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luzulaI don't move into my new place until mid-September, but it's hard to stop thinking about what I could grow there! Right now I'm mostly reading about trees and shrubs for fruit, berries and nuts. I absolutely love picking and eating fruit and berries as they are, or for making jam and cordial. I don't eat a lot of nuts right now, but I'd still love to grow them and incorporate them in food.
What there is already:
- There is one fully grown apple tree already, and three newly planted ones, so that'll be fine. Alas I don't know what kinds yet, except for one newly planted Discovery.
- There's a fully grown cherry tree, which is great, because I love cherries. Also a newly planted morello cherry.
- There's an old, dying plum tree and a newly planted plum tree.
- There are two gooseberry bushes and two currant bushes, but I don't know what kind yet.
- There are some cultivated blackberries.
- I can tell that there's plenty of lingonberry and bilberry in the woods nearby.
- There are huge amounts of acorns from the oaks. I have friends who grind acorns and leach the tannins from them to use in cooking, and it would be interesting to try it.
What I could plant:
- It's temperate enough for walnuts and chestnuts! : D Also hazelnuts, of course.
- It seems like it's also temperate enough for a mulberry tree?
- A pear tree or two would be nice, of course.
- A quince tree? OTOH, perhaps one does not consume quince in large quantities. There's also flowering quince which is just a shrub, but which also has fruits...
- I've never eaten blue honeysuckle berries, but it seems easy to grow and they are said to be good! Has anyone tried them?
- Definitely sea buckthorn, I love those berries for making cordial.
- Apparently one can grow delicious minikiwis in Sweden; they're a vine. Awesome, I somehow thought kiwis needed a tropical climate. : D
- There are also some types of grape that one can grow in my zone.
- Has anyone eaten Ribes odoratum (buffalo currant)? They do sound interesting, and the flowers seem to be great for insects...
- I do like Aronia melanocarpa (black chokecherry) for jam and cordial, and it seems to be easy to grow.
I do absolutely have space for all this, but perhaps I shouldn't aim to do all of it at once, ha ha. ETA: Do share if you have additional ideas, or input about my ideas!
What there is already:
- There is one fully grown apple tree already, and three newly planted ones, so that'll be fine. Alas I don't know what kinds yet, except for one newly planted Discovery.
- There's a fully grown cherry tree, which is great, because I love cherries. Also a newly planted morello cherry.
- There's an old, dying plum tree and a newly planted plum tree.
- There are two gooseberry bushes and two currant bushes, but I don't know what kind yet.
- There are some cultivated blackberries.
- I can tell that there's plenty of lingonberry and bilberry in the woods nearby.
- There are huge amounts of acorns from the oaks. I have friends who grind acorns and leach the tannins from them to use in cooking, and it would be interesting to try it.
What I could plant:
- It's temperate enough for walnuts and chestnuts! : D Also hazelnuts, of course.
- It seems like it's also temperate enough for a mulberry tree?
- A pear tree or two would be nice, of course.
- A quince tree? OTOH, perhaps one does not consume quince in large quantities. There's also flowering quince which is just a shrub, but which also has fruits...
- I've never eaten blue honeysuckle berries, but it seems easy to grow and they are said to be good! Has anyone tried them?
- Definitely sea buckthorn, I love those berries for making cordial.
- Apparently one can grow delicious minikiwis in Sweden; they're a vine. Awesome, I somehow thought kiwis needed a tropical climate. : D
- There are also some types of grape that one can grow in my zone.
- Has anyone eaten Ribes odoratum (buffalo currant)? They do sound interesting, and the flowers seem to be great for insects...
- I do like Aronia melanocarpa (black chokecherry) for jam and cordial, and it seems to be easy to grow.
I do absolutely have space for all this, but perhaps I shouldn't aim to do all of it at once, ha ha. ETA: Do share if you have additional ideas, or input about my ideas!
Re: A former roommate put it well when she said
Date: 2024-04-01 06:26 pm (UTC)1) The first is to pour cold water on the acorns and keep them in a container. Keep it in a fridge or otherwise in a cold place. Every day, you carefully pour off the water and replace it with new water, carefully not stirring up the stuff on the bottom. When the water is clear and the acorns don't taste bitter anymore, you're done. This method preserves the starch (which is the stuff that will precipitate on the bottom along with the ground acorns).
2) Put the ground acorns in a finely-meshed bag and put it in a stream with running water. If you don't have a stream nearby, or the water in the stream isn't clear, you can for example keep the bag in the water tank of your water toilet. At least in Sweden, toilets have tanks that contain clean drinking water--it's only after the water is flushed from the tank that it goes into the unsanitary toilet. When the water you flush the toilet with is not brown anymore, you're done. This method does not preserve the starch.
3)You can also put the chopped acorns in a large kettle of hot water, this method is faster, but also does not preserve the starch. The water must not go up to the boiling point, or the acorns will be bitter anyway. Keep at 85-95 degrees Celsius for about 5 hours.