[Ed Thayer]

Here is the info I recieved from the UNH Cooperative Extension Office. It was indeed a member of the Mustard Family.

ED

Tower Mustard
Arabis glabra
Mustard family (Brassicaceae)

Description: This native biennial plant consists of a low-growing rosette of basal leaves up to 7″ across during the 1st year. These basal leaves are up to 3½” long and ¾” across; they are green to greyish green, oblanceolate, dentate, and often slightly pinnatifid with shallow lobes. Their upper surface is often hairy, although they tend to become less hairy with age. During the 2nd year, Tower Mustard bolts during the spring and produces one or more flowering stalks up to 3½’ tall. These stalks are light green to dull white, unbranched, hairless, and glaucous. Sometimes there may be a few hairs near the base of the stalks. The alternate cauline leaves are up to 3″ long and 1″ across. They are greyish green, lanceolate, smooth along the margins, hairless, and glaucous. Some of the lower cauline leaves may be dentate and slightly pinnatifid. The base of each cauline leaf clasps the stalk with a pair of basal lobes, which may be rounded or pointed. During cool spring weather, the cauline leaves may turn purple when they are exposed to full sun. Each stalk terminates in an elongated raceme of flowers and upright siliques (slender cylindrical seedpods). This raceme can become as long as the rest of the plant (up to 1¾’ in length) and it has a tower-like appearance. Each flower at the apex of the raceme is up to 1/6″ across, consisting of 4 white or cream petals, 4 light green or yellow sepals, a stout style, and several stamens. The pedicels of the flowers and siliques are about ¼–½” in length.

The blooming period occurs during late spring to mid-summer and lasts about 1½ months. Each flower is replaced by a slender cylindrical silique up to 2½” long. The siliques are held upright close to stalk of the raceme. Each silique contains 1 or 2 rows of slightly flattened ovoid seeds. These small seeds have narrowly winged margins and they are dispersed to some extent by the wind. The root system consists of a stout taproot. This plant spreads by reseeding itself.

Cultivation: The preference is full sun to light shade, mesic to dry conditions, and loam, clay-loam, or rocky soil. This plant also tolerates soil containing sand or hardpan clay. It is fairly easy to grow from seed.

Faunal Associations: Mostly small bees and flower flies visit the flowers for nectar or pollen. Occasionally various species of White butterflies (Pieridae) visit the flowers for nectar. The caterpillars of two Pierid butterflies, Anthocharis midea (Falcate Orangetip) and Euchloe olympia (Olympia Marble), prefer Arabis spp. (Rock Cresses) as a food source, particularly those Rock Cresses that are typically found in sunny habitats. The caterpillars of another Pierid butterfly, Pieris napi (Mustard White), reportedly feed on Rock Cresses, although this butterfly species hasn’t been observed in Illinois since the 19th century. Little information appears to be available about the desirability of Tower Mustard as a food source for mammalian herbivores; however, the foliage is not particularly bitter nor peppery.

[Ed Thayer]

DAPNet Spring Wood Bee is on for this Saturday, May 25th at 9:00 am.

Longview Farm, Charlestown NH
PotLuck—Bring a dish to share
with the crowd.
Rough camping available Friday &
Saturday night.

Look Forward to seeing everyone,
For more information: Ed Thayer
603-495-3554
ethayer@gsinet.net

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[Ed Thayer]

We have picked it out of the pasture this Spring, It grows rapidly in the Spring growing 4′ or 5′ tall with a yellow flower. Then once gone after first cut is gone until the next Spring. It showed up a couple of years ago but reproduces from seed very rapidly the next year.

Thanks for the help, this is a hay field and has not been tilled for 50 yrs,but has been managed with tractors . We have spread lime and fertilizer and plan to visit with the Cooperative extension to get some current soil tests done.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

After looking at the weather forecast for Saturday and talking it over with Jay Fisher, we have decided to postpone the DAPNet Wood Bee and use the rain date of Saturday, May 25th.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and we look forward to seeing you on the 25th.

 

Ed

 

[Ed Thayer]

Hi all, The Wood Bee in Charlestown, NH  is scheduled for next week. Don’t miss out on the fun, bring a dish to share with the group for lunch if you plan on attending. Hope to see you there.

 

Ed

 

[Ed Thayer]

Glad to hear it went well, Look forward to some pictures. It would be hard to find a better teamster, plowman than Sam.

[Ed Thayer]

George,

 

We raise two pigs each year and I looked in the file and we fed forty- 50 lb bags of Blue Seal Hog feed for the 2013 season. That is 1,000 lbs per pig. When i slaughtered them at the farm in November, they were 230 lb and 245 lbs each. The pigs were also grass fed in pasture and were fed surplus vegetables from the garden.

We do not feed organic and do not sell, we raise for our use only.

 

Ed

 

[Ed Thayer]

Thanks to all who posted in this thread, I purchased a Kuhn GF4 10′ rotary tedder today and plan to use it with the tractor. I hope to rake and bale with the horses this summer.

This hay stuff is all new to me and I have so much anxiety over it for some reason. I am a very capable person, however this hay business seems somewhat like black magic to me with all the different equipment, techniques and methods.

I have invested a fair amount of money into this venture and hope it all works out.

Ed

 

[Ed Thayer]

Great observations Don, do you find it difficult to turn wet windrows as well? I have found some Grimm tedders locally for a few hundred dollars, much less than the pto styles.

 

Ed

 

[Ed Thayer]

Bill,

 

PM me your phone number please.

 

Ed

 

[Ed Thayer]

The 12 gallons we made yesterday was almost back to medium, but was dark. Super flavor and color. We need more dark anyway.

 

[Ed Thayer]

We gathered 500 gallons today and still had 3% sap, supposed to freeze again tonight and may run again tomorrow. Hoping for more runs before it’s all over.

Ed

 

[Ed Thayer]

So Carl, you rake twice? Once after tedding then again to flip the windrow and just before baling? When you flip the windrow do you go the opposite direction?

Sorry for the newbie questions 🙁

Ed

 

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[Ed Thayer]

Thank you for the info, The rotary Kuhn style are quit expensive but may be worth the extra investment for us. I liked the Grimm style because it was ground drive and could be pulled with the horses. But I guess I will rake with them instead.

I just picked up a nice IH model 46 square baler with a Wisconsin engine drive on it. A little tinkering and it should be good to go. It baled last year and is good shape for it’s age. Anyone ever use one of these?

 

 

[Ed Thayer]

Mitch,

I too am always a little sad at the end. But it turns a page and I look forward to turning ground and spreading compost and all the other things we must do in Spring.

Rod,

Glad to hear you are running in WI. How late do you usually sugar in your region?

 

 

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