Juicy Fruit

photo by southernpixel

Apples are a fall season fruit that stores well into the early winter. We've all heard that they're nutritious - eat at least one a day and you'll not see the MD as the saying goes. And according to my daughter's unofficial survey of vegetable-hating fourth graders, apples are loved by pretty much everybody. Except maybe Snow White. Talk about lousy publicity. Of course, "they" also say any publicity is good publicity.

Apples originated in Central Asia where their wild ancestor still can be found in places like Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Apples are not usually cultivated by seed. A special technique called grafting produces apple trees with a promising root stock and a branch from a mature tree with desirable apples. One reason apple are not often produced from seed, is that the seeds require quite of bit of work to germinate. First they must be scarified which means wearing the hard covering off. Then they have to be babied through the germination process carefully. Once you get a seedling, it will take many years to develop fruit. The fruit may or may not resemble the original apple in any way.

Apples are a late autumn fruit in cooler climes which stores well through the winter without losing too much of its nutritional value. Many foods are not so lucky. They must be eaten as close to harvest to avoid losing their nutritional appeal. My daughter says that apples are juicy, yummy and colorful which makes them interesting. Apple juice is often the juice of choice for babies through adults. And apple cider vinegar has been blamed for longevity for, well, a long time.

Let's look at what an apple has. Vitamin C definitely. That will help ward off colds and combat fatigue. Vitamin C is part of an apple's antioxident package which helps reduce the risk of cancer. Phenolics, a type of antioxident found in apples, can protect nerve cells from neurotoxicity induced by oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is involved in diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Apples also contain an assortment of B vitamins with their fiber and sugar content. Apples are a far more nutritious and sweet than, say, an apple flavored hard candy. They only have 80 calories on average. Apples also contain pectin which helps gell fruit and supports your digestive tract by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria. This miracle fruit is known to promote healthy cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

Apples are in season, so they should cost less right now. Many small growers in Washington State and other places, self brand their apples. These may cost a bit more, but the local farmer receives a better price for a superior product. Some examples of small farms who are surviving can be found in films such as My Father's Garden shown on LinkTV, or websites like Bill Pace Fruit & Produce or in places like Whole Foods. There are even a few folks in the local area who grow apples. This year's weather pretty much cancelled out the apple harvest, but next year, I'll be looking for apples at the Ashland City Open Air Market.

And now, a quick kid friendly recipe suggested by my daughter as the best way to eat apples.

Slice an organic apple into long slices

spread with organic peanut butter or dip it in the peanut butter

sprinkle organic raisins on top

Eat, eat and eat.

Then eat some more.

Yum-meee.

Money Matters

Starting in my 30's I began to seriously research what I would farm, how I would accomplish my dream, and what was necessary to make farming a possiblity for my family. As I worked my way to management in the computer industry, I learned how to calculate costs and return on investments over time. I applied these things to the dream.

A epiphany came when I was researching requirements for selling dairy products. I was helping out at my cousin's goat farm in Michigan and asking questions of her suppliers and friends. I learned that a combination homogenization/pasteurization machine often sold to small villages in Africa would cost around $10,000. The friend recommended that I consider purchasing that machine if I intended to make a go of it in the dairy goat business.

I only wanted 5 goats for milking. A handful for meat and the rest would be sold. Here's how the calculation goes. If I milked a gallon from each goat each day that would be five gallons a day or 35 gallons a week. Some milk would be reserved for family use making about 30 gallons available for sale each week. If I sold the milk for $3 a gallon - the retail price then for goats milk, I could potentially make $90 per week on milk.

$90 is gross income. I factored in my costs. My feed would cost approximately $32.50 per week. This is the only cost I considered. At the time, I didn't count mileage or water or anything else. The net weekly income would be $67.50.

The next question is how much would I net a year from selling milk and how much would I save my using my own milk products. 5 gallons a week would provide for cheese, butter, cream, yogurt and drinking milk for the family. At the time of the calculations, I estimated I would save about $7 per week by using my own stuff. Added to income, it makes $73.50 per week. Just multiply by 52 to the annual net income - right? Wrong. Female dairy goats need to be bred every year to keep up the milk supply. They dry up for about 2 months before giving birth. That's at least 2 months of no milk pre-birth and 1 month pst- birth. No milk for 3 months or approximately 12 weeks. Take twelve weeks off the year.

Now at last I can get an answer. Will I be able to make a dent in the cost of the equipment in a year? $73.50 X 40 weeks = $2940. No - not at all.

I do not want to take out a loan for $10,000. I am extremely debt adverse and that was before I heard of Dave Ramsey. I wanted to earn the money up front. It would take about three years at full production to earn enough money to pay for the machine in cash. That was not appealing to me and I began to research other options.

I will write more on considering the money needed and its relationship to sustainable farming in the following weeks. Stay tuned.

Pretty in Pink - Pretty Annoying

What pink and green and grows all over?

A mimosa, of course.

Like that question only has one answer.

Actually mimosa can be quite lovely to view, but it is not your friend. Albizia julibrissin or mimosa has been here in North America for such a long time, we have come to think of it as belonging. Where I grew up in Virginia it was an extremely common site, particularly along highways. I was a little surprised to find it on Tennessee's Exotic Invasives Species list. But the sad truth is mimosa is a noxious weed tree.

Mimosas have all the common characteristics of many pest plants: easily suckers, the least little bit will sprout, exceptionally long dormancy ability, prolific seed dropper and it's from Asia. It has made it all the way to Tennessee's Watch List 1 with a rank of 1. That means, it is ranked as a severe threat which easily naturalizes and displaces native plants. One plant it takes the place of quite easily is the red bud tree.

If you're with me so far, you'll want to know how to get rid of it - organically. Get out the chainsaw or the ax or the tree pruners. Cut it down. When it suckers up, cut it down again. Pull the stump if you can and continue to cut the suckers. If you mow the area regularly, it won't have much chance to reproduce. Or you can grow a thick canopy forest. Mimosas prefer the sun. Although they will tolerate partial shade, they do not grow in the shade.

Learn to recognize mimosa seedlings and pull them as soon as you can grab them. If you weed them when the soil is slightly damp, you'll have a better chance of pulling the whole root. That's what you want to do, because the least little piece left will grow a new tree.

You can girdle large mimosa trees, if they haven't fallen down on their own. To girdle a tree, you use an ax to cut through the bark on the tree at about six inches above the ground. Cut a ring all the way around the tree, taking care to go through the outer and inner bark layers. The tree will slowly die. The best time to do this is in April before it begins to bloom. Really you can girdle whenever the fancy strikes. The late spring is best because the tree has expended much of its stored energy on spring growth and it will likely sucker a bit less once it begins to die. Keep up with those suckers, too. Cut them off when they appear. I guess you could put animals who like to eat bark near it, too. Like goats, sheep, horses, cows, etc.

Then plant something else. Make it native. For ideas about what to plant in our Middle Tennessee area, check out Landscaping with Native Plants. They have several brochures which can give you ideas based on location, soil moisture, sunlight and pH.