I'm giving a free webinar "Black Currants in the US: From Banishment to Revival" As part of the Far North Currant Festival in Fairbanks, Alaska. Tuesday, Aug. 12, noon-1 p.m. (Alaska Standard Time). Register here: bit.ly/AKBlackCurrant

We have gotten currants in the ground under solar panels! going to test different varieties of currants under different kinds of solar panels. #energysky 🌾🧪🌱🫐

I'm trying lots of different bagging methods and securing methods and seeing what I like best. That means my pollination apron from my time doing corn is coming in handy. As are my cool new specs

Blooms are starting to open up in my currant plants and I am trying to cross pollinate them for the first time. They need to be "emasculated" meaning before the flower can open, I have to carefully remove all the parts of the flower that make pollen, leaving only the stigma and ovary

“I don’t think this plant is a lost cause,” said Lily Hislop @currantlylily.bsky.social, who runs the only institutionally backed #blackcurrant breeding program in the West at the Savanna Institute. #Blackcurrants showing up in Ambrook Research! ambrook.com/research/cro... @jessehirsch.bsky.social

"For 90% of the things we need to do to address [#climatechange], we have a technical solution... The bulk of the #innovation is in making solutions practical, implementable & scalable." Read more in this Q&A with @undaunted-hq.bsky.social's Alyssa Gilbert ▶️ https://buff.ly/3QjMaIz

I got to go in the @cimmyt.bsky.social seed bank! They maintain and store seeds from thousands of corn and wheat varieties for food and genetic diversity security. Huge honor!

Cool insight: when restoring landscape that had been agricultural land back to prairie, often a small number of fast growing natives dominate. Maybe due to soil microbes! If you inoculate with soil from older intact prairie, the planting may become diverse and support slow growing plants again.

This conference I'm trying to monitor CO2 concentrations to help me decide when to take anti-viral precautions. Hopefully, I won't come home ill. It's wild the difference between rooms at the end of sessions. Context: 400-500 ppm is similar to CO2 outside. 1400ppm is a stuffy slept-in bedroom. 😷

The Land Institute is another amazing organization that does research on perennial agriculture. They are co-hosting the "Pathways to Perennial Future" conference. Listening to a talk by then now about making sorghum perennial.

It's amazing to remember how new of a crop soybeans are. In 1902 it was used as an animal forage (a plant to graze on). Growing soybeans for the beans wasn't done. So much has changed in the last 100 years and so much can change in the next 100. @cimmyt.bsky.social

At a conference all about perennial grains in Mexico. CIMMYT, the amazing organization dedicated to corn and wheat improvement is hosting. Scientists from all over the world are here connecting. @cimmyt.bsky.social

Last summer, I taste-tested dozens of currant varieties. I'm finally writing down my voice-recorded notes. Some particularly funny comparisons: "Good Meaty-Jelly insides", "Strong wine-y flavor, but not good wine-y", "Very burst-y","Not Inedible", "Not very flavinoid-y", "Old British Flavor"

I'm researching the history of currants and a fungus disease that it gets, White Pine Blister Rust /Cronartium ribicola/. The disease kills white pine trees and needs both white pines and currants to reproduce. 🧵🌾 🧪#history #horticulture

Do you know these three Russian agronomists? If you're interested, you're in for a real #ScienceDrama in four acts! 🧪🎭 Their story is the central piece of my Short History of Vernalization, but let me tell you about them here: 👇🧵🧵🧵🧵 #PlantScience #ScienceHistory

This was my first year of establishing our breeding programs for elderberry and currants with the Savanna Institute. It's been a packed year!

A run down of my 2024 reading!

A joy of my jobs is visiting farms to talk about how the farmers grow their berries and what their challenges and wishes are. A secondary joy is meeting the piglets at such farms. 🐖

I'm a scientist working for a non-profit. My research supports farmers, eaters, and the curious without being profit driven. My work is supported by normal people who think trees are cool. It's wonderful! Right now, donations of all sizes are being matched. www.savannainstitute.org/donate/

Harvesting currant plants with our sister organization Canopy Farm Management. These are currant bareroot plants. Each stick is a single plant that gets dug out of the ground.

Hello! I'm a plant breeder, meaning I'm developing new kinds of plants. I work with berries, specifically currants and elderberries. I want to make berries easy to grow in the Midwest, I want them to taste great, and I want them to not get diseases.