2024 was a year of surprises. Here are a few from my farm where anything is possible.
My Green Cover Gourd population went gangbusters this year taking over the pokeweed climbing to new heights. This white type is a good sign and may have what I am looking for in terms of edible seeds. Something that is not painful, I don’t have to snap my head back to get down or have to dial 911 in a near state of unconsciousness would be nice. Growth and change are good.Having pecan trees was probably one of the best tree crops to grow at my farm in Michigan. The short season genotypes from Illinois and Iowa were made by using unselected seedlings from a larger population based soley on ripening period. Here you can see persimmons in front of them. The growth rate is off the charts and they are now one of the tallest trees at my farm used as a hedgerow compotent. Growth like this within the hickory genus is off the charts good. ‘Michigan’ and ‘Michigander Prolifico’ are two varieties which are heavy and reliable producers developed on my farm. Oh the soybean. You are so good and so powerful. But why is the flavor so, so, soy like. Oh that’s right. You’re a soybean. When I drive by a soybean field in the fall and see the dense clusters of beans on the stems I know that thousands of years of selection has made you what people want. Enter the lima bean. Its in the mixed vegetables in the freezer section and that’s it. The growth rate has to increase along with the flowering and yields. I don’t care. I’m copying the soybeans. Its a visual bridge for me to my lima bean dream of perennial in nature, heavy yields and over the top growth. This seedling lima selection was a stand out in the field this year. Dare I say. Its soy like. From the Cloud Lima selections. Its three purple lima beans in a pod. You would think I invented cold fusion. I didn’t. But I did find three purple lima beans in a pod. This was the holy grail for me only because the selections I kept growing from seed never produced three per pod. It was a random mix of one per pod or none. The growth of this vine produced early dark purple three in a pod beans. Seriously it was my aha moment in lima beans. Interesting in that at the coffee shop no one will talk to me anymore if I bring up my purple bean stories. We had a volcano grow in our driveway. The perfectly new asphalt driveway had a bump form looking like a giant zit. After a few calls and $750 lighter, we got to the bottom of it. A type of fungus was growing out of the packed gravel and pushing up the 4 inch thick asphalt creating a mini-volcano type of effect. If you think about it, what sort of pressure did it take to crack and break 4 inches plus of solid asphalt fully hardened? You cannot stop growth. Just saying. Mother of God fungus.For years I grew the perennial and forever self replicating hog peanut. I only wanted the tubers. Oh the tubers of the hog peanut I would say are the best over and over. This year I started an experiment testing the seed production. It was a shocking surprise worthy of telling everyone in the coffee shop. By now they are use to it and run when they see me. It was shocking only because the vines grew to 5 feet tall and flowered like no tommorrow. This flowering created huge seed production. I had no idea that the seeds were edible or even possible to grow. This was a eureka moment of growth and happiness for me as it was something totally unexpected. From Crispy Snack variety developed on my farm.This clustery red potato was not a new discovery. Instead it was more like variations of a theme. Here the growth was small, diminitive, innocent, quiet and subtle. The vine was barely a foot long. Growth is the most powerful on that level because it is closest to its source of pure energy and unboundedness. The full effect of this particular seedling potato will be in the field next year with all his friends surrounded and tended by a farmer who cares for him as if he was the last potato on earth. Trees can respond immediately to changes in the environment. It may not be a Broadway Musical event but it does happen fairly quickly with callus and sprouting. Its a visual cue that things are being fixed on a cellular level. My hybrid American Chestnuts show both the limitations and overcoming limitations all in one swoop of dynamic growth. Here we see a sprout which is becoming the new part of the plant. Normally sprouts are removed in orchard settings. At my farm removing sprouts would be damaging to the tree while interfering with its new growth strategy of overcoming obstacles. On the other hand, humans as an obstacle are not easily overcome by plants because by nature they are our allies and partners in our success as a species. It happens. From the Douglas hybrid American chestnuts developed further at my farm.I’m pretty sure the coffee shop folks have not listtened to my stories of pin cherries from the Two Hearted River region yet. Maybe they will not run away this time. “Wait!” I will say. “I’m not done.” I really find it super intriguing that Prunus virginiana can get to maximum size so quickly. It is a clonal plant by nature usually fading like shumac after 20 years or so. I kept at my pruning only to realize the inside of the log was hollowing out and rotting. In the meantime, callus tries the work around solution to keep the growth going. The solution is more sprouts which then becomes the new tree. It was not that hard to do. I moved a few of these sprouts to my home and they too made beautiful fast growing trees to 40 ft. tall. People think they are junk trees. Junk trees is a sign of ignorance about the potentialities within the species and how beneficial they are to the world at large. There is no such plant.Everything is connected. The deer find solace at my farm and a place of refuge filled with good things to eat. I find solace at my farm as a place of refuge with good things to eat. Growth can be maximized here. Unobstructed. Free of barriers. No limitations. A joy to experience. This is the new ecology.
I started a farm in the early 1980’s called Oikos Tree Crops. It was once a 13 acre pasture and overtime became a forest. Today I am dedicated more than ever to finding, preserving, creating and disseminating a wide variety of food plants. At my farm I explore new plants and healthy ways to raise them. I currently focus my attention on my seed repository while providing seeds and bring these new discoveries to the public at large. My farm is one of the oldest and most diverse maintained tree crop plantings in the U.S. using many plants from around the world as a form of global agroforestry applied at a local level. Every plant grown on my farm is grown from seeds. I use the tree crop philosophy as a means to expand the use of perennial, woody tree and shrub crops raised from seed without the use of chemical and high energy inputs.The two story agriculture is alive and well at Oikos Tree Crops. This blog highlights ecological enrichment as a means to improve human health and raise awareness of the possibilities of creating a healthy earth and a wealthy farmer. My story is told by describing my 50 years of farming and life experiences surrounding agriculture filled with my love of nature and my constant search for a greater diversity beyond the cultivar on a global stage.
biologicalenrichment 
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