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Rare Heirloom Seed Saver in Canada & Garden Faerie aka: Susan

@gardenfaerieseeds

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Preserving Canada’s heirloom seed and Jerusalem Artichoke diversity—collecting & safeguarding rare genetics for resilient gardens 🌱📍 Canada

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Got Catfished by Sunchokes? There is still time to experience this!!

https://gardenfaeriebotanicals.ca/jerusalem-artichokes-canada/

#sunchokes #jerusalemartichokes by @gardenfaerieseeds

by @gardenfaerieseeds

The Tuber Has Landed!! by @gardenfaerieseeds

Mint To Be Eaten

#crosnes #ChineseArtichokes by @gardenfaerieseeds

🥔 BIG BUCKSKIN!

Some potatoes are big. Buckskin takes things to another level!

This American potato variety has a documented parentage of Kennebec × Merrimac and is classified as a very late-maturing variety.

Buckskin has an interesting history in American potato trials. In Maine's 1980 cooperative trials, it ranked among the top ten highest-yielding varieties and among those with the highest specific gravity, an indicator of tuber dry matter content.

It has also appeared in scientific research investigating potato resistance to late blight.

And now for the part that has really caught my attention: the size of these potatoes!

My Buckskin harvest has produced consistently enormous tubers, with one weighing almost 2 pounds. These aren't just a couple of oversized potatoes hidden in the harvest. They're all big!

A variety with an interesting breeding history, impressive historical trial results and some seriously impressive tubers.

Buckskin certainly knows how to make an impression!

#BuckskinPotato #HeirloomPotatoes #PotatoVarieties #RarePotatoes #GardenFaerieBotanicals by @gardenfaerieseeds

Leaf No Cabbage Behind.

#cabbage #FoodSecurity by @gardenfaerieseeds

Sunchokes Sweet Andean Cousin

Yacon is a sweet, crunchy root from the Andes and a close cousin of the sunchoke. It tastes like a mix of apple, pear and watermelon, and its sweetness comes from a sugar your body barely digests, so it's low in calories and good for your gut. The plants grow 5 to 7 feet tall and can give you several pounds of tubers each. Dig them after the first light frost, then let them sit in the sun to get even sweeter. Eat them raw, toss them in a stir fry, or boil them down into syrup.

Garden Faerie Botanicals | gardenfaeriebotanicals.ca

#yacon #tubers #heirloomgarden #growyourownfood #rareplants by @gardenfaerieseeds

How ethical is the person who appoints themselves the judge of ethics?

Eureka Organic Farm in Vermont is putting out an "Ethical Seed Companies" spreadsheet, labelling seed companies as problematic. One company is tagged for racism based on a speaker invitation from 2019 that was cancelled, a speaker from around 2018, and a social media post from 2023. None of it is dated, and nothing shows what has changed since.

So I asked some questions of my own. The farm uses "Organic" in its name, but a search of the USDA Organic Integrity Database for Eureka Organic Farm with certified status returns no records. Their website also sells meat, eggs, baked goods and produce from other farms under the Eureka Organic Farm name.

I asked Christine who certifies her farm and whether the products she resells from other farms are certified organic. I have not received an answer.

If you sell products under an organic name, buyers deserve to know whether they are actually certified organic. And if you are going to judge the ethics of other businesses, your own should be able to stand up to the same questions.

I have emailed the farm and offered to include their response. I will share it if I get one.

What do you think? Should anyone judging others be held to their own standard?

#seedsaving #eurekaorganicfarm #organic #ethics #transparency by @gardenfaerieseeds

Violaceo di Verona Cabbage.

Violaceo di Verona is an heirloom cabbage from the Verona region of northern Italy. Its lightly savoyed leaves are a mix of violet and green, and the purple deepens as the weather cools. It forms medium sized, flat round heads with a mild flavour and takes about 110 to 130 days to mature. In my garden it has come through many frosts, including a hard frost that froze my hoses solid, and it is still going strong. A true cold season cabbage for fall and winter harvest.

#rareseeds #organic #heirloomcabbge by @gardenfaerieseeds

African Super Chufa 🌱

These little tubers are African Super, a North African selection of chufa (Cyperus esculentus var. sativus), also called tiger nuts or earth almonds.

The original variety description says African Super has light brown skin and tubers bigger and longer than ordinary chufa. It also states that one plant can produce about 200 to 250 new tubers, and that after drying for two weeks the flavour resembles almond, sweet to slightly bitter.

I got my chufa plants started late in the season this year, so I haven't experienced their full potential yet. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do with a full season next year.

Chufa is one of the oldest cultivated foods we know of. Dried tubers have been found in Egyptian tombs from Neolithic times onward, and in Egypt today they are still sold as a snack called Hab el Aziz. In West Africa they are blended into a drink called kunnu aya, and in Spain into horchata de chufa.

The cultivated type is not the weedy nutsedge gardeners dread. It rarely flowers, the tubers cluster tight at the base of the plant, and it is not frost hardy, so it is replanted from saved tubers each spring.

A note on my photo: these were harvested and given only a quick rinse to knock the soil off before going down to dry. Here is how to clean them properly for eating.

How to clean chufa for eating

Dry tubers first need a good soak. Cover them in cool water and soak 12 to 24 hours, changing the water a couple of times. They plump up and the skin softens.

Rub them clean. Put a handful in a colander or a rough towel and rub them against each other, or scrub with a stiff vegetable brush. A small handful of coarse salt helps loosen stubborn soil from the creases.

Rinse and repeat until the water runs completely clear. Soil hides in the rings around each tuber, so take your time.

Pick out any that float or feel hollow.

Once clean, eat them as a chewy snack, roast them, or blend soaked tubers with water and strain for a creamy, naturally sweet milk.

African Super chufa tubers will be available on my website in a few weeks, ready for planting next spring.

#chufa #tigernuts #earthalmond #africansuper #horchata by @gardenfaerieseeds

I thought Mavor had finally flowered on October 25, but it turns out I was admiring Red Fuseau in front of it! 😂 Mavor is still the last of my 20 Jerusalem artichoke varieties yet to bloom. The sunchoke flowering season isn't over until Mavor says so! 🌼

#JerusalemArtichokes #Sunchokes #RarePlants
#GardenFaerieBotanicals MavorSunchokes by @gardenfaerieseeds

The Mavor Sunchokes have not flowered yet! Will they?

#Mavorsunchokes #sunchokes #jerusalemartichoke #dryfarming by @gardenfaerieseeds