Propaganda By The Seed

Psyched to unveil “Plant of the Month...” A new podcast series w/ Aaron Parker of Edgewood Nursery focusing on perennial vegetables / unusual plants. For our first episode we’re gonna talk about Bunias Orientalis aka Turkish Rocket. Turkish Rocket is a perennial vegetable often used in forest gardens that produces small edible broccoli raab like flower buds and arugula/cabbage tasting leaves.

We also discuss Actinidia polygama aka “Silvervine Kiwi” which can also be purchased direct from Edgewood Nursery

In this episode of Propaganda By The Seed we talk with rooftop gardener & permaculturist Mike Spade of the Plant The Seed Project. We talk about Mike’s work in NY and Denver designing green roofs. Mike talk about the differences between growing with rooftop gardens in various climates and the crops that work well. We also get into some of the logistics to consider when building a rooftop garden and the challenges that one might encounter when growing food on rooftops, from hail to heat to rain and the soil’s ability to hold water.

In this episode of Propaganda By The Seed we talk with Eliza Greenman & Taylor Malone of the North American Fruit Explorers. We talk about Mulberries, their history , how to propagate them and the work they’ve done to uncover rare cultivars such as the Hicks Everbearing Mulberry. Mulberry leaves are surprisingly high in protein and an 8 year old tree can produce up to a quart of berries a day, making them one of the most prolific fruit bearers around. This episode covers a lot of ground, from the usage of mulberries in silvopasture (in conjunction with pigs or goats) to some of the more interesting things people do with them around the world.

In this episode of Propaganda By The Seed, we take a look back on the 2021 growing season on our homesteads. We talk about new plants & crops we grew this year, surprises, and what we learned growing in this year of collapsing empire, global pandemics and climate weirdness.

Aaron is about to release his 2022 Seed Catalogue, pick up seeds at edgewood-nursery.com

In this episode we talk with Melissa Hoffman of Sho Farm and Living Future about Siberian Peashrub (Caragana arborescens). Siberian Peashrub is a large, multi-stemmed shrub from northern Asia. They are somewhat familiar in landscaping and as a nitrogen fixer, but the seeds remain underutilized by most people growing them around here. Melissa shares her experiences growing, harvesting and above all cooking with this plant. We also chat about several fermentation techniques including water kefir. Be sure to check out Melissa’s blog post on this topic for some beautiful photos and additional info. Some other resources that are mentioned are the book The Ecological Farm by Helen Atthowe and the website Full of Plants

Update: after publishing this episode I got a email from Jack Kertesz with some extra info to share. Rather than tarps, he now uses a wide piece of row cover material, slit to the middle and gathered around the trunk. This helps avoid excess moisture from collecting on the sheet. Before laying out the collecting sheet he mows the area. The sheet should be weighted down around the edges, or it may blow away. He also noted occasional chance seedlings from Pea shrubs if adjacent areas have freshly tilled, open soil, although it hasn’t presented a problem.