Homesteaders

[Chicken girl 15]

Ever get that dark buckwheat honey? Wasn't bad but not my fav, kinda tasted like grape nut cereal, which I like just odd flavor for honey IMHO. I prefer regular ole honey.

buckwheat honey is good for cooking and cold syrup.

 

[rancher hicks]

I don't even know if we have any maples. Would be great though. We love fresh maple. I guess with all we have going on it would be more simple to just buy local though, like we do honey.

there is an article in one of my Hobby Farm magazine or another about making Syrup from Birch trees. In Alaska they sold Birch Syrup and Caramels. I'll have a look and see what magazine it was in.

I wish there was maple syrup and blueberries here, you Easterners are lucky for those... I love the darker grade b syrup, it's got lots of robust flavor and plenty of good minerals. But honey, we have plenty of that! We used to get free honey from a guy who kept hives on grandma's homestead, because she refused to spray anything so the bees were healthy. The man retired eventually.

Do they not have Maple trees or Blueberries in Montana? My DD's fiance is from Montana though I'm not sure where he lived. I've thought of trying to find out more about him by investigating. I just wonder why he'd come back from Montana. Though he does have family here. Anyhow I'm surprised you don't have Maple trees or Blueberries in Montana.

 

[rancher hicks]

Still to early to start anything here, though I have some sweet potatoes going in the window.
40s-50s during the day, teens at night. Perfect weather for tapping Maple trees, did some today and the saps a drippin :-D

Don't you start your own plants for the garden? I find I have better luck when I start my own. Too there are plenty of things you can grow indoors. Greens can be grown and harvested as "baby greens".

 

[Bantambird]

there is an article in one of my Hobby Farm magazine or another about making Syrup from Birch trees.  In Alaska they sold Birch Syrup and Caramels. I'll have a look and see what magazine it was in. 

Do they not have Maple trees or Blueberries in Montana?  My DD's fiance is from Montana though I'm not sure where he lived. I've thought of trying to find out more about him by investigating. I just wonder why he'd come back from Montana. Though he does have family here. Anyhow I'm surprised you don't have Maple trees or Blueberries in Montana. 

There are a few maples, but not sugar maples, and they won't grow wild here. Our soil isn't right for blueberries, I guess, where I am it's way to alkaline for blueberries to survive, I hear they like oak forests. We have only one native oak species, and it is very sparse. The Burr oak. Forests here are nearly all pine. We do have huckleberries, instead of blueberries, but huckleberries grow only above a certain elevation and are apparently difficult to cultivate, so most are gathered wild on the western side of the mountains. Where I'm at in the eastern foothills, we have golden currants and chokecherries and skunk weed sumac, wild plums, desert roses, and certain edible roots like yucca, wild onion, or sego Lily, there's an abandoned homesteader's garden not far from the house with ancient pear trees and a crab apple tree, and the two apple trees at my folks house. I tried really hard to get a sugar maple to grow, but the wind here is too much. It just seemed to lean over like a tired little kid.

 

[Beer can]

There are a few maples, but not sugar maples, and they won't grow wild here. Our soil isn't right for blueberries, I guess, where I am it's way to alkaline for blueberries to survive, I hear they like oak forests. We have only one native oak species, and it is very sparse. The Burr oak. Forests here are nearly all pine. We do have huckleberries, instead of blueberries, but huckleberries grow only above a certain elevation and are apparently difficult to cultivate, so most are gathered wild on the western side of the mountains. Where I'm at in the eastern foothills, we have golden currants and chokecherries and skunk weed sumac, wild plums, desert roses, and certain edible roots like yucca, wild onion, or sego Lily, there's an abandoned homesteader's garden not far from the house with ancient pear trees and a crab apple tree, and the two apple trees at my folks house. I tried really hard to get a sugar maple to grow, but the wind here is too much. It just seemed to lean over like a tired little kid.

Too alkaline? us too, we add acid to our blueberry bushes, thriving now. Wild bushes do just fine though?....?
Doesn't take sugar maples to make maple syrup, sugar maples you need less sap per gallon but not a huge difference, tapping other maple just takes more sap per gallon of syrup, tastes the same. We have the same here also all over, wild huckleberries, ground blueberries, ate tons of them growing up and picked for pies, same with the tiny wild strawberries, tiny things but ohh so good. Black berries, raspberries, black caps, (black raspberries I guess?)
Never forget yrs ago, grandma took us all grandkids out, picking blackberries, filled 5 gallon buckets, lots of them, we were not allowed to leave until the back of the truck was full.

her blackberry pies and jam were well worth it....
Your from Montana, DW's cousin lives in Eureka, I think? from here but moved there , hand forges the nicest hunting knives I've ever seen.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...t.com/&usg=AFQjCNE2sHDXQWJeoCcmDRrC3BUFbqKYew

Love his songs also, kinda like John Denver IMHO

 

[Bantambird]

No blackberries, but raspberries grow here, I transplanted some wild ones from Roberts. When we go into the mountains we can find those best ever wild strawberries. There are no wild maples that I know of here, but plenty in townhome yards. To grow blueberries here, they would need a pot. You couldn't plant them in the soil at our house, anyways, and I'm betting people would have to augment the soil heavily to grow them. Same for the blackberries! Soil is really sandy and it's semi arid here in eastern Montana, we are just a little away from the edge of the badlands, in Yellowstone county. The most common bush here is sagebrush...

 

[Bantambird]

There's a guy I remember from when I was a kid, forged some pretty neat knives local here. Got to see a few!

 

[1cock2hens]

No blackberries, but raspberries grow here, I transplanted some wild ones from Roberts. When we go into the mountains we can find those best ever wild strawberries. There are no wild maples that I know of here, but plenty in townhome yards. To grow blueberries here, they would need a pot. You couldn't plant them in the soil at our house, anyways, and I'm betting people would have to augment the soil heavily to grow them. Same for the blackberries! Soil is really sandy and it's semi arid here in eastern Montana, we are just a little away from the edge of the badlands, in Yellowstone county. The most common bush here is sagebrush...

give me a day and I could get you a list of blackberry varieties that will thrive in your zone, not all blueberries require the same kinds of conditions to grow and I would almost bed any blueberry would grow and thrive in a raised bed with a little love, im actually looking at a list of 152 different varieties available commercially and a several of them would do fine there, there is actually an example from every us state in my book except hawaii

 

[Bantambird]

We did get a Doyle's thornless blackberry to grow, but it takes a lot of love because of the alkalinity, we give it plenty of acid building mulch, but it still doesn't quite live up to its reputation. We are in zone 4. 12-15 inches of rain annually. Soil hangs around 7.5 to 8, sandy, with hard clay in places, not much loam. Semi arid high plains.

 

[lazy gardener]

If you can't grow standard northern blueberries, try the June Berry, or Saskatoon. There are "rabbit eye" blue berries that grow well in southern climates and don't require acid soil.