Styrian Oil Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo styriaca)

On my last trip to visit my Austrian in-laws, we were lucky enough to get away for 4 days to Austrian wine country in South Styria. For those of you unfamiliar with that part of the world, it is south of Graz (where Arnold Schwarzenegger is from) and is close to the border with Slovenia (former Yugoslavia).

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One of the things this region is known for besides its fantastic wines (mostly white wines) is a type of Scarlet Runner Bean that the Austrians call “Kaeferbohnen,” and they are known for Pumpkin Seed Oil that comes from a specialty pumpkin known in Austria simply as “ölkürbis,” but it’s proper name is Cucurbita pepo styriaca.

Styrian Oil Pumpkin seeds are used to make what I consider to be one of the most flavorful (and healthy) oils in the world. It is used in Austria on salad, in soups, and for dishes. While passing through Leibnitz, we stopped at a local plant nursery & picked up some seeds so that I could grow this interesting pumpkin in the 2010 growing season here in N. California.

After getting the seeds last summer, I of course realized that growing a bunch of pumpkins is easy. The difficult part is figuring out how to make pumpkin seed oil, but I think I have found the information that I need to be successful with this project…or I’ve found just enough information to make this a time consuming disaster (you’re sitting on the edge of your seat now aren’t you?).

Here’s the basic process:

1. Grow several pumpkins so that you have at least 3 kilos (6.6 lbs) of seeds.
2. Harvest the seeds by hand (they even do it this way in Austria), wash them, and dry them well ( the pumpkins themselves can be composted since they aren’t considered a good eating squash).
3. Put the seeds into the food processor using the pulse button VERY briefly to break up the seeds, but you want the seeds in small chunks, not completely ground up.
4. Take the broken up seeds and roast them for about 5-7 minutes at 140 degrees Fahrenheit. This is important because it is a low enough temperature to ensure that you can still call the oil “cold pressed” and not change the flavor of the oil. It will also make it easier to get as much oil as possible from the seeds in the next step.
5. Put the roasted seeds through an oil expeller. You don’t need a fancy expensive one with an electric motor. I’m going to get a hand crank one from a Dutch company called Piteba for about $150 USD.
6. After making the oil, you need to let the oil settle so that the sediment falls to the bottom of your container (a day or two). Then you will be able to pour off the dark green oil into another container and not have any silt – just pure pumpkin seed oil.

Although I’ve found a couple of 30 second videos on YouTube done by Piteba showing how easy it is to make oil from a variety of seeds, the best video I’ve seen with this oil expeller was done by a couple in Montana making Hemp Seed Oil, so I’ve posted it here to give everyone an idea of how this thing works –

I’ll post an update in late 2010 about how this process goes and make a determination at that time if it was worth all of the effort. I’m hoping it will be!

 

Soil testing & fertilizing

Knowing that I didn’t fertilize as often as I probably should have, I went to Berkeley Horticultural Nursery and bought a low-end soil testing kit to see what type of nutrients my raised beds needed. The kit that I bought is also available online & is called Luster Leaf Rapitest. It just measures pH levels, Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K), but works for the major nutrients, but doesn’t allow you to measure trace minerals that are also necessary. However, if you compost your yard waste and kitchen waste, chances are good that you won’t have to worry about trace minerals.

One thing that I’ve learned is that most compost made with kitchen waste has a high pH level. That’s OK if you aren’t trying to fill an entire bed with it, otherwise you’ll have to adjust the pH level by amending the compost with other things that I won’t get into here.

I found that the pH level in my beds was about 6.5 (good) and that I was low on N, but frequently was even lower on P and K, and in at least one instance P & K barely registered at all. I didn’t map out the nutrient deficiency to the crops I had in those beds because I’m just not that detail oriented at this point.

I chose to mix my own fertilizer and using the book “Golden Gate Gardening” and came up with the following formula:

N = 5 lbs of bloodmeal (reapply in 6 months)

P = 5 lbs of bonemeal (reapply in 2-3 years)

K = 10 lbs of greensand (reapply in 10 years – this trace minerals in it!)

Mix really well in a bucket with a trowel and evenly sprinkle it over 100 sq/ft. Remember that it is better to apply too little than too much because it’s hard to scrape it up after you’ve applied it.

After you sprinkle it on the bed, you’ll want to work it into the top 3-4 inches of the soil.

***If you’ve read a previous post I made, I had stated I was going to avoid bone meal as a source of P. The problem is that I couldn’t easily find colloidal phosphate, so I had to go with what was readily available in the local nurseries in order to just get the job done.

 

Gardening Links Page updated

As I collect new & useful links, I update the Gardening Links page. I’ve done some basic organizing and have added more links as well as a few comments on that page.

The Gardening Links page will continue to grow over time, so be sure to check it out.

 

Winter Squash

2009 was the first year I’ve grown winter squash & it was an interesting experience. I bought seeds for Butternut squash and Sweet Dumpling squash, but just used seeds from Acorn squash that we bought at the store and my Kabocha squash seeds came from a squash we received from Full Belly Farm when we were a CSA member and received produce shipments from them every other week down at the Berkeley Ecology Center just a couple of blocks from the house.

Everything turned out just fine, despite using seeds from squash that could have been cross pollinated by other squash that “might” have been growing in a nearby field. The book “Seed to Seed” by Suzanne Ashworth is my ultimate guide for collecting and saving seed (post is continued after the photos)

Front cover of Seed to Seed

Back cover of Seed to Seed

In a nutshell, I learned that there are 6 families of squash, some of which can cross pollinate and create unwanted genetic traits. The book tells you how to develop pure strains of seed if you can’t separate crops for situations such as your backyard.

The winter squash I grew were planted at different points throughout the growing season, which was a bad idea. Winter squash need 3-4 months to fully mature, so as I write this, I can look out my office window and see 3 Butternut squash still on a living vine that may never fully ripen (I did get one perfect Butternut squash from the vine though).

As a result of my haphazard planting schedule in the 2009 growing season, my winter squash harvest wasn’t what it could have been. I managed to get 2  Kabocha squash, 3 Sweet Dumpling squash, 8 Acorn squash, & 1 Butternut.

The interesting thing about winter squash is that some need time to cure and others don’t. Example, after harvesting, Kabocha squash need to sit in a warm & dry environment (room temperature 70-75 degrees more or less) for about 2 weeks. After that period, they should be moved to a cool storage location with a temp around 50 degrees. This curing period turns dry and flavorless Kabocha into a smooth and sweet squash.

We can attest to the necessity of this curing period since we didn’t allow one of the Kabocha to cure for long enough and it had nowhere near the flavor of the 2nd Kabocha from the same vine that did have a sufficient curing period.

We’ve since learned that Butternut squash and many other winter squashes need a curing period as well, with the exceptions being Sweet Dumpling, Acorn, and Delicata (thanks to University of Illinois for that info).

I’ll offer up some favorite ways that we cook some of this winter squash in another post, but for now, here are some photos of the winter squash that I grew this season.

Kabocha and Acorn squash

Sweet Dumpling squash

Immature Butternut squash

Same Butternut Squash when ripe

 

What’s in City of Berkeley Compost?

My neighbor picked up some compost from the city and went to the added measure of talking with someone in the city and asking for a copy of the tests that the city had run on the compost via a 3rd party independent lab.

In my previous post about herbicides in compost, I’d indicated that compost from the city of Berkeley is processed with organic waste from other cities with curbside pickup & is done in a central facility in Modesto, CA.  The results of the test show some interesting things, such as a really high pH level of 7.97 (most plants need the pH to be around 6 or 6.5).

One interesting point was that the lab tested the compost by a tried and true method — seed germination. In that test, 100% of the seeds germinated in the compost indicated that at least for now, compost that is given away free in Berkeley is not contaminated with herbicides.

The question that I can’t easily answer is about the trace metals such as arsenic, lead, etc., and if the EPA limits are low enough. I’m not a scientist, but I do know that many EPA limits have been lowered repeatedly over the years as new information has surfaced. I may be overly cautious, but I’m definitely still leaning towards making and using my own compost since this test is 1 snapshot in time and the composition of the city compost can and will change depending on what people put into their curbside green bins.

Click here ==> Berkeley compost report <== to read the details of the Berkeley Compost Soil Test report

 

Contaminated Compost – Herbicides

I use a green bin that the city of Berkeley picks up and sends to a central composting facility in Modesto, CA. I’d considered driving down and picking up some free compost sometime until I found out that there is a lot of carelessness with what gets sent to composting facilities.

It isn’t widely publicized, but there are increasing amounts of compost that is contaminated with very long lasting herbicides that are manufactured by Dow Chemicals.

After finding this out, I ordered a 2nd composting bin for my yard. When compost comes from your own yard, you can control what goes into it and ensure that poisons don’t end up in your compost.

The chemicals in question are ending up in commercially sold products as well and are clopyralid and its close cousin, aminopyralid. Both can persist in compost, hay, & manure for years. Before you buy (or pick up free compost) you’d better ensure it is being tested by the producer for contaminants.

 

Fruit Trees & Chill Hours

Living and gardening in Berkeley you realize that you are dealing with a double edged sword in regard to the weather. I can have flowers in February, but I can’t grow Honeycrisp apples, nectarines, apricots, Muscat grapes, pomegranates, and many other types of fruit.

Why?

The reason is that we have a very temperate climate here that doesn’t get too hot and doesn’t get too cold. For apples, nectarines, & apricots, I need a good chill, which you don’t get here. For Honeycrisp apples you need at least 800 chill hours and that just doesn’t happen here as a page from my undergrad university (U.C. Davis) points out.

Pomegranates & Muscat grapes on the other hand, require heat and a lot of it, so there is no way with my horribly foggy 1st half of summer I can get a decent crop from them.

In fact, I’ve been told by neighbors that they are impressed that I can get heirloom tomatoes to ripen as well as the peppers that I grow. If I can’t give myself a boost with chill hours, I can do it with the heat by creating an easy to make greenhouse over one of my raised beds.

I’ll use PVC pipe and specialized 6 mil plastic made for this type of use. The “greenhouse” will look similar to what you see in the picture at Peaceful Valley Farms, but will be on top of my raised beds. It should allow me to plant outside earlier and keep some of my more sensitive plants for longer (such as watermelon and peppers).

 

East Bay Urban Gardeners?

I was thinking that it would be great to connect with other backyard gardeners in my area (Berkeley, California) or in the greater SF Bay Area. If you are reading this and are part of a local online gardening group for this area, please let me know where to find that resource so I can sign up.

FYI – I have enough work in my own yard, so I’m not interested in a community volunteer gardening group. My interest is in finding a SF Bay Area online community that shares resources, knowledge, & perhaps does seed exchange.

If you know of this kind of online community for the SF Bay Area, please comment on this blog with the URL. Thanks!

 

It’s bulb planting time!

It’s mid-October in the SF Bay Area & after 2 highly unusual early season storms that dumped enough rain to cause flooding in the area, I’m about ready to get out and start planting both flower bulbs and bulbs that go in the vegetable garden.

Flower Bulbs in My Garden

Flowers that will go in are Iris, Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum), Freesia, Amaryllis (also known as the Naked Lady), and Calla Lilies (white, yellow, & red). An additional flower that some will plant with the bulbs is the Tecolote Ranunculus, which is actually a tuber. I find this odd because tubers will rot if they are in the ground during a wet winter like we have in California. Dahlias like potatoes and ranunculus are tubers and you don’t want them in the ground during the rainy season, particularly if you are like me and bought over $100 of Dahlia tubers last year. (FYI, the photo of the flowers in this post are Tecolote Ranunculus).

Edible Bulbs in My Garden

On the edible side of things this year I am planting Chesnok Red garlic, which is a hardneck garlic from the Republic of Georgia. I also decided to go with another hardneck variety called Georgia Fire (also known as Cichisdzhvari), which is also from the Republic of Georgia and it stores for longer than the Chesnok Red.

The other interesting thing about Georgia Fire is that it is a porcelain garlic, which are known for high levels of “Allicin” that apparently has positive health benefits for lowering cholesterol, boosting the immune system, decrease blood pressure, etc.

Last year I planted Siskiyou Purple softneck garlic, but even though they are supposed to store for longer than hardneck garlic, there were several bulbs that didn’t do well in storage compared to the hardneck, so they are out for this year’s planting. Furthermore, the hardneck garlics are prized by chefs around the world for hot spicy flavor, whereas the softnecks have a more tame flavor. Last year’s posts on the garlic harvest can be found here (garlic part 1, garlic part 2)

Storage times

• Chesnok Red – 5 months
• Georgia Fire (Cichisdzhvari)- 6-7 months
• Purple Siskiyou – up to 10 months

Also on the edible side of bulbs that are being planted are red shallots, Flat of Italy (flat red onions), and Gold Princess (flat yellow onions). My luck with shallots has been spotty, most likely because I’ve done them via seeds rather than planting an actual bulb.

I am going to try both seeds and starter bulbs this year and have ordered French Red Shallots from Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply in Grass Valley, CA (which is also where I bought my soil blockers — I’ll write about that later).

As for the onions, my track record is spotty there as well, but in my defense, the problem of cats digging up seedings was a serious problem last growing season and one that will be adequately addressed this time around with chicken wire. We did manage to get a couple of wonderful shallots and red onions, but not in the quantity we should have.

Fertilizing for Bulbs

To get your bulbs to grow (for edibles and flowers) and to ensure they bloom (for flowers), you need to fertilize. I am going to make my own fertilizer mix and will be avoiding bone meal because it is so processed these days that the consensus of university agricultural programs is that most of the nutrients have been “boiled off.”

Before I fertilize I’ll test the soil and try to best determine what areas need more and which need less. I’ll also base part of that decision on what I intend to plant in one area or another since there are plants that are light feeders, medium feeders, and heavy feeders.

One basic fertilizer recipe I have found on Mother Earth News in an article written by Steve Solomon is listed below:

Organic Fertilizer Recipe

Mix uniformly, in parts by volume:
4 parts seed meal
1/4 part ordinary agricultural lime, best finely ground
1/4 part gypsum (or double the agricultural lime)
1/2 part dolomitic lime

Plus, for best results:
1 part bone meal, rock phosphate or high-phosphate guano
1/2 to 1 part kelp meal (or 1 part basalt dust)

***I did find another homemade fertilizer recipe in the book “How to Grow More Vegetables” that basically lists different amounts of alfalfa meal (N), phosphate rock or soft phosphate (P), wood ash, and crushed granite (K). This is more of a complex recipe because you may also have to add in soil modifiers to bring in minerals such as calcium, sulfur, and trace minerals.

Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum)

 

Revisions on the way

I’m not crazy about how I’ve done this blog,  so after some thinking on this, I’ve decided to completely rework the appearance and feel of this blog so that it is focused exclusively on gardening & hopefully becomes a repository of information that I can personally rely on as I manage and maintain my backyard organic garden.

If you occasionally stop by this blog, you’ll start to slowly see changes as I get inspired and figure out the feature sets at WordPress that will be most useful to me and hopefully to others that drop by the site to see what’s happening in my 21st Century victory garden