Original Transplants

The Original Transplants Podcast Episode 68: Rookie Numbers finds Satoyama Homestead stewards Will and Sarah surprised to discover that Feedspot has named us #8 in the 20 best horticulture podcasts in the world. We introduce plans for a NCAA-style fruit bracket to determine once and for all what is the best fruit produced on the homestead. We visit the apiary, where Will is treating for varroa mite and recounting his adventures speaking about bees at a library with a resident observation hive. Will's beekeeping thriller, Here, the Bees Sting, is available everywhere books are bought (...and even on some pirating sites!). Almost one-year-old Lucy enjoys tea-time visits to the chicken coop, where matriarch seven-year-old black australorp brooder hen Mayapple still lays the occasional egg. Sarah is embarking on a pasture management project to establish white clover and replace encroaching weeds. In the edible landscape, tomatoes, peppers, okra are performing well, while summer and winter squash and melon are struggling along. Sarah discovered a new favorite way to prepare okra, with a tomato-yogurt sauce as the north Indian dish dahi bhindi. The stewards are busy reclaiming the yard from nature after Sarah's pregnancy-induced hiatus, and are trying to 'mulch all the things' before this winter's snowpack. For homestead fun, the stewards enjoyed watching a family of wrens raise their fledglings in the bark cavity of a natural white oak fence post along their garden, and are looking forward to filling the chest freezer with produce, chiles rellenos, sustainably farm-raised meat, and venison. For homestead chores, Will has been on varmint control, while Sarah has installed downspout diverter kits on both rain barrels to stave off foundation damage. In agriculture news, Will shares a detective story about a persimmon orchard submitted by listener Wyoming (now Georgia) Jo, and Sarah goes nuts for nut trees with the Northern Nut Growers Association and Chestnut Growers in America when Lancaster Farming reports on their conference in Reading, PA.

Episode Notes

• Feedspot - 20 Best Horticulture Podcasts https://blog.feedspot.com/horticulture_podcasts/ 
• PennState Extension - Weed Management in Pastures https://extension.psu.edu/weed-management-in-pastures
• Pooja - Dahi Bhindi/Tangy Indian Okra in Yogurt http://poojascookery.com/dahi-bhindi-tangy-indian-okra/
• elizapples - "In the early 1900s, there was an Illinois attorney, Floyd Sonneman, who had it bad for persimmons."
• Dan Sullivan for Lancaster Farming - Nut Tree Growers Converge in Reading, PA for Annual Conference https://www.lancasterfarming.com/news/main_edition/nut-tree-growers-converge-in-reading-pennsylvania-for-annual-conference/article_77d486f4-1827-11ed-bc0f-c35fe142fde9.html

Original Transplants Podcast Episode 67: is sponsored by Will's forthcoming book, Here, The Bees Sting [https://mercenarypen.substack.com/p/here-the-bees-sting-dropping-52022], available from Amazon and other major booksellers. Satoyama Homestead stewards Will and Sarah are busy with spring activities. In the bee yard, Will is hoping the newly installed bee packages will grow in strength and number - or be supplemented by a trapped swarm or two - after a cold and rainy start to spring that saw a lot of tree blossoms nipped by late frosts.  In the chicken coop, broody hen Mayapple is isolated in the barn to break her broodiness, and the rest of the chickens are testing their boundaries. Sarah is working on rehabilitating the edible landscape, using a mattock or "grub axe" to restore an overgrown garden bed. The currants and raspberries experienced a significant die-off, the peach buds all frosted off, and the apple trees are infested with eastern tent caterpillars. In better news, the homesteaders are harvesting sorrel, arugula, spinach, radishes, and asparagus, with strawberries not far behind. One of the pawpaw trees bloomed for the first time this year, and the homesteaders have enjoyed gifts of locally harvested rainbow trout from neighbors. Sarah just transplanted hot and sweet peppers and is on-track to transplant tomatoes, okra, and squash over the coming weeks. In other homestead chores, the trusty wood stove will have to be repaired or replaced. For homestead fun, Will explains culinary experiments with caul fat burgers and maple sugaring, and the joys of mowing during a heavy frost. The homesteaders are sharing their love of backyard birding with baby Lucy, who has taken a special liking to the hummingbirds. Sarah is enjoying her new ditch scythe from Scythe Supply [https://scythesupply.com/]. For agricultural news, Will shares new research on fungi language, Sarah spots a trend in articles on alternatives to turf lawns, and a new baby formula factory receives FDA approval in Reading, PA.

Show Notes

Here, the Bees Sting book by Will Caverly 

Scythe Supply https://scythesupply.com/

Eastern Tent Caterpillar - Penn State Extension https://extension.psu.edu/eastern-tent-caterpillar

Caul Fat Burger - Meat Eater https://www.themeateater.com/cook/recipes/caul-fat-burger-recipe 

Mushrooms Communicate with Each Other  - The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/apr/06/fungi-electrical-impulses-human-language-study

America's Love Affair with the Lawn is Getting Messy - AP https://apnews.com/article/environment-gardening-white-plains-b2a0c7ab8940f93e872a90d86ea9c6f4

Eco-friendly Alternatives to Lawn Grass - Family Handyman https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/eco-friendly-alternatives-to-lawn-grass/

Baby Formula Poised to Feed Dairy Industry - Lancaster Farming https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming/dairy/baby-formula-poised-to-feed-dairy-industry/article_1d28e1ae-d12e-11ec-9f56-77591ba479fa.html

Where There is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook http://www