My credit union sponsored a tour of the Georgeson Botanical Gardens on Thursday late afternoon. It is only a short walk from my office and I frequently wander through the gardens throughout the summer on my noon walks. This HDR photo near the entrance shows some of their giant cabbages intermixed with kale. These cabbages aren't very large but they frequently get up to 60 lbs. A while back, neighbor gave me a couple of 40 pounders and I made a pile of great sauerkraut.
I used to wonder if corn would grow in Fairbanks. Now I know that indeed it will. They had to warm the ground by covering it with black fabric in the spring to speed thawing plus circulate warm water through through the ground using a passive solar heat exchanger. I think that maybe this isn't a commercially viable crop for interior Alaska. Each of these square plots is some sort of project or test and all are vegetables. (no picking allowed!)
The walkways were lined with beautiful choke cherry trees many of them with little signs dedicating them to someone formerly associated with the gardens. The gardens started out as a USDA experimental farm around the turn of the last century and predates the University of Alaska. The government was wondering if Alaska would ever support a population. Of the eleven farms established, only this one in Fairbanks and the one in Palmer are still around. Both are now part of the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences here in Fairbanks. In addition to the botanical gardens, there is cultivated crop land and domesticated animals. Right now, reindeer occupy the animal pens here in Fairbanks. Over the years I've seen cattle, hogs and goats but reindeer seem to attract more tourists.
Last summer, there was a group that wanted to learn how to build a
wood pile cordwood masonary structure and the gardens were the beneficiary of their efforts. They built a small building on the grounds as part of a university summer sessions class using old telephone poles and bottles. The old telephone poles were probably a bad idea as now the interior smells like creosote so the building is only useable as a tool shed. The mortar is only on the interior and exterior walls and the space between the mortar is filled with sawdust and straw for additional insulation.
It was a great way to end the afternoon as it was unseasonably warm (70°F) and large flocks of cranes were circling the grain fields across the street on their way south.
These photos are wonderful. Great colors, very late summer, early autumn...the colorful kale and cabbage is always the look of autumn around here.
ReplyDeleteWe have many "Wood pile" structures here. I did not know that is what they are called. I guess I never heard them called anything, actually. But we have whole houses that way. No creosote, tho, thankfully.
Really lovely photos. Thanks for the tour. Enjoy your warm days.
The actual name is cordwood masonry structures. Our guide at the gardens wasn't quite sure of the name and called them wood pile structures.
DeleteThat is a lot of work to grow corn. The kale and cabbage look wonderful though, such pretty colors.
ReplyDeleteThe wood structure makes me think of the embalming bottle house in the Kootenays of BC. A whole house and fence made out of them.
It is a ridiculous amount of effort for corn. Especially when the local Freddy's has it for 10/$4. Getting a tour was kind of different since they had discontinued them due to budget cuts. I always thought that bottle houses looked pretty cool but they are a little impractical.
DeleteRichard, you had me at sauerkraut.
ReplyDeleteI love the purple cabbage, we usually grow them for ornamental colour in the fall. Didn't know you could actually turn that variety into sauerkraut. (I think I'm craving an Octoberfest sausage.)
The Alaska giant cabbages aren't purple. In the first picture, the purple is the kale. I made sauerkraut for several years until some in the house complained about the smell while it was pickling. And it's great on pizza too.
DeleteNow I'm wanting to make a batch...
Growing corn that way would be pretty cost prohibitive. Great pictures!
ReplyDeleteVery impractical. I think it was a proof of concept thing. Isn't that what universities are for? Nothing practical.. ;-)
DeleteRichard,
ReplyDeleteI like how words can have such varied meanings depending on your part of the world. Unseasonably and warm fit into this category.
Also, forty pound cabbage? That's a lot of kraut. Oof. Pizza? Maybe not, but bratwurst. Oh yeah.
Brady
Behind Bars
But our definition is, of course, the "correct" one.
DeleteTwo forty lb cabbages only made about 6 gal of kraut, and I was skeptical about it on pizza too until I tried it...👍
Dear Richard:
ReplyDeleteSix gallons of kraut? That would cover all of the hot dogs I am no longer allowed to eat (nor desire to eat) for the rest of my life. It is the love of kraut that elevates man above the savages.
By the way, I was intrigued by the mention of choke cherry and looked it up. It didn't seem to be particularly useful, though when mixed with sugar (which I no longer use) it is alleged to make great jam. Also, some use it to make wine. Have you ever tasted either?
Fondest regards,
Jack/reep
Twisted Roads
I've had choke cherry jam and it is pretty good. I hear it takes a lot of sugar to make it palatable but have no experience making it. The sauerkraut rarely lasts a year since there is a popular dish at our house where country style pork ribs are simmered in a crock pot with a mixture of sauerkraut and apple sauce all day.
Delete