Biomass Definition

From time to time I've been asked what biomass is. I've used the term here in my blog. I've heard it used in a variety of situations, and I find that the meaning has a bit of a spin to it, depending upon where it is being used. But basically, biomass is plant or animal material used as a base resource for some higher purpose. 

On my farm, biomass can include:

...any and all plant material (leaves, twigs, branches, roots, grass clippings, fruits, etc) 

...any and all animal material (manure, bones, feathers, fur, meat, entire carcasses, etc) 

I'm a big user of biomass. It helps create my soil, is the main component of my compost, and provides me with fertilizer to grow my food and pasture. I use vast amounts of biomass to create my hugelpits. I use it for mulch. 

The term biomass is often used when referring to energy production. It is the base component for burning to create energy (heat, steam, electricity), and for making various biofuels. While I do burn some some wood for creating biochar, heating the house, cooking livestock feed, and (soon to be) heating water, mostly the biomass I collect goes into building soil fertility, by one means or the other. 

Much of the biomass I use comes directly from this farm. I'm in a good growing location, thus the greenery is constantly growing, giving my lots of trimmings, weeds, garden waste, etc. Plus I keep livestock, giving me plenty of manure. But I also bring a lot in from off the farm. This is because I am busily creating soil so that I can farm. Therefore I have brought in truckloads of gathered biomass for making compost, plus grass clippings for using as mulch. And whenever I find myself with extra biomass that I can't immediately use in the compost bins, it goes to filling in my hugelpits where I grow bananas. 

Biomass is the "fuel" that runs this homestead farm. 

Stacking Functions

Chatting the other day with "W" over a cup of coffee, "W", being still young and impressionable, was all enthused about permaculture. He wanted to share his new found knowledge, and he didn't know anyone other than me that would know what he was talking about. So there we sat, talking farming, environment, and ecology instead of the usual political moaning, government bashing, and local gossip. 

The one epiphany that awed him was the concept of stacking functions. This is a basic concept in permaculture design where elements serve more than one function. Being a young person, this seemed like something really new to him. With me, being old, it wasn't all that astounding. It's like killing two birds with one stone, a saying that has existed long before I was born.

Examples of stacking functions on my own homestead (although I'm not a permaculture farm, though I use ideas from all sorts of farming methods.....

... Cholesterol spinach grows in my Secret Garden. From time to time it gets straggly, so I prune it, giving it a new lease on life. The young leaves and tips I save and set aside for eating. The slightly older leaves and stems go into the livestock cook pot. The woodier stems go to the nursery for potting, thus creating new plants to expand the gardens. So my labor has stacking functions -- I am cleaning up the garden, improving the vitality of a crop, harvesting food for us, harvesting feed for the animals, and propagating a crop. 

... Plants can have multiple functions, such as my food forest trees. Some of my vining crops have homemade trellises, but others climb trees. Those trees are food bearing themselves, plus they serve as trellises for the vine crop. So the trees provide food, shade for a second crop to grow, and support for the vines. Of course trees also increase humidity, capture CO2, improve soil, provide mulch or compost material (fallen leaves), and eventually wood for firewood, wood crafts, and hugelkultur pits. 

... My chicken operation is set up as stacking functions -- the provide meat, eggs, and manure. They churn up compost (which I add to their pen), enriching it in the process, and removing any insects/slugs/mice. They process grass clippings that I give them into a nutrient garden resource. Their food is primarily garden waste recycled through them to become manure, and ultimately garden fertilizer. So they help rid the farm of excess waste and convert it to a valuable product. Plus their pen has a tarp roof from which I can collect rainwater. On top of that serious stuff, I find them to be a source of amusement....cheap entertainment. 

Most things on a homestead style farm have multiple functions. 

... A perimeter fence keeps livestock and pets in, but just as importantly keeps other animals and people out. The fence may also provide trellis support for crops such as peas or beans. Some fences can function as windbreaks or visual screens blocking out unwanted views. 

... A pond provides a pleasing venue for picnics in addition to  mosquito control, a place to raise fish or grow aquaponic lettuce, a source of compost or livestock feed materials (via pond plants), a source of water for irrigation or fire fighting, a beneficial wildlife setting. 

Stacking functions Is so normal for me that I don't even give it much thought. Everything on this farm seems to have more than one purpose. But to be truly stacking functions in the permaculture sense, it has to be in the design. Stacking functions afterall is a design principle. 

Some stacking functions I knowingly incorporated.....

...sheep. They mow the grasses and weeds, provide manure, provide lambs for sale, give us meat and milk. 

...our  little barn. It was built with the ideas in mind to be a secure storage building for equipment, house a workshop, give me a place to work on rainy days, an emergency shelter for bummer lambs, collect rainwater for the ag catchment tank, and serve as a sleeping spot for unexpected overnight guests. 

The thing I see about the permaculture principle of stacking functions is that it increases efficiency. One gets more done during a time period. Or gets more return out of a space or project. Or in the example of the sheep, eliminates the need for added elements, such as a lawnmower or the time needed for mowing or weedwacking. In permaculture, stacking functions is part of the design that goes into creating the system. It's not an after thought or a lucky bonus. As I was learning while creating my homestead, I naturally started incorporating multiple purposes. Without being aware of it, I was creating my own idea of stacking functions. I've gotten so bad that I can't bring myself to take a trip to town without stopping at the dump, checking out the dump thrift store for new goodies, picking up a gallon or two of fresh drinking water, doing my in-town errand, swinging by the post office to check for mail, perhaps stopping for a cup of coffee and a bit of conversation. doing a tad of foraging in the right season, and stopping someplace to enjoy the view before heading home. 

Chicken Terminology

"M" pointed out that I missed chickens. So here it goes.....

Poultry- term describing domestic fowl.

Flock - name for a group of chickens.

Hen -- an adult female that has reached egg laying age.

Pullet -- a female chicken that hasn't yet started laying eggs.

Rooster - a male chicken that has attained breeding age.

Cock - a rooster.

Cockerel - a male chicken under breeding age.

Capon- a castrated male chicken. 

Chick - a baby chicken.

Hatchlings - young newly hatched chicks.

Banti -- a bantam; a small breed of chicken.

Sex link- a situation where the male and female chicks can be sexually identified at birth based upon their coloration.

Straight run- term to designate that hatchlings are not sexed (identified as male vs female).

Broody - the hen's behavior to lay on and thus incubate a clutch of eggs.

Clutch -- the group of eggs or chicks from one hen.

Broiler - a chicken destined for slaughter between 7-12 weeks of age.

Comb - the fleshy growth atop a chickens head, usually red in color.

Crop - part of the digestive system looked at the base of the neck, which stores ingested food.

Vent - the opening on a chickens butt through which passes bodily discharges and eggs. 

Molt - a time period when the bird loses feathers and regrows replacements. 

Roost - a place up off the ground where chickens tend to rest or sleep.

Grit - small pebbles or gravel eaten by chickens to grind their food in their gizzard.

Spur - sharp horny spike on the legs. More pronounced and common on roosters. 

Goat Terminology

Around me there are not so many goat breeders. But there are lots of goats. You drive around and spy many a goat tied out in people's yards. Some of these goats are doing lawnmower duty. They are a combination pet and weed eater. But many others you see only are there until the next holiday. They're invited to the next family or party as a central guest......cooked in the imu, smoked, or cooked on the grill. Goat is a popular and normal table food here. 

Caprine - scientific term pertaining to goats.

Flock - a group of goats.

Buck -- intact make goat. Also sometimes called a billy. 

Doe  -- female goat. Also sometimes called a nanny. 

Kid -- baby or young goat. 

Buckling- a young male prior to sexual maturity.

Doeling- a young female prior to sexual maturity.

Wether - a castrated male goat.

Kidding- the act of birthing baby goats. (Next time you say ," I'm just kidding." think of this!)

Disbudding - the removal of the horn buds at a young age, rendering the kid hornless.

Banding -- the placing of a tight rubber band around the base of the scrotum for the purpose of  castration.

Chevon - a young goat for slaughter to be slaughtered about weaning age. Also a general term for goat meat. 

Sheep Terminology

When sheep people gather around to chat, there are certain terms they use to talk about sheep. Here's common ones....

Sheep

Ovine -- scientific term pertaining to sheep.

Flock -- name for a group of sheep.

Ewe -- a female sheep.

Ram -- an intact adult male. Also called a tup in some regions. 

Lamb -- a young sheep, from newborn up to about one year of age. 

Bummer lamb -- an orphan or rejected lamb.

Wether -- castrated male sheep.

Gimmer -- a female breeding sheep over one year old who has not yet had her first lamb. She is no longer considered a lamb but hasn't become a full blown ewe. 

Hogget -- a year old sheep that has not yet been shorn or is between 12-18 months of. Often used to description an older lamb intended for slaughter rather than breeding. 

Shearling -- a young sheep prior to its first shearing.

Bellwether -- the lead sheep who is traditionally belled (wears a bell around its neck).

Estrus or heat -- the part of the female reproductive cycle when the ewe is receptive to the ram.

Tupping -- the act of a ram breeding a ewe. 

Lambing -- the birthing of a lamb. 

Woolie -- a wool producing sheep.

Haired or hair sheep -- short coated sheep that doesn't not produce usable wool. 

Banding -- the placing of a tight rubber band around the base of the scrotum for the purpose of  castration, or around the tail for the purpose of docking.

Docking -- removal of part of the tail.

Browse (vs graze) -- the eating of woody brush including leaves and twigs.

Graze -- the eating of low growth plants including grasses and forbs.

Forbs -- broadleaf herbaceous plants.

Cud -- ingested food that a sheep regurgitates in order to chew again.

Bloat -- the over accumulation of gas in the rumen (part of the stomach).

Bottle jaw -- edema under the lower jaw associated with parasite infestation.

Scrapie -- a fatal brain disease of sheep.

Mutton -- meat from a sheep either over 1 year of age or 2 years of age, depending upon which country you're talking about.

Lamb -- meat from a sheep under 1 year of age or 2 years of age, depending upon which country you're talking about.

Pig Terminology

While I'm not a big livestock farmer, I do need to be aware of basic terminology so that I can correctly communicate with other livestock owners."A" asked me to explain some of the basic terms used. So here it goes...,,,,

PIGS

Porcine -- scientific term pertaining to pigs

Swine -- pigs 

Herd -- the name for a group of pigs

Hog -- an older pig usually usually from about 100 lbs and up. 

Barrow -- castrated male pig

Boar -- not castrated male pig

Stag or stag hog -- a male that was castrated after he was used for breeding. Sometimes also an older boar that is castrated as a mature adult even if he hadn't been bred. 

Gilt -- young female that has not yet birthed piglets or come to birthing age. 

Sow -- female who has had piglets. Also refers to an adult female even if she has never been bred. 

Piglet -- a young pig with an age ranging from birth to normal weaning age

Shoat -- a young weaned piglet. Some people call them a weanling or weaner. 

Feeder Pig -- a pig being specifically fed for slaughter 

Butcher pig or butcher hog -- a pig ready for slaughter.

Lard pig -- a breed known to produce a high percentage of fat on the carcass. 

Heat or estrus -- the reproductive cycle of the female during which time she is receptive to a boar for breeding.

Farrow -- to give birth to piglets.

Farrow to finish -- where you raise the pig yourself from birth to slaughter. 

Finishing feed -- feed used to feed a pig that last month or so before slaughter.

Taint -- an offensive smell associated with boars which gives an unpleasant odor and flavor to the meat.

Hog ring -- a metal clip or ring placed through a pig's snout to keep it from rooting.

Wallow -- a depression or structure that holds water for the pigs to lie in. This is a means for them to cool down when overheated. Did you know that pigs cannot sweat effectively to cool down? Thus they use a wallow for cooling off. 

Types of Propagation

There are many methods of propagation, but I'm only going to mention those methods either used on my own farm, or commonly used in my region. 

Seeds......... I think everyone understands what a seed is. Seeds are found inside the "fruit" produce by the plant. The fruit can be moist, such as an apple or melon, or dry like the husk of corn or wheat. We eat many seeds, included among them : corn, peas, beans, cowpeas, grains, pumpkin seed, coriander, amaranth. Other seeds are consumed along with the fruit : cucumber, tomato, pepper, eggplant, tomatillo, ground cherry, strawberries, summer squash, pipinola, gourds, guava. Of course there are times when we discard the seeds, such as with cantaloupes, watermelon, pumpkins, winter squash, and most tree fruits.  Seeds may be the most common way to start veggie plants for a garden. 

Cuttings....... This is a method actively used on my farm. I'm constantly increasing the square footage of sweet potatoes, Okinawan spinach, cholesterol spinach, chaya, all started from cuttings. I occasionally propagate kale this way, but it's not as successful as the others.  A cutting is a piece of the stem of the mother plant, often pre-rooted in water or directly planted into soil. Some plants require the use of a rooting hormone, but I don't bother with that. If it can't root on its own, then I simply don't propagate it this way.

Runners/Stolons...... Outside of my pasture grasses, the only thing in the gardens where I routinely use runners to make new plants is mint and strawberries. Mint may send out short runners just beneath the soil surface, or root along the stems that lay along the ground. Strawberries send out runners with the plantlets formed along the runner at the nodes.  By the way, gardeners commonly call them strawberry runners since they run along the soil surface. Botanists call them stolons. Some taro varieties also will produce stolons that can be used for propagation. 

Suckers ........are shoots that the plant produces, usually along the stem but sometimes from the stem at soil level or below. I use suckers to grow more pineapples and sugar cane. Although cane is commonly grown from cuttings, I like using developing stem buds (locals call these suckers) because they do better for me. I'm not sure if bananas keikis are termed suckers, but I looks to me that they are. 

Root division...... This is another way to propagate sugar cane. Just take a sharp shovel and slice a chunk of the root out. Comfrey is propagated from root pieces. 

Layering...... I don't use air layering, but I often use simple soil layering. To get more baby plants for stick oregano, I will pull down a stem to the soil surface so that part of it about 6"-12" from a stem tip comes in contact with the soil. Plop a rock atop it, then go back after a couple of months and harvest the new baby plant. I've also rooted mulberry and guava this way. 

Crowns.... Pineapples and taro are routinely propagated this way. To get a pineapple crown, simply grab the spiky green top and twist it around until it pops off the fruit. To get a taro crown, slice it off the top of the corm, taking about 1" of corm with it. 

Slips..... This is a term used to describe the plantlets that pineapples produce from the peduncle (region at the base of the pineapple fruit). I routinely use them to start new plants. 

Plantlets.... I suppose that pineapple slips could be termed plantlets. At one time I had a type of walking onion that produced plantlets atop a central stem. A plantlets is a small developing plant produced right on the mother plant. When it drops to the ground, it roots and becomes independent of he mother plant. Taro produces plantlets off its corm that can be separated from the mother plant and planted. 

Corms..... A corn is a swollen stem area at the base of the plant. The corm acts as the plant's storage unit. Taro has a corm.  I have used the central corm instead of just the crown (huli) when I'm trying to produce as many new plants as possible, especially with a variety new to me. You can plant the corm on its side, or cut it into longitudinal quarters and planting them sideways. New shoots will emerge from dormant buds in the corm. 

Bulbs.... Bulbs are underground plant storage units which represents the entire plant. An onion is a bulb. Examine an onion closely and you can identify a basal plate with root buds, basal nodes for bulblets, a central core that will produce the plant and flower, layers that represent leaves. Pretty nifty. 

Rhizomes..... A rhizome is a continuous underground thickened stem (or along the soil surface, as is the case for some gingers) that produces roots and aerial shoots at the nodes. In grow ginger and  turmeric, which are rhizomes. 

Tubers.... A tuber is an underground storage unit along an underground stem or modified root. The first one to come to mind is the potato. It's a classic. A potato forms at the end of the underground stem. It grows new plantlets from specific points on the tuber, points called eyes. The sweet potato is also a tuber, but termed a tuberous root, as it develops along a modified root. 

Grafting..... With grafting you take a stem or bud from one plant and match it up with the stem/root system of another in such a fashion that the piece is adopted by the root system. Thus you are taking the top of one plant and grafting it to the bottom of another. I've grafted avocados because it's fairly easy. I've not tried others, but I do have grafted citrus, peach, mango, and macnut trees. Why graft? It assures tha variety you desire since these trees grown from seed would not be true to the parent type. Grafting also results in the grafted tree bearing fruit earlier than one grown from seed. Fruit trees are often grafted in root stock that results in a dwarf tree, popular among home gardeners and old folk like me. 

Hybrids

Hybrid  seed is different from open pollinated. Hybrids have two different parents. The difference may be different varieties within the same family, like crossing one variety corn with another. Or it could be between two similar family types. Examples : Tyfon is a cross between Chinese cabbage and stubble turnips. Kalettes are from crossing  kale and Brussels sprouts. 

Hybrid seed is common. It is not necessarily GMO. In fact, most hybrids are not GMO. But saving hybrid seed might be disappointing. The seed will not breed true. What you get from a hybrid is a crap shoot. And this is important to know about hybrids if you like to save seed. Sometimes you might get something that is just fine. In fact, some gardeners have started with a hybrid and grew it repeatedly, stabilizing the seed into a new variety that is open pollinated. But more often than not, the plants from seed saved from a hybrid are disappointing. Or worse yet, the hybrid has sterile pollen, making seed production impossible unless you bring in outside pollen from another variety. 

The only hybrid seed I intentionally saved was from a grape tomato and a small pumpkin. . After a few years I stabilized a grape tomato that does good on my farm. So I ended up creating my own landrace open pollinated grape tomato (actually tomatoes are self pollinators). The pumpkin I don't bother to control, so I get a lot of variation every generation that I grow it. The only trait I select for happens naturally --- the ability to produce pumpkins in the presence of pickle worm moths that visit my farm. 

Hybrids usually have the advantage of desirable traits. They might have sturdier plants, shorter vines, earlier harvest, better disease resistance, or produce more food. They usually are more uniform than their open pollinated cousins. Thus for example, all the broccoli heads are about the same size, shape, and are ready the same week or two. Hybrids often have better disease resistance, and in Hawaii that can make the difference between harvesting a crop or getting zero. 

Do I grow hybrids? Yes. I grow a hybrid broccoli called Green Magic because it will produce on my farm even when the weather isn't right. There are several hybrid cucumbers that do better for me. There was a hybrid cauliflower I adored but it's no longer around, called Violet Queen. I wish I knew what it's parents were. I'll grow some of the hybrid carrots, since I don't save my own carrot seed. And some specialty sweet peppers and tomatoes, because they produce better. And some hybrid tomatoes because I like to experiment. I have no objections to growing hybrids. I just don't try to save seed from them. 

Vegetative Propagation

There are vegetables that I grow via vegetative propagation. With vegetative propagation, one does not use seeds. Instead, one uses a piece from the mother plant. 

Potatoes are the foremost item grown this way. Growing potatoes from seed is generally a crap shoot. But when you use a tuber, the resulting plant is like the mother plant. I grow a number of potato varieties. My favorites are La Ratte, Purple Majesty, Red Thumb, Elba, Dark Red Norland, Carola, and a pink fingerling from Peru that I don't know the name of. There are others, but this year this is what is going into the garden. 

Other veggies propagated vegetatively include....

... Chaya

... Sweet Potato

... Taro

... Okinawan Spinach 

... Cholesterol Spinach 

... Turmeric

... Ginger

... Yacon

I've also done vegetative propagation on leeks, onions, chives, Holy Basil, rosemary, stick oregano, kale, collards, a cauliflower called Violet Queen, and tomatoes. Of these, I still do tomatoes and stick oregano. 

Pineapples, strawberries, sugar cane, and bananas are also reproduced by this method, 

I could try others but I haven't experimented beyond these yet. Just give me time! 

Self Pollination

Self pollinated is exactly as it states. The plant pollinates its flowers by using the pollen produced inside that flower. Certain veggies are noted to be self pollinators. 

The self pollinators that I grow here in the farm include ...

... Tomatoes

... Spinach

... Lettuce

... Peas

... Beans

... Peppers

... Eggplant

Self pollinators make it easy to produce seed for saving. But care still needs to be taken because some self pollinators are also capable of cross pollination. Self pollinators can be grown in a screened greenhouse, because they pollinate themselves. No need to use a small paintbrush to hand pollinate the flowers. 

Parthenocarpic

What the heck is Parthenocarpic? It's where fruit is produced without pollination. Yes, that exists and it isn't due to GMO. Parthenocarpy becomes a desirable trait if you grow certain veggies in a greenhouse that blocks out insects. Veggies that self pollinate can be easily grown in a greenhouse, but there are others that need cross pollination. Cucumbers and squash come to mind, because I like to grow them and it's difficult to grow them out in the field due to the pickleworm moth. Unless I'm willing and prepared to hand pollinate these when growing in an insect-free greenhouse (hint - I'm not), I need to look into a parthenocarpic variety. 

So.... I grow both summer squash and cucumbers in my screened greenhouses. I use parthenocarpic varieties, of course. The cucumbers are specially bred to be parthenocarpic. The seed is expensive, but heck, just how many cucumber plants does one need? So I buy the seed. By the way, these cucumbers are seedless. No pollination = no seed. 

I also grow some summer squash in the greenhouses. No way can I get squash out in my field. The moths find them all. But I the greenhouses I can grow several types. Although they are not listed as parthenocarpic in the seeds catalogs, several summer squashes will produce a fair amount of fruit regardless, without pollination. One of my favorites was Floridor, a hybrid. It consistently did good for me. By alas, the seed is getting very difficult to find, so I'm guessing it won't be available much longer. 

Parthenocarpic is different from self pollinated, because no pollen is involved. And the resulting fruits are seedless. So if they're seedless how is seed produced? That's because these veggies are hybrids. I don't know how it is done, but the seeds are produced and result in a parthenocarpic variety. 

Open Pollinated Veggies

Yesterday I talked about heirlooms. So what do I mean when I say I have open pollinated varieties too? 

Open pollinated means that the seed is produced by parents of the same type. Thus they breed true to their type. Such as one parent is Black Valentine bean and the other parent is too. Thus all the resulting seeds will grow out as Black Valentine beans. This breeding is by natural means, such as via wind, insects, birds, or by humans. Thus a gardener can create and save their own open pollinated seeds. 

All heirlooms are open pollinated. But they have the added merit of being older varieties often maintained by families or small seed preservation companies. There are plenty of more modern varieties that are also open pollinatated, but they don't have the long history of an heirloom. These more modern varieties came about by either careful selection (choosing for a certain set of traits, or by taking a sport and breeding it), or by crossing two varieties and standardizing the new cross over several generations, thus stabilizing it into a new independent variety. 

I grow lots of open pollinated veggies, simply because I like to save my own seeds. I especially focus on the ones with expensive seeds, like beans, peas, and corn. Their seeds are large and heavy, adding to the expense of shipping them here to Hawaii. I produce almost all my own bean, pea, and cowpea seed. The only time I buy more is if I'm trying out a new variety. I don't grow all that much corn at the moment, but I do save my Golden Bantam corn seed. This year I plan to also save a few other varieties, but corn is tricky. It's wind pollinated, thus will readily crossbreed. Special care must be take to produce open pollinated non-crossed seed for the next year. 

Other open pollinated veggies I save seeds from include cilantro, dill, basil, broccoli, bok choy and other Asian greens, daikon, onions, eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers. I find that saving seeds from these veggies is easy. 

What are some of my favorite OP (open pollinated) varieties? Off the top of my head, I come up with.....

... Bean -- Maxibel, Purple Teepee, Red Swan, Rocdor, and others

... Corn -- Golden Bantam

... Peas -- Sugar Sprint, Oregon Giant, Green Arrow, Sugar Daddy

... Asian Greens -- Tatsoi, Blues, Dwarf Bok Choy

... Lettuce -- Green Ice, all the romaines

... Onion -- Texas Super Sweet

... Pepper -- California Wonder, Cubanelle, Banana

... Tomato -- Roma 

... Daikon -- Minowase 

... Basil -- Genovese

... Dill -- Bouquet, Fernleaf

... Cilantro -- Slo-bolt, Santo

... Cabbage -- Caraflex

Heirlooms

I'm going through my seeds, getting ready to start sowing. I'm seeing I have quite a varied selection -- heirlooms, more modern open pollinated ones, hybrids. No GMOs. 

Why do I include heirloom vegetables in my gardens? Basically it comes down to flavor. Many of the newer varieties often grow better, are sturdier, more disease and pest resistant. Some are even more tender than heirlooms. Others are faster growing, thus harvestable sooner. But it's all about taste. 

But don't jump to the conclusion that all heirlooms taste better. That's not always the case. But many do. So I often grow those. 

...Black Valentine bean. Talk about flavor! One of my favorites. 

...Yellow Pear tomato. Sassy and delicious, perfect for snacking. 

...Mammoth Melting snow pea. Fresh flavor. 

...Chiogga beet. Sweet and tender. 

...Fordhook Giant Chard. Tender. Nice flavor. Productive. 

...Golden Bantam Corn. Old time corn flavor. Not sweet like the sweet corns of today, but it really tastes like real corn.

...Amish Paste Tomato. Versatile. A very nice paste type tomato. 

...Parris Island Cos. Great romaine lettuce that doesn't get bitter here in Hawaii. 

...Dragon Tongue bean. Versatile. Good flavor. 

...Purple Majesty Potato. Excellent flavor as home fries. We like to eat them cooked then chilled. Sliced and dipped in hummus or homemade salad dressing, they're a tasty snack. 

...Chantenay Carrot. Real carrot taste. 

...Dinosaur Kale. The only kale I like. Great flavor, even raw. 

There are lots of heirlooms still out there, though sadly we've lost quite a few when corporations took over seed production. Home gardeners preserved many and they are starting to reappear in small seed catalogs as the seeds get donated to preservation. 

Every year I experiment with new varieties. I try a couple a heirlooms, seeing if they will survive and produce at my location. Many don't due to pests and disease. But the ones I like be one permanent residents on this farm.