Posted by Chookie on March 4, 2007, 1:01 am
> people round here only have livestock & don't grow crops except tree crops
> (or annual crops for pasture for their animals). looking at this one way,
> it's quite obvious why - the soil's not "fertile" in the classic sense,
> although obviously i'm exploring its potential. but looking at it another
> way, it doesn't make that much sense, actually, so i think i would be onto a
> good thing to have a mixture of things i am doing to get the farm to pay for
> itself. (dh has a job so there's no rush with this - hence i ended up
> focussing in the immediate term on making the land support US only, then it
> can progress to supporting itself). i need systems! i'm trying to put them
> in place but underestimated how long this all takes. the chicken-garden
> system is well underway albeit still terribly time-consuming, the next
> system will probably revolve around some little pigs to get bigger areas of
> soil more fertile, and a bit of a house-cow system when the fences get
> fixed. past owners have farmed commercially in the past (for most of its
> history) but they're not here now, so i want to fix their messes & get on
> with it myself.
Have you considered something like alley-cropping? You'll find it mentioned
in peermaculture books, and I've seen it being done in the WA wheat belt.
--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)
"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue
Posted by 0tterbot on March 4, 2007, 5:11 am
>> people round here only have livestock & don't grow crops except tree
>> crops
>> (or annual crops for pasture for their animals). looking at this one way,
>> it's quite obvious why - the soil's not "fertile" in the classic sense,
>> although obviously i'm exploring its potential. but looking at it another
>> way, it doesn't make that much sense, actually, so i think i would be
>> onto a
>> good thing to have a mixture of things i am doing to get the farm to pay
>> for
>> itself. (dh has a job so there's no rush with this - hence i ended up
>> focussing in the immediate term on making the land support US only, then
>> it
>> can progress to supporting itself). i need systems! i'm trying to put
>> them
>> in place but underestimated how long this all takes. the chicken-garden
>> system is well underway albeit still terribly time-consuming, the next
>> system will probably revolve around some little pigs to get bigger areas
>> of
>> soil more fertile, and a bit of a house-cow system when the fences get
>> fixed. past owners have farmed commercially in the past (for most of its
>> history) but they're not here now, so i want to fix their messes & get on
>> with it myself.
> Have you considered something like alley-cropping? You'll find it
> mentioned
> in peermaculture books, and I've seen it being done in the WA wheat belt.
permies make me scream.
kylie
Posted by Chookie on March 5, 2007, 2:42 am
> > Have you considered something like alley-cropping? You'll find it
> > mentioned
> > in peermaculture books, and I've seen it being done in the WA wheat belt.
>
> permies make me scream.
<puts in earplugs>
Haven't we had this discussion?
--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)
"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue
Posted by 0tterbot on March 5, 2007, 4:59 pm
>> > Have you considered something like alley-cropping? You'll find it
>> > mentioned
>> > in peermaculture books, and I've seen it being done in the WA wheat
>> > belt.
>>
>> permies make me scream.
> <puts in earplugs>
> Haven't we had this discussion?
we have. and i'm sorry to have given such a stupid response.
to answer a bit better - i'm pretty much of the view now that mixed cropping
is a much better idea.
kylie
Posted by FarmI on March 9, 2007, 6:51 am
>> right. after a bit of back-and-forthing, yeomans have sent me their
>> catalogue, and various other burblings. i'm a bit horrified that they are
>> pro-nuclear. and also a bit horrified about other spelling mistakes
>> (actual
>> mistakes) in their leaflets - but let's not go there again. perhaps i am
>> also horrified that, for a machinery company, they have a LOT of opinions
>> (albeit badly-spelled ;-).
> I find some of the opinions of the Diggers Club a bit horrific
> (particularly
> the nonsense they talk about native plants), but I still buy their seeds.
Have you used Eden seeds at all?
XML site map
> (or annual crops for pasture for their animals). looking at this one way,
> it's quite obvious why - the soil's not "fertile" in the classic sense,
> although obviously i'm exploring its potential. but looking at it another
> way, it doesn't make that much sense, actually, so i think i would be onto a
> good thing to have a mixture of things i am doing to get the farm to pay for
> itself. (dh has a job so there's no rush with this - hence i ended up
> focussing in the immediate term on making the land support US only, then it
> can progress to supporting itself). i need systems! i'm trying to put them
> in place but underestimated how long this all takes. the chicken-garden
> system is well underway albeit still terribly time-consuming, the next
> system will probably revolve around some little pigs to get bigger areas of
> soil more fertile, and a bit of a house-cow system when the fences get
> fixed. past owners have farmed commercially in the past (for most of its
> history) but they're not here now, so i want to fix their messes & get on
> with it myself.