Fedco Seeds - A cool little company!

Well some of you who know me better understand that I am a little strange... one of the many ways is in my passion for growing things - more specifically growing FOOD! 

If you can't eat it or something that eats it, what good is it?

Being of the mindset of a freedom and liberty minded individual, I am making all attempts I can to minimize my government (the department of making you sad - D.O.M.Y.S) footprint!  I'll get to that in a minute... but first, another personality trait that I really like to eat, and I want to do my best to make sure that I won't run out of food if anything bad happens... and bad things to happen to even good people!  Just ask Job...

Anyway, back to minimizing my gov't (D.O.M.Y.S) footprint... one way to do that is to minimize the taxes I pay.  Now, what can I do to reduce my property tax?  I can try to get an agricultural exemption!  (I'm working toward it...)  Can I reduce my income tax?  Maybe I can start a business and claim a few expenses that I couldn't otherwise claim... I'm working on that too!  But think about it a little more... how else does the DOYMS get money?  Every single time you spend money, it get's taxed.  Maybe not on food, for some states... but the person who works at the grocery pays income tax, the person driving the truck pays income tax, the truck had a sales tax, the fuel to drive the truck had a sales tax... etc.  Get the point?  I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of keeping it local...
Note - The Bible tells us to pay to Caesar what is due Caesar.   I'm not advocating illegal activity, just working within the confines of the system to your fullest advantage!

Starve the monster!

So that said, there are things that can be done to provide us better wealth without being taxed (at least not yet).  Now to deviate for just a moment, lets talk about financial world views.  There are some out there who subscribe to the Limited Wealth concept.  This takes the opinion that there is a limited number of resources around us, and those who have only have at the expense of those who do not.  On the other hand there are those who subscribe to the Unlimited Wealth concept... as do I.  This basically says that there is as much wealth surrounding you as you are willing and able to create.  So what does this have to do with Fedco Seeds?  I'm almost there, I promise!

Being a subscriber to the unlimited wealth concept, I look at my backyard (and front yard - as the wife will permit) and wonder how I can utilize those resources to increase my wealth.  Currently one goal is to raise sheep... time will tell on that venture.  Another venture is my garden... I spend some money, time, energy and I get food in return.  I could go to work and spend some time, money and energy and get a pay check, but that gets taxed!  Instead, the garden provides me with organic food that I can eat!  As of yet the IRS (DOMYS) has not yet figured out how to tax me on the produce grown in my garden - double win for me (food and minimizing my footprint).  The same thing is going on with my fruit trees.  Now I'm using a holistic management method (click to read my book review here) with organic spray ingredients, so I pay some tax on those, but nothing compared to the total value that I will get out of my trees when they start to produce!  (I planted them in 2014-2015 with a few more going in each year.) 

So now why do I mention Fedco Seeds?  Well I was looking for some cherry scion to graft onto a piece of cherry root stock that survived when the tree on top of it died (it sent up a sprout, I can only imagine I cut a root when I put the T-post in) and somehow ended up on their site.  What I found was some really cool catalogs you can download as a .pdf. 

The orchard catalog is full of all sorts of great information that Ive not seen elsewhere in all my research!  You can just click here to open it.  Hopefully they don't get mad at me for posting it here, but one piece of information I thought was really cool was this recipe for using chives to protect your fruit trees!  (If you guys are mad, I'll be happy to take it down... hopefully you are cool with it as I'm providing some free advertising... I hope to business with you guys in the future!)

Who would have thought?

Needless to say, I need to plant some chives around my fruit trees!  I also need to plant some comfrey and daffodils around them... oh, and garlic too!  So this is one of the little jewels that is scattered throughout the catalog.  I highly recommend you check it out, and perhaps buy a tree or two from them!  If you do, let me know your thoughts!

Bone broth... Look at the bones!

First, let's start off with something fun!

In my recent post, Lately, I talked about how things are going with the family and how we're going to a lot of extra work in an effort to heal.  One of the things I spoke about was bone broth... I'd like to dive in a little deeper on this topic.

There's a lot of good stuff inside those bones!

 The goal is to heal our digestive tract.  It could have been made unhealthy by a wide variety of things, like stress or antibiotics.  Whatever the cause, it doesn't matter so much... what matters is fixing it!  If you want to learn more about this stuff, a highly recommended book is Nourishing Traditions, but there are enough articles out on the net that would also help.

See the bone marrow hiding in there?  Yep, that's good for you!

Let's get to the point, shall we?  Here's a basic explanation of how we have found is the easiest way to do bone broth.  Get the biggest one you think you can handle, we actually use a 20qt turkey roaster after determining two crock pots were too much work.  We'll pour in about 2-1/2 gallons of water, a cup of apple cider vinegar (it helps draw the calcium out of the bones) and some salt in with approximately 5 chicken feet (yes, it's gross... but they make the most amazing broth!) and a couple pounds of bones (we got our from a local grass fed cattle farmer).  Throw in any veggie scraps for flavor with a little salt and let it cook.

Yum!

I know... it looks disgusting...

Chicken bone marrow... yep, it's good for you too!

Grand Central Bone Broth Station!

In the bottom right of the pic above you can see a canning funnel, a ladle and a sieve.  We pour the broth into the sieve over the funnel that puts it into our mug for drinking out of... it's messy and I pray it is making a difference!

Maybe if I ever figure it out I can make a youtube video and show you how we do it...

Till then, this looks like a good one....

Keep your powder dry...
-Clinton

Book Review #1: The Holistic Orchard - The Book

In a recent post I gave a review of The Holistic Orchard.  While writing my post for that review I discovered there was a book, so naturally I checked it out from the library too! I've been reading it for about two months now, it seems, and have learned an amazing amount of knowledge!

Let me summarize and leave you with this...

READ THIS BOOK!

(I don't have any affiliate links or any affiliation with Michael Phillips (yet) btw)

He covers so much I won't even try to describe it... but here's what the Amazon description has to say:

"Many people want to grow fruit on a small scale but lack the insight to be successful orchardists. Growing tree fruits and berries is something virtually anyone with space and passionate desire can do - given wise guidance and a personal commitment to observe the teachings of the trees. A holistic grower knows that producing fruit is not about manipulating nature but more importantly, fostering nature. Orcharding then becomes a fascinating adventure sure to provide your family with all sorts of mouth-watering fruit.
The Holistic Orchard demystifies the basic skills everybody should know about the inner-workings of the orchard ecosystem, as well as orchard design, soil biology, and organic health management. Detailed insights on grafting, planting, pruning, and choosing the right varieties for your climate are also included, along with a step-by-step instructional calendar to guide growers through the entire orchard year. The extensive profiles of pome fruits (apples, pears, asian pears, quinces), stone fruits (cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums), and berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, gooseberries, currants, and elderberries) will quickly have you savoring the prospects.
Phillips completely changed the conversation about healthy orcharding with his first bestselling book, The Apple Grower, and now he takes that dialogue even further, drawing connections between home orcharding and permaculture; the importance of native pollinators; the world of understory plantings with shade-tolerant berry bushes and other insectary plants; detailed information on cover crops and biodiversity; and the newest research on safe, homegrown solutions to pest and disease challenges.
All along the way, Phillips' expertise and enthusiasm for healthy growing shines through, as does his ability to put the usual horticultural facts into an integrated ecology perspective. This book will inspire beginners as well as provide deeper answers for experienced fruit growers looking for scientific organic approaches. Exciting times lie ahead for those who now have every reason in the world to confidently plant that very first fruit tree!"

The Holistic Orchard, A Review

The Man: Michael Phillips

A few weeks back I was looking for information on plant propagation from cuttings, as well as grafting.  I checked out a lot of books and some videos, including this one.  At over 5 hrs long, it's not what I would call a fun flick to watch with your significant other, unless they happen to share your interest.  This is 5 hours packed full of "push play, push rewind" until you can write it all down.  This is packed full of great information and easily on the level of the college classes I took when I was getting my engineering degree.  Oh, one last thing before I get into it... grab a pen and paper before you push play... you'll need it!

Here's the trailer for the dvd...

I had a hard time finding the DVD set on the internet, but eventually ended up finding the book/dvd bundle on Amazon here and the book alone available here.  I can't comment on the book, but continue reading to learn more about the DVD.

While I'm working from memory, the education begins with comprehensive explanation about the process and a demonstration of bench grafting (grafting branches onto root stock to form new trees).  It then moves on to planting the tree, pruning, training, spraying, dealing with insects, thinning, picking and a discussion on various varieties of apples scattered throughout.  So how do you get 5 hours plus from all that?  Yea, I'm not sure... but I never really felt the need to skip over anything.

One of the things I thought was great about this was it covered everything I wondered about how to do with my home garden, and so much more!  Before I watched this people would tell me about how horrible the bugs were and how all I would grow is nasty bug infested fruit... and some say I can be pessimistic!  Well now I have answers those people, and they don't include the use of some really nasty chemicals! 

Some of you might know that I worked landscaping through college,  With that I spent a lot of time spraying various chemicals to treat what most people would call weeds, which I now love to have around to provide a healthier habitat for the pollinators and other critters that make the world work.  Getting back to the chemicals... have you ever read the caution labels on the chemicals you get at the store?  I don't think those things are good for me and if you read the label, you should come to the same conclusion.  If you think they are fine, that's okay... I would, however, challenge you to drink some.  Here's a quick demonstration for kick's and giggles...

Okay, back on topic...

There are a lot of different ways you can help your trees be successful, and a lot of things that are required to make them successful too.  Adding the right soil amendments, ensuring adequate pollination, insect traps, pruning (think about the future!) and training, thinning out the fruit so the tree can grow bigger healthier fruit, support plants (dandelions and comfrey), disease prevention... growing an orchard is a lot of work if you're going to make money at it! 

Well I apologize for the ranting and rabbit trails.  Hopefully what you got from this is the recognition that you might be missing a few things in your attempts to grow healthy apple trees and the motivation to do something about it.  If you check out the reviews om Amazon, you'll find out they have a lot of good things to say about this dvd too!  I can't say enough...

This one might have to make itself a new home in my library at home!