sutton023

Executive Summary: Plants: Standard tubelings still available for all categories ( Hazel , Chestnut and Hickory-Pecan ) except MP-BFL-Haz. We expect most orders taken now to ship around mid-June, some categories still available earlier. Bare-root dormant tubelings SOLD OUT for 2013. Nuts : A few hazels and hickories still available from the 2012 harvest. Chestnuts from 2012 sold out. Details to come, but right now we're preparing for the Short Course that starts tomorrow!

  The past few days saw the publication of a major piece of diet / medical research, in the New England Journal Of Medicine.   The NEJM is one of the top peer-reviewed medical journals in the world, highly respected.   The study, basically, measured the effects of a traditional "Mediterranean diet" - in a large group of people (over 7,000) over a long period of time (median of 4.8 years); in Spain (where access to the correct foods is good.)   In the world of medical research, this is an extraordinary achievement; it's incredibly hard to follow so many people, for such a long period; but they did it.   The major reason this hit the news now- the study was shut down .  By the "medical ethics" watchdogs.  Because the results were so very clear, that to continue would be causing unnecessary deaths and illness- in the control group.  They knew it.   Most of the world media picked this up as another "yes indeed, olive oil is good for you!" story; ...

In spite of the snow outside the greenhouse, the nuts are starting to wake up from their winter dormancy. I'm sharing a close-up profile of a chestnut germling below. We've planted over 4000 hazelnuts and 900 chestnuts to date.  We wait until they have germinated so that all seeds in a flat are nearly the same developmentally.  By doing so we can ensure watering and other treatments can be provided at near optimal timing for the entire population of plants in a flat. We use subirrigation via flood-able tables to ensure even water availability to the tublings.  If you are familiar with the leaf size of hazelnuts (or chestnuts) you can readily see how water from an overhead source could be deflected from reaching the surface (and interior) of individual tubes (white containers above and below).  In order to ensure good capillary action we presoak the flats after planting.  Included in this presoak is a combination of beneficial soil organisms in a produc...

Email just sent out to our mailing lists: According to demand, we are expanding the annual Short Course to TWO dates this year for the first time; at two different venues. March 23-24 (with some events 22 and 25) at the traditional location near Badgersett in SE Minnesota, at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center. April 13-14 (with some events 12) at The Dept. of Sustainable Living, Maharishi Univ., Fairfield Iowa. The two events will be somewhat different, again in response to demand; the March Short Course will focus on theory and Hybrid Hazelnut crop specifics; the April, Iowa, Short Course will teach theory with a focus on Hybrid Chestnut crop specifics. Both will provide a good grounding in Woody Agriculture crop basics, including pests, genetics, harvest, marketing, and establishment; but detailed examples and discussions will be specialized for the first time.  Persons who want to attend both will likely not be disappointed. DETAILS AND UPDATES AT THE BADGERSETT GROW...

But this is ridiculous:   This is Meg's Leg; very soon after the major reconstruction surgery.  It actually looks quite a lot better these days; but it's worth remembering where we started.  I'm hoping we'll eventually have the xrays we can show you- boy, they're impressive.  We could start our own scrap metal business.   The red spot to the left of the top stitches is the hole left by the screw for the immobilizer rig.  I still don't understand why these wounds (4; penetrating skin and muscle and leaving screw holes in the bones) don't result in gangrene and death.  But they don't.  Sterile technique and intravenous antibiotics notwithstanding- I would think you couldn't keep them clean enough.  They're all closed tight now.   Meg is still mostly in bed, until the end of February.  She is on track to start putting weight on the reconstructed knee then.  Stitches out weeks ago.  She did have to have another operating room ...

It's Monday; Meg did have her major reconstructive surgery on her knee last Friday.  Here's the back story if you're just starting to follow this stuff. The doctor, a top Mayo orthopedic surgeon we are delighted with, said he was "very, very, pleased with how the operation went."  It did, however, take 5 hours, with a surgical team of at least 8 people we met beforehand.  Being under full general anesthesia for 5 hours straight is tough just in itself. She now has 6 titanium screws, and 3 (I think) titanium plates in her right knee.  And she is not supposed to put ANY weight on it; for 3 months.  The expectation is to recover at least 90% of original mobility; the healed restoration should allow that. Meanwhile; Meg has now been in bed and immobile for going on 2 weeks; which is enough to cause weakness all on its own, of course.  We're hoping to have her back home here tomorrow, Tuesday.

Hi folks.  If you haven't heard from us in a while- this is probably why: That's Meg's leg, today.  The apparatus you're looking at consists of 2 steel pins through her skin screwed into her right tibia; there are two more screwed into the femur at the top end of the high-tech carbon-fiber stiffening bar. She broke her leg on Thanksgiving; and was operated on to install all this that night at the Mayo Clinic.  She has another operation scheduled for tomorrow morning (Friday 30th) to actually do the internal pinning necessary to reassemble the top of the tibia. You'll recall that we have horses now... they do a tremendous amount of work for us in clearing grass and brush before chestnut harvest and grazing grass in the hazels; they're highly compatible with these crops, when supervised carefully. One of the horses we have here now is trained to do heavy draft work, however; a registered Spotted Draft in fact.  So- we were working on that... Meg is a highly exper...