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The Poor Prole’s Almanac

Pioneering Perennial Crops: The Oikos Tree Crops Journey into Oak Breeding and Sustainable Food Systems

The Poor Prole’s Almanac

Bleav + The Poor Prole’s Alamanac

Home & Garden, Science, Nature, Leisure, Education, How To

5761 Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2023

⏱️ 83 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We're joined by Ken Asmus from the infamous Oikos Tree Crops to talk about 40 years of plant breeding, the future of perennial crops. We chat extensively about the work he's been doing around oaks, black walnuts, potatoes, chufa, sunchokes, and many, many more. It's great to hear his thoughts and reflections after decades of work in this field and where he thinks this work will continue to move. Follow Ken on instagram at @oikostreecrops Check out Ken's writing at: https://oikostreecrops.com/ecological-enrichment/ Check out the substack article for sources cited and a more extensive review of the subjects discussed in this episode! https://poorprolesalmanac.substack.com/p/oaks-and-acorns To support this podcast, join our patreon for early episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac  For PPA Writing Content, visit: www.agroecologies.org For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com For PPA Merch, visit: www.poorproles.com For PPA Native Plants, visit: www.nativenurseries.org To hear Tomorrow, Today, our sister podcast, visit: www.tomorrowtodaypodcast.org/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey, everyone welcome back to the Porpo's Almanac. I'm Andy, and today I have a wonderful

0:19.6

conversation to share with you.

0:21.7

I'm joined by Ken Asmus, the man behind Oikos tree crops, someone who has contributed extensively

0:27.1

towards the future of perennial crops through his dedication in 40 plus years working on his

0:32.0

small farm in Michigan.

0:33.7

The purpose of the episode was to talk about oaks and oak breeding, but it's so hard to chat with Ken about one plant because he's got so much going on and is such a wealth of information.

0:43.8

We end up talking about sun chokes, beach plums, chufa, river cane, tuberous pee, and a number of other plants, and we explore the idea of plant breeding from a wider scope, intergenerational. How do we

0:55.8

ensure our work doesn't get lost as we continue to develop resources? What does it mean to create an

1:01.5

infrastructure where future generations will be able to continue the work he's started, and how do we

1:06.6

honor the work done by generations prior? This is going to be a reoccurring theme throughout this

1:11.6

season on the podcast, so I think this is a really great way to start our interviews for this series.

1:16.9

And I think you all will really enjoy this conversation. As always, let us know what you think

1:21.1

and give us a review on iTunes if you can.

1:27.2

Ken, thanks for coming on.

1:29.2

I've been aware of what you've been doing for research and breeding for at least over a decade now.

1:35.8

You are probably one of the most diverse people in whatever you want to call it, the food forest space or whatever.

1:44.8

Yeah, I guess.

1:45.8

The amount of things that you've gotten into that I've seen no one else talk about is just wild.

1:51.5

So please introduce yourself and some of the work you've done.

1:54.9

Sure.

1:55.4

Well, actually, I got my start from my family's tree farms.

1:59.3

We had Christmas tree farms.

...

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