Potatoes and Potato Towers

The Potato is one of the best crops for preventing famine. It is easy to grow, is well suited to utilizing even poor soils, and tends to thrive in weather that other crops tend not to do well in. In particular they do well in cooler climates like Maine, Idaho, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ireland to name a few. In reality there is just about a variety that will perform just about anywhere. The potato produces large amounts of high energy food that can provide most of the nutrition one needs to survive when paired with just a few other foods. Its adoption into French agriculture helped put an end to repeating cycles of famine as the result of grain crop failures. Best of all, it doesn’t require any expensive specialized equipment to grow and harvest. For ten to twenty dollars worth of seed potatoes, a family could produce enough potatoes to meet the majority of its basic food needs for a year. Granted the diet will lack variety, it will prevent one from starving if need be. The potato has an interesting history, see the following link for more information; http://www.history-magazine.com/potato.html


Potatoes can tolerate some light frosts early on and still grow another day to produce. However, a frost further into the growing season could mean the end. The use of small hooped arches and floating row covers on cold nights can prevent damage from frosts and light freezes. Floating row covers made of breathable fabric creates a barrier in which warmth from the ground is prevented from radiating into the air. The result is that air around the crops will stay above freezing. Floating row covers are a must have for farming in cold climates. They are great for getting crops into the ground before the last freeze date and their use permits getting crops up to harvest size in short season growing areas by getting an early start. As a plus, they can also be used to prevent loss from insects at various times.

Another option for the small grower wishing to maximize production in a limited space that also lends itself to being covered to prevent freeze damage is the use of the potato tower. The following link describes the “Lasagna” method wherein the entire tower is planted all at once in layers. http://growinglots.blogspot.com/2010/06/potato-towers-living-fence-posts.html

The key to success with the potato tower is to plant near the outside ring so that the plant can poke thru the side for putting forth leaves. If planted in the center, the sprouting potato plant may never make it to sunlight and the seed potato will rot becoming a potential site for disease development. The soil can’t be too compact so as to form a concrete like soil. It must be able to breath, drain, and yet be able to retain moisture. If high carbon content materials are used as mulch inside the tower, don’t forget to add something with a high nitrogen content to compensate such as manure or a slow release fertilizer like osmocote. Be careful not to create a condition conducive for composting as you may end up cooking your seed potatoes. A tower with a two foot diameter planted with the lasagna method may be a great way to produce new potatoes if the tower is seeded heavy. Seed lighter for larger potatoes.

Another potato tower method is that of using wood frames made with 8” wide wood planks. The bottom frame is set on the ground, filled with soil and seeded. As the plants grow, an additional frame is set on top. Soil should be added before the plants get more than 5 inches tall. Soil should be spread by hand to cover plants all but up to the top inch or so of growth. When the plants gets tall enough, repeat the process. I recommend not going more than 3 or 4 layers tall using this method. Don’t forget it is the leaves which convert sunlight into energy for making potatoes. No bushy leaf mass= limited potato growth. So if you want potatoes you can only go so many layers high and still have enough time for the leaves to grow and convert sunlight to potato. Likewise, when establishing the tower do not let the plants grow too tall before adding more soil as the plants stem will become a woody stem that will not put forth more roots and potatoes when covered. The stem needs to be covered while it is still young to optimize root establishment. Those that let their plants grow too tall before making the next layer will end the season with a tower several feet tall and potatoes just on the bottom layer. If you are going vertical, you want to make sure you are using all of it. The frame tower method is the easiest of all to cover for an early season start to the growing season.

In researching the potato tower you may read of success and many failures. Letting plants grow too big before making new layers is one mistake. Planting in something that is dark and prone to heating up in the sun is another. Potatoes like their roots cool around 50-60°F, and a tower being above ground can warm up too much in the heat of the summer. Thus the use of tires for frames which are black and absorb heat may be a bad choice unless you live in Alaska. The lasagna method for making a tower wherein the leaves shoot out the sides thus providing shade for the tower itself may be better for areas where the summers are hot. For areas that do have hot summers, planting in the ground may be your best bet or you may want to plant very early when most people haven’t even thought of planting anything and keep an eye on weather so you can cover your plants if a frost is expected. If doing the later the use of covers made with infrared reflective insulation such as the foil lined bubble wrap from Home Depot or FarmTek may be a warranted. With an early start, you could be harvesting before the heat of the summer hits.

Good luck and please comment with your experiences with potato towers.

Fertile Soil Islands- part II

When going with the fertile soil island approach for converting lawn to garden be sure to be generous with the amount of good soil you put into each spot.  This is especially important if you have much clay under your lawn.  If too little soil is used, the roots of the plant you put into it may become root bound similar to that of a plant which is planted in a small pot.  For cuccumbers, squash, zuchinni, pumpkins, peppers, and egg plant; three large shovel fulls of soil removed and replaced with good soil should suffice.  For tomatoes, use enough soil to fill a five gallon bucket.  For potatoes, don't remove the poor soil for creating a hole to put in good soil.  Instead, break up the clay soil and mix in some good soil.  For leafy greens, forget the fertile soil island approach and build yourself a raised bed over the lawn using the sheet mulching technique.

Fertile Soil Islands

In researching how to have a great garden one will quickly read about the importance of having great soil.  Great soil in my opinion is of the utmost importance to gardening success.  Obtaining and preventing its loss should be goal number one before planting a single seed.  Dark soil, rich in organic material, intertwined with a living matrix of fungi and earthworms, that is well aerated, but  yet capable of holding onto moisture not only makes  for great growing but also significantly reduces labor by reducing need for watering.  I have to admit that I have tried cheating in this category to expand my garden’s size without spending too much money.   Instead of buying compost, I purchased loam screened from tree stumps and mixed it with peat moss.  The result was a soil that would grow vegetables, albeit with the need to use fertilizer and frequent irrigation.  Older parts of the garden in which I had used compost spread over an area previously tilled and planted with clover performed much better and required little watering even though the summer was dry.  Thus the difference between growing in a “living soil” verses growing in a dead soil.  Had I been wise, I should have bought compost and rather than spread it out all in one large area to make traditional rows, I should have strategically placed the more expensive soil into fertile islands.  Why spread the soil all in one area?  It is not like I need great soil for the areas I walk on.  Why not just put the good expensive soil in just the spots where the plants will be?  I did this one year with pumpkins and it worked great.  I removed three shovels full of soil and replaced it with compost in just the areas I wanted a plant.  For pumpkins and other vine type plants which likes lots of space like squash and cuccumbers, such a strategy works and will greatly reduce the amount of good soil used.  Although some garden experts will warn that trying to convert lawn to garden can result in disappointment, the use of creating fertile islands of soil can overcome the poor soils often found underneath lawns and allow significant acreage to be converted to garden for minimal expense.

Reaching out to Greenpeace Granola Heads

Having lived in Southwest Virginia in the middle of the Bible belt for about a year, I was able to experience firsthand why it is that many Southerners consider New England a mission field. It is. The Northern New England States have one of the lowest rates of regular church attendance and the fewest number of people that would be classified as evangelical Christians. The region also has a fair number of people that are of the “Green” mindset, the same folks that are sometimes referred to as “Greenpeace Granola Heads”. These people, not only in New England, but across the country, are possibly one of the largest untapped groups to be evangelized in the United States. Some of their beliefs just clash with traditional conservative beliefs that many evangelical Christians have. For this reason, outreach to such people has been very low. This is unfortunate too, as a good number of Greenpeace Granola Heads have a strong desire to help others and have a history of performing community service. If won over to God, such individuals would be naturals in missionary work. Since farming and most things agriculturally oriented is a passion of mine, using it for ministry purposes is one area of church service that I could get excited about. Using agricultural programs and creating local food production networks as an outreach tool to attract Greenpeace Granola Heads to Christ could work and would also help facilitate the main goal of building food security for the church community by bringing in people with significant skills in the area of sustainable agriculture. If churches also have a local food production system built and the rapture occurs during a period of food crisis, there will be something other than just answer seeking to draw people to churches. In this way, the churches left behind can serve as an ark of sorts to provide not only the Word, but also food and shelter. But before such a ministry could start, is there a need to come up with another name then the Greenpeace Granola Head Outreach Ministry?

Building local food production by redefining CSA

For most individuals, trying to produce all your own food needs is near impossible, even for the full time farmer. Trying to source all of your food needs with locally produced goods is difficult, expensive, time consuming, and requires significant culinary skills to make that food consistently appetizing. One farming concept that has made the above more attainable is that of the CSA or Community Supported Agriculture. CSA operations across the country deserve much credit for starting the process of rebuilding local food production. Patrons of these operations, which usually pay money up front in exchange for a “share” in the harvest whether it is bad or good, get to share in the risk and bounty of farming. Patrons get to learn about seasonality of food production and very likely get to participate first hand in the actual farming thru scheduled events on the farm or via work in exchange for reduced “share” prices. Scheduled farm day events may even include seminars or social events for learning how to preserve food or to share ideas for recipes using the crops being produced. In a sense, CSA’s helps foster the development of micro-communities within a community. The patrons can be of quite diverse backgrounds, yet are brought together in a relatively weak bond via the food of the CSA farm. Some members may have a stronger bond with others in the CSA all depending on their common interests. Usually they value fresh quality produce, have a “foodie” mentality, have a distrust of large corporate farming entities, and like to know that the food they are eating does not have pesticides, herbicides, or antibiotics residues with certainty for the main reason that they know how it is that their food was produced. Another common trait amongst members is that they usually tend to be well educated and well off. Whether or not the bond amongst members and the farm to the members would be enough to get a pooling of resources to endure a significant challenge to functional society such as famine or economic collapse would bring would be interesting. To the extent that the CSA can provide enough for ones complete dietary needs to survive might be the difference between success and failure under such a situation. Considering that most CSA’s likely do not produce their own grains for animal feed or for people, due to it not being economically advantageous for them to do so, one but has to wonder to what extent most CSA’s or other farming operations are prepared to produce food with little in the way of outside inputs. How far the patrons are from the CSA may be another question as some CSA’s survive by tapping into wealthier patrons in the city or suburbia by arranging drop off times and locations away from the farm. Other patrons will drive considerable distance to get the quality of food they want. The food that most of us eat travels on average about 1500 miles. What happens if fuel gets really expensive or become unavailable? CSA’s have made a good start at building local food production, but how is it that something more complete can be built to withstand possible tough times in the future?


The answer lies within the title of CSA. It is community; like the nostalgic communities portrayed in television series such as Little House on the Prairie wherein neighbors actually know each other and help each other with things such as barn raisings. To me, the sense of community wherein the fellow man would go to great lengths to help out another fellow man in need of help is something that nowadays is still common in churches. Unfortunately, many churches do not have an agricultural mindset. Yet most churches are probably more equipped at building a local food production system then they are aware. It could be used as an incredible ministry tool for outreach, bond building, and for providing food for its flock and surrounding community.

Many small farms and CSA’s would be highly profitable and flourishing all over the country if it were not for restrictions that make it nearly impossible to compete by limiting them to just selling the raw product produced. Any kind of processing or value adding, results in the need for the farmer to have a host of licenses, inspections, specially certified kitchens, and paper work that makes it out of the reach of the small farm to even dream about. Such food safety measures are there to prevent mass food borne illnesses that can arise from improper sanitary protocols. Large food processing facilities with massive and vast distribution systems are disconnected from the people they serve and as a result profit has sometimes been made more a priority over safety and quality. Food safety laws and regulations are there for a reason, but unfortunately the laws and regulations created did not have any exemptions for the small producer that sells directly to the end customer. The risk of food borne illnesses coming from a small producer who has a direct relationship with the end user is very small and lawmakers should be lobbied to create small food producer exemptions to foster locally produced food. Although many people have the culinary skills to make use of various farm goods that are in season, many people don’t. Being able to get a medley of produce incorporated into garden chowder or other products baked into a pie, cake, casserole, or bread or some other form that is ready to eat or processed for long term storage to be eaten at a later date would facilitate local food production. Since regulatory hurdles are high and inhibitory, one must look at getting around such hurdles if local food production is to grow. The majority of hurdles which prevent from supplying such wholesome foods are bypassed by not selling such foods, but by giving them away. The laws and regulations for the most part do not apply to products that are not sold. Although such a concept would not work for a CSA or a for profit farm, it could work for a church community.

Church members could be organized into a new kind of CSA; church supported agriculture. Church supported agriculture could start off simply by organizing some members to grow food on church premises and at home to help stock the churches food pantry for the pastor, church employees, and for families in need of assistance or to supplement a church based soup kitchen or meals on wheels type program. Or it could be grown into something much larger and more complex wherein church members would get a “church share” that would include a mix of foods from other food producing members as well as some processed food made with donated goods by those in the church with culinary skills. Those that donate much more than a fair share in the way of food or time could reduce or eliminate what they give in tithes to the church. Those that feel that they receive much more than they put in, if they have the means, could give more monetarily to the church in lieu of a lower grocery bill. Church supported agriculture programs could also be used as a training tool for those looking to go on overseas missions, as an education tool for church based schools, and as an outreach program by helping to feed the hungry in the community via church based soup kitchens. Since the program would not be profit driven, it could also promote the growing of crops that could provide greater food security in the event of famine such as grains.

What are your thoughts on making a church supported agriculture program work? Please comment.

Make your own split log fence

The saying that good fences make for good neighbors is especially true if you have farm animals. Having a good fence in place before bringing an animal home is important. The type of fence needed will depend on what you are raising and what it is that you would also like to keep out. Many animals, especially when young, are vulnerable to predators. Fencing is one of the bigger investments one makes for containing livestock. High tensile electric fencing with one foot spacing in between wires starting at one foot above the ground and the last at about 8 feet will keep most things in and most things of concern out, as long as the fence charger is of ample voltage. During the winter months in areas that get a lot of snow such as where I live, those lower wires will draw voltage to ground making the fence unreliable. However, if the animals are brought in for the winter, then it is not such a big deal. For me, I am looking at getting some Scottish Highland Cattle. The snow doesn’t bother them and they’d prefer to be out in the snow than in a barn. Since, I have an abundance of pine trees around the perimeter of my back field; I have decided to make my own split rail fence to contain them. Time wise, it will go up much slower than a high tensile fence, and I may regret my choice before it is finished. If I did not live near a busy road, I would likely just go with electric wire and posts. The finished product will be rugged and should keep them in, even if the electric portion of it were to go down. Posts are 8’, with 2’ in the ground. Rails are put in at 1.5’ and 3’high. For the fence in the picture, I used 6’ posts. For the cattle, I will go with longer 8’ posts so I can run a strand of electric along the top. Since I am not worried about predators with Highlands, the split rail fence should work well. If I was concerned about predators I could run more electric strands at lower heights. Grass is one thing that grows well in cold climates. Having grazers that can convert that growth into food, should be a part of any cold climate subsistence farm. More on this topic later.

Making the fence:

For making the fence I cut down pine trees and then sectioned them into 8’ sections with my Husqvarna chainsaw. I then make a cut on the section ends. I then place a metal splitting wedge into the cut and drive it into the log section with the back end of my splitting maul. This causes the log section to start to split lengthwise. With a second wedge placed further up the split, I repeat driving the wedge into the log. The advancing wedge frees the previous wedge, thus allowing it to be removed to continue with the process. With just two wedges, an eight foot log can be split in half in about 5 minutes. Each half can then be split in half again by repeating the process for each half. Each 8’ section should yield 4 rails. Larger diameter sections may yield 6 or more rails. Splits should always try and go thru the center cord wood. For posts I just use halves; no need to split further. Carefully, I use the chainsaw tip to punch holes at 3.5 and 5’. Since the first 2’ are buried, this gives rail heights of 1.5 and 3’. Rail ends are tapered with the saw and cut in such a way that the outside part of the log is face up and the V cut is face down. This makes for a stronger rail. Rails are inserted into the holes after the first post is set and backfilled. The second post is not back filled until after it is lifted upright and the other ends of the rails are slipped into their respective holes. The chainsaw can be used to make final trimmings on rail ends thru the post holes to get additional sections to fit right. If the fence follows a contour as like for my driveway, then each additional post can be sited by eye. If it is a straight section, then a piece of twine should be strung between the two corners of the stretch to serve as a guide for keeping the fence row strait. More on making strait fences can be found on DIY post fences on the web. Using this kind of fence to provide stout support for a welded wire fence would probable work well for goats too. Regardless of function, the finished product will be sharp looking! I am not sure how long the posts will last. I am guessing 5 to 10 years. Rails should be good for 10 years. Any ideas out there on making posts in the ground last longer? Use of roofing tar? Copper based paints? Anything more environmentally benign?

Cutting down trees and what to do with them

When making room to farm, you may need to cut down some trees. What you do with the trees once you have cut them down varies according to need. Our heating is supplemented by our woodstove. When I cut down maple, oak, poplar, or birch, I cut it up for firewood. I could easily just as well cut logs into longer lengths, drill holes in them and inoculate with mushroom spores. Someday soon, I will try my hand at mushroom culture. If the trees were small and I had a chipper, chipping the wood for animal bedding, composting high nitrogen materials, or mulching would be a good use. However, getting a chipper is for another day. In the past when I cut down pine, I wouldn’t keep it for the wood stove, I would burn it in the back field as brush. The ash being high in calcium and other minerals are good for our calcium poor soils (thanks to acid rain). Growth of crops where the ash is spread has always been better. More recently when I burn brush, I do it on a rainy day. With big piles and flames going 30-40 feet in the air, a good fire suppressing rain is nice to prevent torching more than just the brush pile. Prior to all the hot coals completely combusting to ash, I spread them out with a rake and let the rain extinguish them. The left over charcoal can then be tilled into the ground and incorporated as biochar for making homemade terra –preta soil. Instead of slash and burn, I am now looking at slash and char. My soil in the back field is low in organic content in some places and the incorporation of char is the fastest way to increase soil carbon content. When char is added, you also need to have high nitrogen fertilizer added, otherwise the skewed carbon:nitrogen ratio will inhibit rather than help plant growth. Slash and char is an ongoing project and I will write more on it later. This past fall, I found another use for the pine. I made my own split log fence. I put a section up along the driveway. This upcoming year, I will do some more, but with higher posts and with some electric wire along the top for some livestock. More later on making your own split log fence- its really easy!