sutton023

Announcing: Another New Crop  For The Upper Midwest  From Badgersett Research: Hybrid Pecans Tested on our Zone 4a farm in Minnesota for 30 years; our population of "neohybrid" pecans passed its final tests over the last two years.  We now guarantee they are completely cold hardy in zone 4a, and will consistently produce crops of salable nuts. These are a brand new category of commercial nut; as can be seen in the photo, they are not identical to pecans, and consumers will need to become familiar with them.  We have test marketed these nuts for 5 years, with universal acceptance. Our breeding process involves the scientific merging of multiple species, in this case the gene pool includes 3 species; pecan, shagbark and bitternut hickories.  From the pecan, these nuts get their thin shell, crackable with a hand cracker; and flavor.   The cold hardiness necessary to survive in Zone 4a comes from both the bitternut hickory, the most northern of all hickories,...

This is possibly the latest I have ever seen the neohybrid hazels ripen.  We're still just in the early part of ripening; many totally white/green nuts are still there; but you can reliably expect to find ripe bushes to pick now.  That was not true just a week ago- which would normally be near mid-peak. When they choose to get ripe has long been a puzzle, and continues to be so.  Cold and heat are factors, but not consistent and not the only factors. A thing to keep in mind as you harvest - the appropriate fall color for hazel leaves is not yellow or orange, but maroons, purples, and bronzes. If most of your hazels develop yellow or orange leaves- this is an indicator that they are very under-fertilized.  It may indicate low nitrogen more than other nutrients; more study needed. These leaves are the right color for a well fertilized hazel - BUT - this is very much the wrong time. Normally hazels should stay fully green well into October.  You can see the nuts a...

  The hazels, chestnuts, and pecans are all LOADED with gorgeous crops this year, and we’re looking for folks who are interested in helping with harvesting any of the three crops, from early August through early October. Hands-on experience is BY FAR the best way to learn about all of the various aspects of growing advanced woody crops, including the reality of the work that’s involved. And we love to share the knowledge! We regularly have visitors and harvest workers tell us that they learn more in a few days here – picking nuts, asking questions, experiencing all of the sights and sounds of the farm at its peak – than they do in months (or years!) elsewhere. The hazel crop is often difficult to see when it's still on the bush (the nuts hide - on purpose!), but this bush is pretty showy. Aside from the visible clusters, you can tell how loaded it is by how much the branches are bending over from the weight of the crop, even in mid-July.   Harvest is a rush! And it’s the most ...

Although we're behind posting to our Badgersett Icelandics blog, it's not because we aren't "doing sheep".  To some extent it's because we now have about 40 sheep, up from 25 when we started writing that blog. And in year 6 of the sheep, it's been decided that they are permanent now.  The benefits are very large, and alternatives (fossil fuel fed machines) far less - EFFECTIVE.  The sheep work better. Which is why we are the last feature of the upcoming U of MN Silvopasture Workshop; Aug. 4 and 5.  You can sign up for both days, or one day, I'm pretty sure.  Unfortunately - and fortunately at the same time, for us- the scheduled cattle silvopasture tour at Dana Burtness' farm had to cancel.  So, the tour will be here for 2 flexible hours (or more) instead of 1 tight one. Some of this year's lambs; they are a riot to watch.  The movie was in April; the lambs are now 3-5 times bigger than here; still frisky.  Incidentally, we have a bunch of ver...

It's been a big problem for us for several years now- one effect of the changing climate here has been a dramatic loss of sunshine in late winter and early spring.  Since the greenhouse runs entirely on solar heat - that has meant a cooler than designed growing environment- and slower than normal plant growth.  How big a problem?  Big enough so that folks in Minnesota understand this wry joke immediately - The "strange bright object: - is the sun; so rare as to be unrecognizable.  Paul Huttner is a nationally respected meterologist, with recognized expertise on the effects of climate change on weather.  And with a good sense of humor, too. Humor is always useful when trying to deal with calamity.  The exremely slow growth in our greenhouse this year is very nearly exactly that.  Bear with us, please. 

Please - do take a look at our newly refurbished and relaunched GoFundMe campaign.  We're still very much in dire need of your help. As some of you know, I spent most of March "on the road"; first stop the Cornell Dept. of Horticulture; where the grad students had invited me to talk.  Since I had several dozen other reasons I needed to be visiting in the area, I decided to drive...  That's always risky in the NE in March, but we now have as our main car a Subaru Forester; full-time 4WD.  Not a guarantee of anything; but- a much better safety margin. Cornell video taped my talk, on March 9, and here it is.  Keep in mind- my audience here was pretty much - plant scientists.  So the talk is about plant science.  We'd intended to do another talk the next evening; so- we got 18-24" of snow in Ithaca, and not only the city, but Cornell- and the restaurants - shut down.   The talk has several parts - unrelated to each other; I do recomme...