanese beetle. But Japanese beetle is also edible. I generally tend to collect them and feed them to the chickens if the turkeys do not get them first. So for a person making a survival garden they are an ideal crop. Most people do not know they are edible. They are easy to grow. They attract an insect that is edible in numbers that are easy to collect J

Achira - Canna edulis a.k.a. Arrowroot, Indian Shot
http://stipulae.johnvanhulst.com/DOCS/PDF/Achira.pdf

Can one have too much of a good thing?

Can one have too much of a good thing?

When it comes to compost the answer is yes. This is because compost can be a very good supplier of potassium. Many people growing organic use compost for soil structure, fertilizer, Soil Organic Matter, etc. 

“Soil Organic Matter (SOM) consists of plant and animal remains, in various stages of decomposition, root and microbial exudates, and humus. SOM improves a number of soil physical, chemical, and biological properties. However, the optimal range of SOM content for vegetable production or soil health varies across soil types. Generally, lower levels of SOM are sufficient, and practical to achieve, in coarse textured, sandy soils as compared to finer soils with more clay content. For example, 2.5% SOM in a loamy sand soil might be considered ideal while 2.5% could be considered marginal in a silt loam soil where 3 to 5% is more common”.

http://nevegetable.org/cultural-practices/building-soil-organic-matter

“With this information in hand we began looking closely at gardens and market gardens that had high levels of compost applied over several years. We consistently found the same pattern: very high potassium, generally high levels of phosphorous and extremely low levels of available calcium. We then asked these same gardeners how their garden was doing. The answers were telling: A lot of bug pressure – It used to be much better – Really poor tasting food – Very low brix levels.

This research lead International Ag Labs to promulgate two new quality indicators based off our soil tests: the calcium-potassium ratio and the calcium-phosphorous ratio. Both should be around 18:1. I have found that if the calcium to potassium ratio is narrow, say at 3:1 or less it is a sure indicator that the garden will not be producing high brix foods until the ratio is widened. Gardens with narrow ratios can still produce abundantly but the food will not be nutrient-dense and the flavor will leave a lot to be desired. “

Any time you get your nutrients out of balance you can find deficiency in key nutrients.

Excessive potassium levels will reduce boron availability, needed for nitrogen conversion and the transfer of starch from the leaves to the fruit.  When excessive enough, potassium - whether combined with sodium or not - can block manganese uptake, another key nutrient for vine strength, fruit set, and skin quality of the grapes.

Excessive phosphate levels in the soil can result in poor water utilization. Too much compost or manure, or even soft rock phosphate, or 11-52-0 (MAP) or 18-48-0 (DAP), or any phosphate source that will sufficiently build P levels in the soil can cause this to happen. Zinc is necessary for moisture absorption by the plant.  Excessive phosphate ties up zinc.

Too much nitrogen can cause a copper deficiency.  Though copper is only needed in "trace" amounts, along with potassium and manganese it helps to increase vine resilience and skin quality in wine grapes. 
High levels of nitrogen can also lead to a lot of green growth and not as much tuber growth.

If the compost has a proper Carbon:Nitrogen ratio of approx. 10-12:1, it does not tie up nutrients. High carbon composts always tie up nitrogen and sulfur, and sometimes other nutrients when worked in to the soil.

Building Soil Organic Matter Building Soil Organic Matter Building Soil Organic Matter with Organic Amendments with Organic Amendments
http://www.cias.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/soilorgmtr.pdf

CALCULATING A COMPOST APPLICATION RATE BASED ON FERTILIZER NEEDS
http://www.extsoilcrop.colostate.edu/Soils/powerpoint/compost/Calculating_compost_application_rate.pdf

Compost Production and Use
http://www.safs.msu.edu/soilecology/pdfs/Combined%20Compost05.doc

Application Rates and Techniques for Using Composted Materials in Florida DOT Projects
http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/26000/26100/26102/application_rates.pdf

The True Cost of Compost: An Analysis of Bagged vs. Bulk Compost Prices
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/cost-of-compost-price-chart.aspx#ixzz3HaMkB3Fb

Parsnips

Parsnips

There are 100 calories in one cup of parsnips.

Parsnips are interesting because some varieties can reseed themselves and in some cases they can become invasive and grow wild. Also Parsnips can overwinter in the ground. Where I live there are wild parsnips which are edible. In some areas of the United States they have groups who use tools designed to remove the parsnip root that clear them are of native habitat.

One should remember when working with parsnips that parsnips contain furocoumarins that can make the skin sensitive to light. So one should be careful working with the foliage and do not get the sap on your skin. I like to wear gloves when working with green parsnip foliage. I also like to harvest them after the tops have been killed by frost. I also leave some in the ground for spring eating. If you are going to harvest wild parsnips make sure you know the difference between parsnip, hogweed, hemlock, wild parsley, etc.

Perfect Parsnips every time
http://www.growveg.com/growblogpost.aspx?id=235

Mother Earth Magazine - All About Growing Parsnips
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/growing-parsnips-zw0z1401zsto.aspx#axzz3H55NKzHH

The Benefits of Growing Parsnips
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/growing-parsnips-zmaz77mazbon.aspx?PageId=1#axzz3H55NKzHH

This shovel was specifically designed for use on the invasive Wild Parsnip
https://www.prairiemoon.com/tool-shed/the-parsnip-predator.html

Ground Nuts (Apios Americana)

Ground Nuts (Apios Americana)

Here is a plant I am growing as part of my high calorie garden. Around 36% of the raw root is carbohydrates but the tubers also have roughly three times the protein of potatoes. From what I can determine they have the highest protein content of any root crop.

Groundnut tubers are a good source of carbohydrates and contain between 13 and 17 percent protein by dry weight, or about three times more than potatoes or any other widely used vegetable root (Yanovsky and Kingsbury 1938, Watt and Merrill 1963).

The tubers are highly palatable with culinary characteristics of a potato, although the flavor can be somewhat nuttier than a potato and the texture can be finer.[3] Studies in rats suggest that raw tubers should not be consumed because they contain protease inhibitors whereas cooking destroys the protease inhibitors rendering the tubers safe to eat.[4] Tubers contain roughly three times the protein content of a potato (16.5% by dry weight), and the amino acid balance is good with the exception of cysteine and methionine.[5] The fatty acid content of tubers is approximately 4.2% to 4.6% with linoleic fatty acids predominating.[6] Thirty-six percent of the fresh weight of a tuber is carbohydrate (primarily starch).[7] The tubers are also an excellent source of calcium and iron.[7] Calcium content is 10-fold greater than a potato and iron is 2-fold greater than a potato, although vitamin C was considerably less than a potato.[7] In addition, the tubers appear to have numerous health promoting factors. Hypertensive rats that were fed powdered tubers as 5% of their total diet experienced a 10% decrease in blood pressure and also a reduction in cholesterol and triglycerides.[8] It has been shown that the tubers contain genistein and other isoflavones that have various health benefits, including an anticarcinogenic function against colon, prostate, and breast cancer.[9][10]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apios_americana

While ground nut tubers are an amazing food, approximately 1% of the population can develop allergies to them. This allergy can hit the first time they eat the tubers or any time the sit down to a meal of them after that first time. There's no good way of telling in advance if a person might be allergic, but if someone has an extreme allergy to peanuts I would hesitate in giving them any part of the groundnut plant.
http://www.foragingtexas.com/2009/09/groundnut.html

I have found some growing instructions at http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_apam.pdf

I know they are grown in Northern Japan as a commercial crop but I have little information of their cultivation in Japan.

I have been growing mine in 55 gallon tubs because I want to collect all the roots. I have been growing then in tubs next to tubes of Jerusalem Artichokes for around two years. The vines have grown into the Jerusalem Artichokes but seem to cause little problem. This year I have enough to experiment with so I am planting one large groundnut root cluster with four Jerusalem artichoke tubers. I will see how they grow together.  I wish I had more to offer you on this plant but I am finding that there just is not a lot of information on the Internet about growing this plant. If my experiment works I hope to grow Jerusalem Artichokes and ground nuts together on a two year harvesting. Only issue I will have is grubs in fall. I will handle this with parasitic nematodes.

My Giant Ragweed harvest this October

A update on my Giant Ragweed.

With my foot in a cast I was still able to harvest half a bucket of seeds from a single patch of Giant Ragweed.
The powers above seemed to be against me. I broke my ankle so I had to wait till I was in a walking cast. Being in a cast I only got to harvest a fraction of what I wanted to harvest. Being in the cast I was limited in what I could harvest. I selected a small patch by my chicken pen. I had purchased a very short heavy duty sickle head on about a three foot handle. The first time I used it the handle split along the length. So out came the duck tape. A short time later off came the metal part. So out came the duck tape again. After a good coating of duck tape it stayed together. I would grab the Giant Ragweed stalk in my left and and cut is at the base with the sickle tool in my right. Than I would hobble over to a tarp I had layed out an place the stalk on the tarp and give it a few good hits with the back of the sickle bar. I could hear the seeds dropping. Once I had a load on the tarp I would drag the bunch to the chicken pen and put the stalks in the pen. The seeds that had fallen on the tarp I collected.

In this manner I managed a couple loads and got half a bucket full of seeds. The seeds that remained on the stalks along with any green leave or seed pods were eaten by the chickens. They cleaned up all that could be eaten in just a matter of a few days. I am now setting with a bucket of seeds that I will sort this winter looking for the biggest seeds. Next year I am likely to cut the Giant Ragweed as fodder for the chickens since it is high in protein and the birds love it.The seeds are high in fat and digestible protein so it would make good bird feed. The one thing I would do differently would be to plant the Giant Ragweed in rows so I can bend the stalks over the tarp as I cut them so I keep more seeds. It is interesting that the seeds were eaten by humans long ago. I have tried some myself since ragweed is not a problem for me. They taste something like raw sunflower seeds. It is likely I can run them through a oil press since they are so high in fats. I am surprised that they are not used by people who have a problem with ragweed pollen. Since 75% of people who have a problem with ragweed pollen have a problem with the leaves of the plant. Leaves and seeds in small doses would seem to offer a way to become less sensitive. One thing I noted was how many honey bees were collecting pollen form my Giant Ragweed. It may explain why the local honey helps with allergies if taken weekly all year long.

This spring I plant to use my new jab planter to put in a new patch of giant ragweed!

High Calorie Gardening requires learning by doing!

An important point of High Calorie Gardening is you can only learn if you are activity gardening. Yes you can read, watch videos, etc. but to really understand you have to get your hands dirty. Let me give you an example based on my week. 

I had grown Jerusalem Artichokes for a number of years with no problems. This year my plants were badly neglected due to illness in the family. So I went to harvest my 55 tubs of chokes and I found about a dozen white grubs in each tub of chokes. Now this was minor damage to my plants but it is likely the stressed plants became attractive to the insects that hatched the grubs. I will now spend some time trying to get the grubs identified. So far it looks like it will be one of several moths that eat sunflowers. Jerusalem Artichokes are part of the sunflower family. If I had not been growing these I would not have learned about this problem. Now I have an opportunity to learn how to live with this problem.

On another note I have tried growing potatoes that I could winter over outside. Well about three years ago I thought all my outdoor potatoes I was testing died. Well this winter was hard and my thyme died. I did not have time to deal with the tub that had thyme so it just sort of sat for the summer. So I was cleaning it out and what did I find, potatoes I had planted years ago. They had been growing with the thyme for several years and wintering in the pot with them. I collected all the potatoes I could find and will be babying these to plant next spring so I can increase their numbers for another test. I may have found my overwintering potato!

In another area I finally tried my new jab planter. I like it a lot but I wanted to use it in wet clay soil. The problem is the plate the protects the seed drop fills with clay. So I am ordering a replacement spade part for it that is a few inches longer. Once I get the part lined up correctly for my soil it will allow me to plant when soil is too wet to work. All I have to do is tarp the ground to kill the weeds and jab the seeds into the ground. I will be using it as is this weekend to get some field peas in the ground where the chickens are. They may eat them all but they are being planted as fodder for the birds anyways. Once I get the jab planter working right I can just keep replanting different fodder crops. I will likely also be setting up a bucket fodder system to give the chickens greens in the winter.

I could go on but you get the point. There is so much I am constantly learning by actually doing. It is ok to start small but start you must if you really want to learn.

The modern American garden has its roots in the Victory Garden of WWII

Much of Americans and British gardening today has its roots in the victory gardens of WWII.

In America the goal of the Victory Garden was to supply fresh fruits and vegetables.

The PDF “Grow your own Victory Garden” has suggestions based on historical records for creating your own victory garden.

http://gardens.si.edu/come-learn/docs/Grow%20Your%20Own%20Victory%20Garden.pdf

Spring garden suggested crops

Carrot - Amarillo, St. Valery

Lettuce - Bronze Arrow, Forellenschuluss, Black-Seeded Simpson, Tennis Ball

Kale - Red Russian, Early Curled Siberian Kale

Onion - Red Wethersfield, Siskiyou Sweet

Peas - alderman Tall Telephone, Corne De belier, Green Arrow

Radish - Red Meat, White Icicle

Summer garden suggested crops

Basil - Lettuce Leaf, Mrs. Burns Lemon

Beans, Bush - Black Pencil Podded

Beans, Pole - Kentucky Wonder, Dow Purple Podded, Good Mother Stallard

Beans, Lima - Red Calico

Corn, Popcorn - Strawberry

Corn, Sweet - Stowell's Evergreen, Golden Bantam, Texas Honey June

Cucumber - Lemon, Early Russian, Suyo Long

Eggplant - Black Beauty, Rosa Bianca

Muskmelon - Hale's Best, Pike

Okra - Clemson Spineless

Pepper - California Wonder, Marconi, Black Czech

Pumpkin - Rouge Vif D'etampes

Squash, Summer - Yellow Crookneck, Cocozelle Bush

Squash, Winter - Blue Hubbard

Tomato - Yellow pear, Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, Cherokee Purple

Watermelon - Moon and Stars, White Wonder

Fall-Winter garden suggested crops

Beets - Detroit Dark Red, Bull's Blood, Chioggia

Broccoli - Calabrese

Cabbage - Early Jersey Wakefield

Carrot - Amarillo, St. Valery

Cauliflower - (All-Year-Round)

Lettuce - Bronze Arrow, Forellenschuluss, Black-Seeded Simpson, Tennis Ball

Kohirabi - Purple Vienna

Parsley - Extra Curled Dwarf

Parsnip - Sugar Hollow Crown

Radish - Red Meat, White Icicle

Spinach - Viroflay, Bloomsdale Long Standing

Swiss Chard - Ruby

Turnip - (Purple-Top White Globe)

If you look at the top rated products at Burpee’s seeds you will see they line up well with the victory garden above.

Top Rated Products at Burpee’s
http://www.burpee.com/gardening/content/gygg/ratings/ratings.html

Tomato Big Beef Hybrid

Sweet Pepper The Godfather Hybrid

Corn Maple Sugar Sweet Hybrid

Sweet Pepper Gypsy Hybrid

Tomato Sugar Snack Hybrid (Cherry)

Cantaloupe Sweet'n Early Hybrid

Cucumber Sweeter Yet Hybrid

Corn Silver Queen Hybrid

Summer Squash Sweet Gourmet Hybrid

If you look at the “Vegetable Carbohydrate Chart” showing low carb and high carb vegetables you will find 13 low carb items listed and only five high carb items listed.

http://www.burpee.com/gardening/content/gygg/carbchart/carbchart.html

For high carb they only list Onions, Parsnips, Green Peas, Acorn Squash, Lima Beans

It is America’s legacy of WWII that has left us today with a focus on the lower calorie items for much of our gardens in America. Staples such as dent corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc. are cheap and easy to obtain. So most people do not bother growing these crops, which is sad because some varieties offer a lot culinary wise. Much of what we grow today would fit well into the victory garden of the early 1940’s. If you go areas of the world where subsistence farming is still practiced you will see a focus on high calorie crops. Each of these cultures will have one or more high calorie crops that their society depends on to meet a large portion of their daily calorie needs.