Tuesday, April 15, 2014

my tax dollars at work

tubers have been cropping up around the house with startling regularity recently and today was no exception...my government potatoes form the potato introduction station is sturgeons' bay wisconsin came next day air and were waiting when i got home from work...this further expands our tuber diversity and will make for some interesting comparisons...they came neatly packaged in brown paper bags with labels telling what was what...in the second photo, they are, left to right: purple valley, juice valley, craigs snowwhite, leona, and pungo...their respective origins are the u.s.,scotland, south korea, south korea, and peru...the third photo is of ( l-r ) german butterball, early blue, and all red...all form the u.s... the last photo is of mashua and it oriinated in columbia...an international cast of diverse tubers...and the relentless jerusalem artichokes are not pictured...there will be homes for all around the campus gardens ( the iu northwest community garden and the pgp ) and around my yard as well..there's a lot to talk about here...from the abundant productivity of the jerusalem artichokes to the nematode control characteristics of the mashua and the nitrogen fixing of white clover, hairy vetch, alfalfa, and illinois bundleflower...gearing up to chemical free pest control and fertility is a front burner issue for this gardener...the fundamental purpose of the garden is education and community building...providing a like-minded group of people with all the information on organic gardening, nutritional values, harnessing natural processes, food security, and food sustainability along with a vehicle to utilize that learning..the new garden site is much larger and has the potential to be a lynchpin in a community/university integration...this is going to be good...stay tuned.

No comments:

Post a Comment