 An edible rainbow bouquet for all seasons and all reasons!
A one-plus-hour-a-week organic oasis and urban victory for gardener 'wanna bees' with no time, a pale green thumb and a littlespace, Liberated Salad is a flamboyant salad bouquet anyone can grow!
Liberated Salad is an excellent mini-garden for singles, busy homemakers, seniors, working folks and better-abled persons who will not buy a frig of greens to make a few salads a week nor invest in a hundred different seed packs to plant a littlespace, yet love to eat fresh vibrant greens.
Liberated Salad is a mixture of up to 100 greens and ruby reds grown in garden beds or boxes selectively harvested in a 1 to 8+ month growing season, needing minimum water, weeding and soil nutrients. In many years in some parts of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) the growing season can be 9+ months with no protective coverings. Solar pod, bell cloche, cold frame, hot bed, greenhouse, sun space or solarium growing can extend the season further!
Liberated Salad is twice liberated!
It liberates you from the definition of a gardener whose hands are often dirty, brow sweaty and back sore. You liberate the definition of a salad defined as a pale bland lettuce and a lifeless square tomato to a balanced bed of appetizing nutritious greens, purples and ruby reds!
Eat the outer leaves and let the inner grow is the motto.
Plants are not consumed in one picking as for commercial markets. Plants live longer, allowing abundant harvest of visual delights with zesty flavors, exuberant color and diverse shapes, sizes and textures with round, scalloped, curled, ruffled and heart shaped leaves. Each year, gardens are unique with variations that plant spirits exhibit!
Some plants, like biennials, survive for at least two years.
Kales with thick contorted stalks can still produce tender leaves eaten raw or cooked. Certain broccoli varieties can live for five years!
Sometimes I plant all the same seeds in a row instead of the liberated salad mix. I will leave a couple hearty, attractive or unique plants when finally harvesting the row. Planting a new row around these mavericks and rogues relieves the monotony of all in a straight military row type gardening. Inter-cropping also confuses pests.
 The garden becomes a textured palette! Plants become more intriguing, enticing you to nurture them to creative growth. Gardening is more fun, a child playing instead of a laborer doing arduous work! Because it is enjoyable, garden and gardener animate each other. Naturally, I sing to the little ones to enchant them into long life!
Mark these holidays on a calendar as annual planting days: Valentine's Day (Feb. 14), St. Patrick's Day (March 17), and April Fool’s Day, Earth Day, Easter or Hanukah (April 1 through 30). If you have the energy, start seeds indoors in February and move out usually in March depending on climactic zone. Or start outdoors in March, April or May. (These are not frost sensitive plants like tomatoes and squash.) I use flats or tofu containers with sterile or garden soil, adding a small amount of compost, not usually sterilized.
Seaweed spray like Maxi-crop (mixed l/4 - 1/2 teaspoon to 1 gallon of water) can increase drought and frost resistance and control pests. I soak the newly planted flats with Maxi-crop and spray plants a couple times with it when young and then a couple more times through the season. Rock dust is also beneficial to plants.
Will permaculture wonderlands result? I encourage you to to plant all 60-100 kinds of seeds in 2-3 beds; allow them to go to seed and re-grow. You should learn a little about growing your own seeds: some seeds cross-pollinate such as corn, beans and others. Some lettuces to breed true to the strain you planted may need to be planted 25 feet apart. My garden is small, so although I save some seeds, I also buy many.
Become familiar with your local climactic zone: then start your own Liberated Salad mix by buying or saving 50-100 kinds of seeds with a 30-215 day growing cycle, mixing them in a bowl, then packaging in l/2 teaspoon amounts in small jewelry size zip lock bags. When packaging, put a piece of masking tape over the top because these mini-bags are not well made and can separate, spilling seeds in the pockets of those with whom you have shared them rather than finding their way into the garden!
Ideally, one would separate the 50-100 seeds and put a few in each bag, so that every bag had a few of each seed. But this is labor intensive. A group of people buying a hundred packets together could, however, take the time to ascertain that a few of each seed go into each packet. Use egg cartons, e.g. to hold each seed variety and use a mini spoon to remove a few seeds from each cubicles.
If undertaking this by yourself, give the Liberated Salad seeds away or trade them. (It may not be legal to sell the seeds unless you are a registered company!) Store in a capped jar in a cool dark dry location (a desiccant packet in jar helps to prevent moisture that can less shelf life; desiccant is available from some seed companies like Territorial Seed or elsewhere).
 Winter gardens are much less work than spring and summer gardens, needing little water, weeding or fertilizing. In some years I eat for seven to eight months until mid-April from plantings August 1 through September 15 in the Pacific Northwest.
Occasional Siberian Express winters can freeze much of the garden if no protective coverings are used, but hardier edibles like chicory and kale can survive although one year the ‘Siberian Express’ knocked out the Siberian kale seven miles north of Eugene near Coburg which is a good reason to have a cloche or greenhouse for back-up for home garden.
I have discovered safety nets by planting in 'mini micro-zones,' i.e., on two or more sides of my house or outbuildings! The frost zones apparently can skip beds under trees or ones in certain directions from a building. Also, different height plants will survive frost better than others - more reason for successive plantings in late summer in a various locations.
Noting recent climate vagaries, it is possible that we may experience more temperature extremes and will need to be as cunning as Odysseus in designing food strategies for limited urban growing spaces, sometimes limited and more costly water supplies and busy schedules. Share new Liberated Salad varieties with friends via potlucks and computers! Take pictures or videos and post them on the net.
Bill Mollison, Permaculture movement founder, reports that Eco-Net (Peace-Net) has had a world-wide teleconference on permaculture; (might it be a good forum for Liberated Salad info turfing?). Gardenweb.com is the largest community of gardeners on the Internet. Keep a journal or garden log of your discoveries.
I rarely transplant a whole four-inch row from a tofu sized seedling container to the garden at the same time. A four-inch row can hold several dozen seedlings! Instead, I transplant about two-thirds of the plants in my container, so in case of weather or pest attack, some that remained in the container grow large enough to increase transplant survival rate. By leaving some in the flat, succession planting allows continual harvest.
Transplanting the critters when they are very small is ok - I often transplant when only one set of leaves appears. My transplant rate is almost 100%. Also, in hot weather, the smaller the plant, the less likely it is that it will wilt when transplanted unless damp-off is present.
 Raised beds are preferable in the minds of some people because the soil warms up earlier, is drier and can be worked earlier than water logged PNW soils West of the Cascades.
However, raised beds can dry out more, and Steve Solomon, founder and former owner of Territorial Seeds, has reversed his position on this and recently wrote that he thinks gardens should be planted without raised beds (see his discussion in Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times
(Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series); paperback. Because a fair amount of compost is used in beds, the soil is rich and can be planted intensively. ('In compost is the future wealth of America!' I often exclaim.)
For example, in a 3 or 4 by 10 foot space, 21 rows can be planted 3-4 inches apart. Imagine solid beds of food for family and friends, a small measure of self reliance.
The raised beds transplanted with starts germinated from seed on Aug. l through Sept. 15 produce bountiful food. Spacing the starts close together 3 or 6" apart - helps to prevent moisture loss and excessive weeding, a technique known as living mulch.
Growing Liberated Salad, take one giant step toward a more self-reliant healthy organic food future. Liberated Salad is one answer to world starvation. It conserves water, fertilizer, space, gas (no need to drive to buy food when homemade gomasio on a salad tastes better than popcorn!).
Gomasio was the most recent addition to the Liberated Salad and has been one of the most popular. Homemade gomasio is far superior to the bland store-bought variety. The simple recipe: lightly roasted brown unhulled (preferably organic) sesame seeds in an ungreased skillet, add a sea salt pinch, grind in a blender (or buy a shaker that grinds as you use it). Gomasio is delicious in salads (I mean RAVE reviews), soups, stir fries, cereal, or as a snack. This salad has been often called the best in the world!
For salad seasonings: experiment with light dustings of kelp and dulse (deep gray and wine red colored powdered seaweeds), brewer's yeast, cayenne, algae, olive or coconut oil, soy sauce, Bragg amino acids, umeboshe plum vinegar, fresh lemon or lime juice. Liberated Salad dressing is made with these and raw organic ground sesame and sunflower seeds, garlic, miso, a splash of Szechuan sauce and your favorite herbs. Whole grain croutons add zest and crunchiness! Hemp seed is a nutritious addition.
Two decades ago I would rarely eat or buy kale, cabbage, mustard, turnip greens, rocket or collards. But since these succulent greens grow in my yard almost year round, I now treasure them. I usually have something with which to create a meal. Now I eat more according to what is in season and buy almost 100% organic food for items which I do not grow.
I can afford to buy organic food if I don't waste food. Statistics show that 25% of the food in the USA ends up in the dump. Organic food is nutritionally superior as Doctor's Data Lab pioneer study by Bob Smith confirms. A state of the art spectrometer where 38 minerals in eight crops were identified indicated that organically grown foods are 200-250% higher than conventional foods for 38 minerals tested - potassium, etc.
The Journal of Applied Nutrition quickly accepted and printed it; doctors ordered thousands of copies to educate patients who are under-nourished. Other recent studies indicate that those who eat organic foods especially grown in mineral rich soils do not need vitamins.
Liberated Salad is an innovative eating experiment based on the Sanskrit concept, Ahimsa (harmlessness) and a nonviolent diet.
When seven protein sources are added to Liberated Salad, it is a delicious satisfying main course: e.g., sesame and sunflower seed dressing, parmesan, goat, hemp seed, tofurella or other cheeses, multi-grain croutons, raw or marinated beans, smoked or raw tofu and a few kinds of sprouts. Add a crunch to your sprouts by mixing equal parts of sprouted lentils, adzuki beans and whole green peas; you can also use broccoli, sunflower, radish, buckwheat and others, lots of Vitamin C are in sprouts too!
Eat Liberated Salad as a main course or side dish for 9-10 months a year. Even when the heavy frost came in mid-November, 1991, I went out at midnight to cover the raised beds for the first time. Although every leaf was hard - almost frozen - the next day there was almost no damage to my winter garden. I was pleasantly surprised that my experiment had worked. We have a lot to learn. During Siberian Express winters, beds were covered about 14 times - not every night. Use a tarp and put bricks on edges.
Amity Foundation (now defunct) in Eugene, OR, found in experiments in the early eighties that 3-5 times as much food can be grown in the Willamette Valley (area West of the Cascades in Oregon) with simple protective clear plastic made into a tunnel covering or bell cloche.
Their book "Gardening under Cover" by William Head, Ph.D., is still in print at many bookstore (please support independent book stores when ordering) and is also available in some libraries, or read other books on cloches. Experiment with protective coverings or more permanent hotbeds, cold beds or greenhouses, free-standing or attached to the South or East of a house, barn or outbuilding. (Don’t create mildew conditions, however, if attaching a greenhouse to a house.)
In the early twentieth century, a shortage of manure occurred with the coming of the automobile, so broken up corn cobs were sometimes used under hot beds to warm the soil!
Consider designing a small solar heated structure including water or rock storage. Plastic lasts one to 20 years while fiberglass can last 20 years and glass 800+ years (European cathedrals!). Soon a new material called Cloud-gel (smart weather panels) may be available, allowing light and heat for houses and greenhouses.
A 'solar pod' was designed by a couple who published an article about this protective covering in Mother Earth News <http://www.motherearthnews.com/Livestock-and-Farming/1995-02-01/American-Intensive-Solar-Gardening.aspx>
Using solar pods, they were able to double their garden production.
This how-to build one article appeared in 1995 by Leandre and Gretchen Vogel Poisson; it was reprinted from "Solar Gardening: Growing Vegetables Year-Round the American Intensive Way" with permission from Chelsea Green Publishing Company.
Many temperate climate fertile valleys like Willamette Valley, OR, can abundantly grow early spring and winter gardens. One could make a few hundred dollars a month with a modest outlay by growing liberated salad for markets or for subscription customers.
Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest, a good reference book by Binda Colebrook, was a catalyst to my becoming more creative in selection of garden greens and purple wonders. Over the last 27 years, the 40 seed varieties in my seed mixture have grown to a happy 80-100 varieties – diverse lettuces and many basils, kales, mustards, cabbages, spinach, coriander, arugula (rocket), collards, chards, a few herbs and others.
With only 100, I probably miss a few gems! I have read that there are 2,300 varieties of lettuce alone!
Send me your suggestions. I have distributed 3,300 Liberated Salad seed packs in the last 28 years to people from over 100 countries.
Save the seeds-eat forever! Many are heirloom and will breed true if they are not vegetables that cross-pollinate. Almost all are organically grown seed.
One year my sister walked to her Pittsburgh, PA, suburban garden, and found a measure of independence - the last of her Liberated Salad planted in July. In milder Oregon we can pick it in most years until early April by which time new crops are growing.
Liberated Salad transforms into Liberated Steamed Veggies in fall and winter (using also roots grown separately). It has been as well received as Liberated Salad. Imagine a rainbow in a dish: deep purple Peruvian and yellow Finn potatoes, wine red, gold and pink and white striped beets (chiogga), purple and green ruffled kales, rocket, mustards, purple and green broccoli, turnip and beet greens, orange squash chunks, carrots, turnips, parsnips, onion and garlic, spinach, celery, cabbage and burdock.
A principal ingredient in an anti-cancer diet and two formulas, BURDOCK (edible gobo root) is gaining popularity. It is easily grown and can be a perennial. It is a huge plant with large rhubarb like leaves, however, so you may want to grow it OUTSIDE your garden beds.
BURDOCK is a central ingredient of ESSIAC tea (Canadian cancer nurse Rene Caisse's formula reportedly learned from the Natives) and HOXSEY formula for cancer control (from Mexico originally used in 150 clinics in the USA before they were shut down by the US federal government). To me, its flavor is like coconut and ginseng! I prefer to take it regularly by using the tincture available at health food and herbal stores.
The Liberated Steamed vegetable platter satisfies the senses, delights the eye, scents the air, helps immunize the body, and could even ward off cancer. Sparky mustard greens, cabbage, kale, rocket or roquette (arugula), broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts and other Cruciferae have pro-life, anti-cancer properties.
(Ahimsa blessings to Linda and Alan Kapuler, Ph.D., (aka MUSHROOM) for initially giving me diverse seeds to grow so that Liberated Salad evolved to the edible rainbow bouquet it is today. Emerging from his role as the organic vegetarian non-violent food system Shaman, Alan has developed into the biodiverse amino, health and nutrition scientific defender at the table.)
Dr. Kapuler NO LONGER sells organic seeds from through his home business Peace Seeds, Deep Diversity: A Planetary Gene Pool Service in Corvallis, OR. (Alan had been seed research director of Seeds of Change for over a decade, a national organic seed company.)
He refers people to this organization that has many of his seeds:
Seed-savers Exchange, 3076 North Winn Road Decorah, IA 52101 <http://www.seedsavers.org?> 563-382-5990; Fax: 563-382-5872 sells all open pollinated, all untreated, some organic seeds clearly identified; they are a pioneer in the heirloom seed movement.
Organic seeds including some heirlooms can also be bought from Seeds of Change 1364 Rufina Circle # 5, Santa Fe, NM 87501. Telephone 505/438-8080. Fax 505/438-7052. 1-888-762-7333 (toll-free in US)
<http://www.seedsofchange.com/>
Territorial Seeds in Cottage Grove, OR, sells many organic seeds
<http://www.territorial-seed.com/organic/organic_seeds.html/>
This essay is public domain.
When appropriate, please credit:
Kathy Ging, M.A., G.R.I.
POB 11245
Eugene, OR 97440
including E-mail: <kathy@kathyging.com>
See <http://www.kathyging.com> or
<http://www.LiberatedSalad.com> or
<http://www.LawnBeGone.com>
A one hour a week organic oasis and urban victory for gardener *wanna bees* with no time, a pale green thumb and a littlespace, Liberated Salad is a flamboyant salad bouquet anyone can grow! Liberated Salad is an excellent mini-garden for singles, busy homemakers, seniors, working folks and better-abled persons who will not buy a frig of greens to make a couple salads a day, nor invest in a hundred different seed packs to plant a littlespace, yet love to eat fresh vibrant greens.
Liberated Salad is a mixture of up to 100 greens and ruby reds grown in garden beds or boxes selectively harvested in a 3 to 8+ month growing season, needing minimum water, weeding and nutrients. In many years in some parts of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) the growing season can be 9+ months with no protective coverings.
Liberated Salad is twice liberated! It liberates you from the definition of a gardener whose hands are often dirty, brow sweaty and back sore. You liberate the definition of a salad defined as a pale bland lettuce and a lifeless square tomato to a balanced bed of appetizing nutritious greens, purples and ruby reds.
Eat the outer leaves and let the inner grow is the motto. Plants are not consumed in one picking as for commercial markets. Plants live longer, allowing abundant harvest of visual delights with zesty flavors, exuberant color and diverse shapes, sizes and textures, round, scalloped, curled and ruffled leaves. Some plants, like biennials, survive a couple years. Kales with thick contorted stalks can still produce tender leaves eaten raw or cooked. Certain broccoli varieties can live for five years! Sometimes I plant all the same seeds in a row instead of the liberated salad mix. I will leave a couple hearty, attractive or unique plants when finally harvesting the row. Planting a new row around these mavericks and rogues relieves the monotony of all in a straight military row type garden. Inter-cropping also confuses pests.
The garden becomes a textured palette! Plants become more intriguing, enticing you to nurture them to creative growth. Gardening is more fun, a child in a play room instead of a gardener doing hard labor. Because it is enjoyable, garden and gardener animate each other. Each year, gardens are unique with variations that plant spirits exhibit!
Mark these three, four holidays on a calendar as annual planting days: Valentine*s Day (Feb. 14), St. Patrick*s Day (March 17), and April Fool’s Day or Earth Day (April 1 through) or Easter or Hanukah. Start seeds indoors in February and move out usually in March depending on climactic zone. Or start outdoors in March. (Most of these are not frost sensitive plants like tomatoes and squash.) I use flats or tofu containers with sterile or garden soil, adding a small amount of compost, not usually sterilized which takes extra time.
Seaweed spray like Maxi-crop (mixed l/4 - 1/2 teaspoon to 1 gal. water) can increase drought and frost resistance and control pests. I soak the newly planted flats with Maxi-crop and spray plants a couple times with it. Rock dust is also beneficial to plants.
Will permaculture wonderlands result? Two experiments I encourage you to do are to plant all 60-100 kinds of seeds in 2-3 beds; allow them to go to seed and regrow. Become familiar with your local zone: then start your own Liberated Salad mix by buying or saving 50-100 kinds of seeds with a 30-215 day growing cycle, mixing them in a bowl, then packaging in l/2 teaspoon amounts in small jewelry size zip lock bags. Ideally, one would separate the 50-100 seeds and put a few in each bag, so that every bag had a few of each seed. But this is labor intensive. Consider inviting a few folks to help! Give the Liberated Salad seeds away or trade them. Store in a capped jar in a cool dark dry location (desiccant packet in jar prevents moisture).
Winter gardens are much less work than spring and summer gardens, needing little water, weeding or fertilizing. In some years I eat for seven to eight months until mid April from one planting September 1!
In the PNW one or more plantings can begin Aug. 1 to 31 through Sept. 1 to 15. Occasional Siberian Express winters can freeze much of the garden if no protective coverings are used, but hardier edibles like chicory and kale can survive although one year
the Siberian Express knocked out the Siberian kale which is a good reason to have a cloche or greenhouse for back-up. I have discovered safety nets by planting in micro-zones, i.e., on two or more sides of my house or outbuildings! The frost zones apparently can skip beds under trees or ones in certain directions from a building. Also, different height plants will survive frost better than others - more reason for successive plantings in late summer in a couple of locations.
Noting recent climate vagaries, it is possible that we may experience more temperature extremes and will need to be as cunning as Odysseus in designing food strategies for limited urban growing spaces, sometimes limited and more costly water supplies and busy schedules. We need time to share new Liberated Salad varieties with friends via potlucks and computers, don*t we?
Bill Mollison, Permaculture movement founder, reports that Eco-Net (Peace-Net) has a world-wide teleconference on permaculture; (might it be a good forum for Liberated Salad info turfing?). Gardenweb.com is the largest community of gardeners on the Internet. Keep a journal or garden log of your discoveries. I video or photograph my garden over several years.
I rarely transplant a whole four inch row from a tofu sized seedling container to the garden at the same time. A four inch row can hold several dozen seedlings! Instead, I transplant about two-thirds of the plants in my container, so in case of weather or pest attack, some that remained in the container grow large enough to increase transplant survival rate. By leaving some in the flat, succession planting allows continual harvest.
Transplanting the critters when they are very small is ok - I often transplant when only one set of leaves appears. My transplant rate is almost 100%. Also, in hot weather, the smaller the plant, the less likely it is that it will wilt when transplanted unless damp-off is present.
Raised beds are preferable because the soil warms up earlier, is drier and can be worked earlier than water logged PNW soils. Because a fair amount of compost is used in beds, the soil is rich and can be planted intensively. (*In compost is the future wealth of America!* I often exclaim.) For example, in a 3 or 4 by 10 foot space, 21 rows are planted 3-4 inches apart. Imagine solid beds of food for family and friends, a small measure of self reliance.
The raised beds transplanted with starts germinated from seed on Aug. l and Sept. 1 produce bountiful food. Spacing the starts close together 3 or 4" apart - helps to prevent moisture loss and excessive weeding, a technique known as living mulch.
Growing Liberated Salad, take one giant step toward a more self-reliant healthy organic food future. Liberated Salad is one answer to world starvation. It conserves water, fertilizer, space, gas (no need to drive to buy food when homemade gomasio on a salad tastes better than popcorn!).
Gomasio was the most recent addition to the Lib Salad and has been one of the most popular. Homemade gomasio is far superior to the bland store-bought variety. The simple recipe: lightly roasted brown unhulled (preferably organic) sesame seeds in an ungreased skillet, add a sea salt pinch, grind in a blender (or buy a shaker that grinds as you use it). Gomasio is delicious in salads (I mean RAVE reviews), soups, stir fries, cereal, or as a snack. This salad may now be the best in the world!
For salad seasonings: experiment with light dustings of kelp and dulse (deep charcoal and wine red colored powdered seaweeds), brewer's yeast, cayenne, algae, olive or coconut oil, soy sauce, umeboshe plum vinegar, fresh lemon or lime juice. Liberated Salad dressing is made with these and raw organic ground sesame and sunflower seeds, garlic, miso, a splash of Szechuan sauce and your favorite herbs. Whole grain croutons add zest and crunchiness!
Two decades ago I would rarely eat or buy kale, cabbage, mustard, turnip greens, rocket or collards. But since these succulent greens grow in my yard almost year round, I now treasure them. I usually have something with which to create a meal. Now I eat more according to what is in season and buy almost 100% organic food for items which I do not grow.
I can afford to buy organic food if I don*t waste food. Statistics show that 25% of the food in the USA ends up in the dump. Organic food is nutritionally superior as Doctor*s Data Lab pioneer study by Bob Smith confirms. A state of the art spectrometer where 38 minerals in 8 crops were identified indicated that organically grown foods are 200-250% higher than conventional foods for 38 minerals tested - potassium, etc. The Journal of Applied Nutrition quickly accepted and printed it; doctors ordered thousand s of copies to educate patients who are under-nourished. Free -1-800-323-2784, 8 am –6 pm Central Time. Other recent studies indicate that those who eat organic foods especially grown in mineral rich soils do not need vitamins. Liberated Salad is an innovative eating experiment based on the Sanskrit concept, Ahimsa (harmlessness) and a nonviolent diet.
When seven protein sources are added to Liberated Salad, it is a delicious satisfying main course: e.g., sesame and sunflower seed dressing, parmesan, goat, hemp seed, tofurella or other cheeses, multi-grain croutons, raw or marinated beans, smoked or raw tofu and a few kinds of sprouts. Add a crunch to your sprouts by mixing equal parts of sprouted lentils, aduki beans and whole green peas; you can also use broccoli, sunflower, radish, buckwheat and others, lots of Vitamin C in these too!
Eat Liberated salad as a main course or side dish for 9-10 months a year. Even when the heavy frost came in mid-November, 1991, I went out at midnight to cover the raised beds for the first time. Although every leaf was hard - almost frozen - the next day there was almost no damage to my winter garden. I was pleasantly surprised that my experiment had worked. We have a lot to learn. During Siberian Express winters, beds were covered about 14 times - not every night. Use a tarp and put bricks on edges.
Amity Foundation (now folded) in Eugene, OR, found in experiments in the early eighties that 3-5 times as much food can be grown in the Willamette Valley with simple protective clear plastic made into a tunnel covering or bell cloche. Their book Gardening under Cover (still in print, e.g., Territorial Seeds in Cottage Grove, OR, sells it or from your local bookstore (please support independent book stores) or it may be available in some libraries), or read other books on cloches. Experiment with protective coverings or more permanent hotbeds, cold beds or greenhouses, free-standing or attached, to the South or East of a house, barn or outbuilding. (Don’t create mildew conditions, however, if attaching a greenhouse to a house.)
Consider designing a small solar heated structure including water or rock storage. Plastic lasts one to 20 years while fiberglass can last 20 years and glass 800+ years (European cathedrals!). Soon a new material called Cloud-gel (smart weather panels) may be available, allowing light and heat for house and greenhouse. Many temperate climate fertile valleys like Willamette Valley (OR) can abundantly grow early spring and winter gardens. One could make a few hundred dollars a month with a modest outlay by growing liberated salad for markets or for subscription customers.
Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest, a good reference book by Binda Colebrook, was a catalyst to my becoming more creative in selection of garden greens and purple wonders. Over the last 20 years, the 40 seeds in my seed mixture have grown to a happy 100 varieties - 25 kinds of lettuce and many basils, kales, mustards, spinach, coriander, arugula collards, chards, a few herbs and others. With only 100, I probably miss a few gems! Send me your suggestions. I have distributed 2,200 Liberated Salad seed packs in the last 20 years to people from over 100 countries. Save the seeds-eat forever! In Nov. my sister, Nancy, walked to her Pittsburgh, PA, suburban garden, and found a measure of independence - the last of her Liberated Salad planted in July. In milder Oregon we
Can pick it in most years until early April by which time new crops are growing.
 Liberated Salad transforms into Liberated Steamed Veggies in fall and winter (using also roots grown separately). It has been as well received as Liberated Salad. Imagine a rainbow in a dish: deep purple Peruvian and yellow Finn potatoes, wine red, gold and pink and white striped beets (chiogga), purple and green ruffled kales, rocket, mustards, broccoli, turnip and beet greens, orange squash chunks, carrots, turnips, parsnips, onion and garlic, spinach, celery, cabbage and burdock.
A principal ingredient in an anti-cancer diet and two formulas, BURDOCK (edible gobo root) is gaining popularity. It is easily grown and can be a perennial. It is a central ingredient of ESSIAC tea (Canadian cancer nurse Rene Caisse*s formula from the Natives) and HOXSEY formula for cancer control (from Mexico). To me, its flavor is like coconut and ginseng!
The Liberated Steamed vegetable platter satisfies the senses , delights the eye, scents the air, helps immunize the body, and could ward off cancer. Sparky mustard greens, cabbage, kale, roquette (arugula), broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and other cruciferae have pro-life, anti-cancer properties.
(Ahimsa blessings to Linda and Allen Kapuler, Ph.D., for giving me diverse seeds to grow so that Liberated Salad evolved to the edible rainbow bouquet it is today. Emerging from his role as the organic vegetarian non-violent food system shaman, Allen has developed into the biodiverse amino, health and nutrition scientific defender at the table.) Dr. Kapuler again now sells organic seeds from his home in Corvallis,
OR through his business Peace Seeds, Deep Diversity A Planetary Gene Pool Service 2385 SE Thompson Corvallis, OR 97333 (Alan is retired seed research director of Seeds of Change, a national organic seed company.)
Also visit Sow Organic Seeds www.organicseed.com on the web that distributes seeds through this site and it probably the best source of organic gardening info on the net (including information by Dr. Kapuler who has a separate seed company). Sow Organic Seeds POB 527 Williams, OR 97544 toll-free 1-888-709-7333 email: organic@organicseed.com, web: organicseed.com
Organic seeds including some heirlooms can also be bought from Seeds of Change POB 15700
Santa Fe, NM 87501, 1-888-762-7333 (toll-free in US); 505-438-8080; 505-438-7052 www.seedsofchange.com
Territorial Seeds in Cottage Grove, OR sells some organic seeds
www.territorial-seed.com/organic/organic_seeds.html
Abundant Life Seed Foundation also is a good source for organic seeds. P.O. Box 772 Port Townsend, WA 98368 www.abundantlifeseed.org 360-385-5660 organic seed clearly indicated
Seed savers Exchange 3076 North Winn Road Decorah, IA 52101 www.seedsavers.org 563-382-5990 sells all open pollinated, all untreated, some organic seeds clearly identified.
|
