∞interwoven∞

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∞interwoven∞ food forest, nursery, plant library
southern ɪʟ | zone 𝟩a | ᴇꜱᴛ 𝟤014

I’m on a perennial quest to find new crops that thrive on our land. They need to handle our extreme summer heat and humi...
08/10/2026

I’m on a perennial quest to find new crops that thrive on our land. They need to handle our extreme summer heat and humidity, and the ensuing pest and disease pressure. With our fencing minimalism, they must coexist with the countless critters that would like to have a browse. Other qualities include nutrition, vigor, and of course, being enjoyable to eat. Over time, I hope to develop a bioregional toolkit of plants that can reliably provide complete nutrition without industrial inputs and with only a moderate amount of labor.

From this year's round of trials, I believe I have a winner. That plant is Mapudzi, the African bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria subsp. siceraria). Many people are familiar with the Asian subspecies, but the lesser known Mapudzi was independently domesticated in Africa. It's a cucurbit and harvested immature like summer squash. Like its Asian counterpart, Mapudzi has incredible vigor and resilience. Where they differ is flavor. Mapudzi tastes excellent, like a creamy potato. In Zimbabwe it’s often boiled, mashed, and covered in milk, sometimes with added sugar and peanut butter.

Mapudzi is an adventurous explorer. One plant made its way into our chicken run, where it has tolerated being trampled by our pack of raptors. Another sprawled into a feral garden bed, gliding among the w**ds, before turning back around into cultivation. I've not seen a deer take a nibble. When squash bugs eventually damage even the resistant Curcubita moschata, Mapudzi is untouched. Modern farming prefers uniform in**ed seeds. Traditional agrarians tend to prefer genetic variation. With the diversity present within this seed line, there are opportunities for further adaptation and selection.

Shout out to Cody Cove Farm and Nursery for making this special plant available in the US, where it thrives in their Florida location. I like to take note from deep south growers. With southern Illinois's continental climate, we can have summer temperatures comparable to the tropics. The trend of warming, supply chain disruption, extremes, and uncertainties will likely continue. It's time to develop regionally adapted antifragile food crops.

new conditions, new opportunityA hedge of american black currant and thornless honey locust was planted in sun beaten so...
06/01/2026

new conditions, new opportunity

A hedge of american black currant and thornless honey locust was planted in sun beaten sod. As they gained a footing in their new home, they made it their own. Birds came and planted "w**d" trees. The roots, shoots, shade, and leaf litter altered the conditions that the thick grass previously preferred. Now, beneath the bushes, there are few w**ds, and they are easily removed, revealing fungal soil with chocolate cake texture. Plants and land are in conversation, participating in each other's development. What once was, is now anew, opening doors for the natural practitioner to walk through.

I saved hybrid persimmon seed when visiting Cliff England's orchard. It's full of some of the most diverse Diospyros fruit and pollen in the country. Now to plant these precious seedlings. When nurturing juvenile breeding material, it's important to give them the most enriched environment to encourage the expression of domestic qualities like large fruit. They may struggle as they settle into an open field until they build a community and craft their preferred world, for they are a species of the forest. Instead, I gently prune space between each pair of currants. As the persimmons push through, they will rest happily in the dappled shade of the honey locust, and the shade loving currants will be happier for it.

Dreaming of Zone 7 Sweet CitrusCitrus is made up of a collection of species and their hybrids. The holy grail of the las...
12/19/2025

Dreaming of Zone 7 Sweet Citrus

Citrus is made up of a collection of species and their hybrids. The holy grail of the last 100 years of citrus breeding is a cold-hardy sweet citrus that can be eaten fresh out of hand. The most palatable species are not very cold-hardy. Luckily, two species are quite hardy: Citrus trifoliata and Citrus cavaleriei. Citrus can easily hybridize between species. The goal is to balance cold hardiness with flavor through interspecific hybridization.

The most cold-hardy sweet citrus I'm aware of is 10 Degree Tangerine. It is a Clementine Yuzu cross, and is hardy to 8°F. Yuzu is a C. cavaleriei hybrid. 10 Degree Tangerine has a good balance of sweet and sour flavor and is easy to peel. For a citrus to be hardy to our farm's location (zone 7a) it needs to be at least hardy to 0°F.

Depending on the citrus cultivar, they produce some percentage of zygotic and nucellar seedlings. Nucellar seedlings are genetic clones of the maternal parent. Which is great for propagation, but lacks the genetic variation necessary for breeding. Zygotic seedlings are genetically unique, and their traits are determined by their pollen and seed parents. When we are looking for a maternal parent in a citrus cross, they ideally make a large percentage of zygotic seeds.

10 Degree Tangerine is a great seed parent because it only makes seeds when cross-pollinated. It has a unique leaf shape, so it's easy to screen for uniform nucellar seedlings. Citrus trifoliata has 3-lobed leaves, so when seedlings have 3-lobed leaves, we know the 10 degree tangerine was crossed with a C. trifoliata hybrid. While there is information available on what percentage of zygotic seedlings many cultivars make, I could find no references for 10 Degree Tangerine. I was delighted to discover that it appears to make 10-20% zygotic seedlings. The nucellar seedlings were sold and the zygotic seedlings will be grown out and evaluated for cold hardiness and flavor.

I purchased 10 Degree Tangerine fruits from Stan of McKenzie Farms in 2024, and germinated the seeds in 2025. I was ecstatic to discover I had a nice collection of zygotic seedlings. Later, Stan informed me of the trees growing near his 10 Degree Tangerine: Dunstan citrumelo, Sacaton citrumelo and US-852 (Changsha mandarin x C. trifoliata), all trifoliata hybrids. Serendipitously, my plan was to cross 10 Degree Tangerine with US-852! Some seedlings resemble citrumelo, and others resemble US-852. It appears very likely I have both crosses.

PICTURED
1) 10 Degree Tangerine seedling with resemblance to citrumelo
2) 10 Degree Tangerine seedling with resemblance to US-852
3) Nucellar 10 Degree Tangerine seedling
4) The whole gang

For more about our citrus breeding program: https://interwovenpermaculture.com/cold-hardy-citrus-project/

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369 Raum Road
Golconda, IL
62938

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