Potatoes, Onions & Exotics Index pages Onion Plants 110 Onion Sets 110 Ginger 111 Turmeric 111 2 Potatoes 111-117 Fingerlings 111-112 0 Early 112-113 Mid-Season 113-114 Late 115 2 Collections 115 1 Sweet Potato 111 Growing for Calories and Nutrition But it’s the maximas that shine for storage and winter eating. Once Through innovation, collaboration and sensible planning, we can grow a cooked, the leftover squash can be frozen. Until then, substantial portion of our own food. If we focus on growing for calories and storage space will be a limiting factor—especially giv- nutrition, the foods indigenous to this continent come to the fore: potatoes and en the consideration that some squash don’t come the Three Sisters, beans, corn and squash. into their prime until months after harvest. Potatoes are relatively easy, though not foolproof. Colorado potato beetles Others in my Top 10 would be garlic can put a big dent in a crop, as can blight. But if you navigate those problems eas to grow and store and ver beneficial (see page 117), potatoes grow more food per space than any other vegetable to health), tomatoes (canned, dried or frozen), (except mangels). Average yield is 10# harvested from 1# planted; yields of hot peppers (easy to dry), storage roots (with 20:1 are possible. They are relatively hardy under a wide range of conditions access to proper storage), and herbs (easy to dry). and easy to store. If you ate a diet solely of potatoes, you’d need just shy of Medicinal herbs provide variety for pollinators 6# per day to get your 2,000 calories. With that would come 52 grams of and for the home medicine chest nd finall, protein. for healthful fresh three-season eating: greens, Next in relative ease are dry beans. Bush beans take up less space in all shades and forms. than pole beans and mature all at once. Pole beans have greater If I lived farther south I might include yams. overall yield but need more ongoing attention. For every pound of Consider what grows well where you live. bush beans planted, a yield of 10# of dried beans could be expected; But, more than that, grow what you love. If for pole beans, double that. Beans are also good as green beans and you love asparagus, plant asparagus. If Aunt shell beans, so you would need to deduct from those totals any eaten Mary’s relish is a family cookout tradition, along the way. A pound of cooked dried beans meets about a third plant cukes. If you’re short on space, grow of your daily caloric needs. Once dried, beans are easy to store and smaller varieties, or grow vertically. Swap last quite a long time. with neighbors; grow extra of what does Corn takes a lot of room to grow. For food storage well for you in return for their sharing what purposes, were talking flour or flint, not sweet corn ne ear you can’t grow. Start small and plan big. ields about one cup of meal or flour, and each plant has one or Incorporate perennials. And always plant two ears, so you’ll need a substantial number of corn plants to for the future. provide an appreciable amount of grain. That cup of corn meal – Nikos Kavanya, will provide about 450 calories; nixtamalizing doubles the Seeds purchaser protein content and some varieties like Painted Mountain are higher in protein to begin with. Corn stored as whole kernels keeps quite well as long as it’s protected from mice. Squash is the third member of the Sisters triumvirate. The squash genus includes pepos (zucchini, acorns, pumpkins), maxima (buttercup, hubbard, kabocha) and moschatas butternut he former are prolific producers for fresh eating or short storage, though Costata Romanesca zucchini holds some promise dried. Seed Industry Consolidation In lieu of our usual update on seed industry consolidation, we’d like to Join our Cooperative as a Consumer Member direct you to Kristina Hubbard’s commentary of Philip Howard’s updated Our more than 1,200 consumer members and 95 worker members are the Seed Monopoly Chart on the website Civil Eats: foundation of our strength and the fount of our support. Here’s your chance to civileats.com/2019/01/11/the-sobering-details-behind-the-latest-seed- join the Fedco cooperative and help us continue far into the future. We have a monopoly-chart/ lot of work ahead helping build a sustainable seed system. Fedco Does Not Knowingly Carry • We ask for a $100 membership equity, refundable at any time upon request. • If this would be a hardship, there is a $25 option. Genetically Engineered Seeds • Limited to one membership per household, farm or organization At our 1996 Annual Meeting we voted unanimously not to knowingly • For more information see our website: fedcoseeds.com/members.htm offer for sale any genetically engineered variety because the new gene enefits incde technologies pose unacceptable risks to the environment. In 1999 we • Our annual members-only newsletter, Digging Deep and Sowing Wide affirmed and clarified that position and will follow the guidelines of the • 1% discount on all orders Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) which prohibit the use of • An invitation to our annual meeting genetically engineered organisms in organic crop production. OMRI • A chance to vote for and serve on our Board of Directors uses the ational rganic Standards Board SB definition of genetic • The satisfaction of owning a small part of a successful coop! engineering. Please note the word “knowingly.” Because of the possibility of Solar Panel Update: contamination, over which we have no control, our pledge necessarily stops Our 54.56 kW solar array began producing electricity short of being an absolute guarantee. Although we will not sell any variety on anuar 3, 017 o date it has produced 67 h represented to us as genetically engineered, and we refuse any lot of seed of electricity, and we have kept 185 tons of CO2 out of the that test positive for GMO content at the lowest detection limit of 0.01%, atmosphere. Our peak production month to date was July 2019 we will not be held legally responsible if any of our seed tests positive for when we generated 8.906 MWh. We thank our member geneticall modified organisms e apologie for having to split legal hairs, donors and lenders who made this expensive project but we all share the reality of genetic drift. feasible for us! We test beet, chard and sweet corn seed for transgenic contamination. See page 20 for more information. Yes, I want to join Fedco as a consumer member! Enclosed is a check for my membership deposit of $100. lease make membership certificate out to: Name_______________________________________ The Safe Seed Pledge Agriculture and seeds provide the basis on which our lives depend. We must protect Address_____________________________________ this foundation as a safe and genetically stable source for future generations. or the benefit of all farmers, gardeners and consumers who want an alternative, City__________________St_______ Zip__________ we pledge that we do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants. The mechanical transfer of genetic material outside of natural reproductive methods and between genera, families or kingdoms, poses great biological risks as Customer # (if you know it)______________ well as economic, political and cultural threats. We feel that geneticall engineered varieties have been insufficientl tested prior to public release. ore research and Email_______________________________________ testing are necessary to further assess the potential risks of genetically engineered seeds. urther, we wish to support agricultural progress that leads to healthier soils, Mail to: PO Box 520, Clinton, ME 04927 genetically diverse agricultural ecosystems and ultimately people and communities. 107 NEW! for 2021 otatoes nions otics 7680 nvol: et nvolved with the earl potato market! 7690 Irish Cobbler: Cobble together a great tuber patch with this heirloom! Respect Your Mother (Earth) 7697 rada: fanc ellow spud thats dressed for success! 7755 tlantic: ed cross oceans for french fries this good! One of the most lethal individuals in human history killed tens of 7940 Snowden: ell leak a culinar secret: this is a ver millions of people without ever commanding an army. He is a side tast tater! note at best in histor books rofim senko was a Soviet agronomist whose hubris and rigid ideology condemned 7 million Ukrainians over rops ppies and as many as 50 million Chinese to die of starvation over the course 8020 Camelina: o humps, ust great cover cropping! 8250 Ferto ock hosphate: ouble up on soluble ! of a quarter century. 8310 ungnir sparagus ix: For might spears of asparagus! senko, born to a peasant famil and illiterate until the age 8337 rue ove ose ix: Spend ualit time with our flowers! of 13, independentl formed a theor of adaptation ver similar 8405 emp ree Suares: eep our cannabis weed-free with to amarckian Inheritance review our high school biolog! more cannabis! Mirroring the Marxian bent toward tabula rasa the idea that we are 8750 randevo: ount a grand defense against CB, S and born blank slates and ma be entirel shaped b the state, senko more! thought plants and animals could be reinvented in short order by their 8785 Childrens row it: For our favorite Fedco sprouts! man-made environments. 8812 Silicone Six acks: o need to go to the gm for picture- perfect seedlings! senko did not believe in the existence of genes, even though the 8830 igh omes: Big domes for big seedlings! first obel rie for work in genetics was awarded in 133, around 9193 urple unch: art over at the irrigation pages! the height of senkos career e thought he could train crops to 9299 arden Snark ag Set: For the sarcastic gardeners funn bone! grow more productively in the bitter Soviet climate by exposing plants 9300 legant arden arkers: If the arden Snark tags offend ou, tr these! and seeds to icy water.