Re: [Biofuel] Optimism
1951. Excerpt from Chapter 6: Making Use of Weeds and Other 'Pests' I used to be one of those farmers who are unable to walk through a field without stooping to pull a weed every few yards. My father always carried a walking stick with a 'spud' on the end, with which he would dig out the deep-rooting weed, or at least cut it off below the crown. I proudly imitated this habit, feeling the walking-stick spud was the mark of an efficient farmer. I have since come to realize that it is rather the mark of a thoughtless and unobservant farmer. For when I stopped, before cutting out a dock from my field of wheat, and said to myself, maybe this plant has a purpose, I soon found the answer and withheld the hand of destruction. This little action illustrated to me the extremely unintelligent way in which most of us approach nature -- indeed the whole of the universe. If it is not blatantly obvious that a plant or an animal or any other phenomenon of nature has a value to our commercial activities, then we attempt its destruction without further thought. If anything appears in the least way to obstruct, or indeed fail to serve, our artificial activities, our main desire is to be rid of it -- to remove it from the face of the earth. It is this flaw in human intelligence which has allowed us to destroy vast areas of fertile land and, in a smaller way on our own British farms, to bring upon ourselves untold pests and diseases which would have remained under the control of nature had we not thoughtlessly destroyed that part of nature whose purpose it was to control the pest or disease. Not only weeds which help to maintain the fertility of our top soil, but all kinds of birds and animals are relentlessly destroyed, because we, in our lack of wisdom, consider that they bear no obvious human benefit. Mine is the only farm for miles around which harbours a rookery. Mine is the only farm I know where the hare and partridge live in peace, and are not made the objects of mine or anyone else's lust to kill something. Rabbits are generally considered to be utter and complete vermin, but on British farms at least they have a place in small numbers, and may be taken as an indication that there is waste land on the farm that could be used to some better purpose, or that there are hedges and banks that need to be cleared of undergrowth and ditches that need to be cut back and cleaned. When I first came to Goosegreen the farm was infested with rabbits; but so were the hedges and ditches overgrown and infested with brambles and briars, and Ball Hill was covered with gorse and brambles, providing a perfect cover for the free multiplication of the rabbit colonies. When Ball Hill was cleared and reseeded, and all hedges cut back and ditches cleaned, the rabbits quickly disappeared. For years they were almost non-existent, but gradually returned with the new growth of rubbish along the bank below Ball Hill. As soon as they became brave enough to venture out into my wheat and oat crops for food, I knew it was time I got to work on the hill and hedges and banks again, to remove the excessive cover in which they were once more freely breeding. It is interesting to note that the preservation of the hare seems to discourage the rabbit. The two species don't seem to hit it off together. And as the rabbits increase the hares become less evident. I do not know the explanation of this, for there does not appear to be any active warfare between them. It is merely that on my farm, at any rate, they do not live happily together. Foxes which were once troublesome on my farm have completely disappeared since, at the beginning of the war, the hunt ceased in the district. Let no one think that I am advocating indiscriminate freedom for all wild life, though I am sure this would be the ideal to which to cultivate one's moral courage. I have yet to find a use for the rat, and I must say that I am not hopeful of finding one. I do find it necessary to take measures to keep down the rat population. But here again the simple method of reduction is to take advantage of natural controls. I have found no better means of keeping down rats than keeping up dogs and cats, and above all, allowing no accumulations of rubbish and scrap of the kind in which rats delight to gather. But what I do advocate is a more thoughtful approach to all natural manifestations. It is wrong to conclude that because there is no clearly apparent human use for a natural phenomenon, it is therefore our duty to destroy it. Destruction is a deadly boomerang. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the farm, in my experience. And of course in this plea for the protection of nature I include bacteria of all kinds. I often think it is man's desire to destroy that creates within him the fear which gives rise to the belief that nature has destructive intentions against man. It is just not true. Nature destroys only
Re: [Biofuel] Optimism
Too much reality? It does tend to be a bit grim at times. Reality is deeply troubling whenever we focus exclusively on the problems we face. I find comfort in Christian faith that motivates a strong desire to make a positive difference in the world around me. We can discuss problems all day long, but doing nothing about remediating the difficulties we face serves no purpose. I have long appreciated the informational conduit this forum represents, and this is one of the reasons why I've been a subscriber for so long. (I don't even remember when I signed up. Aside from my house building hiatus, I've been here for quite some time.) It's widely used in traditional medicine. Also, it says here, Romans always used horsetail to clean their pots and pans, not just to make them clean but also, thanks to the silica, to make them nonstick. In the Middle Ages it was used as an abrasive by cabinetmakers, to clean pewter, brass, and copper, and for scouring wood containers and milk pans... This herb has been associated with various goblins, toads and snakes, and the devil. I guess you'll agree with the devil bit. :-) Hmm. I think oplopanax horridus might qualify. I fell into one of those a couple of years ago, and dug tiny slivers from my flesh for days! (I've thought of planting some along the border of our property to discourage dogs from using our lot as a toilet, but I don't think my neighbors would appreciate that. . . Besides, it's a shade tolerant plant, and our property borders are quite exposed.) Equisetum arvense may be a nuisance, but I can see that its deep root structure is helping to break up the thick, clay soil base beneath the surface. Sometimes I think I should just let it run wild and let nature take its course. However, I DO live in a subdivision and property values remain a concern to the people who live around me. The trouble is they so often mix up topsoil with subsoil. Of course they shouldn't remove it at all. Wantonly destroying topsoil has to be a mortal sin, IMO. People really don't understand what they're doing with their mindless digging! Next time we build a house, I will carefully scrape the topsoil from any place that needs excavating, and STORE it on the property for redistribution when the building is done. I learned a lot about what NOT to do when putting a house together, despite what I thought was careful pre-planning. Key to just about everything. You can build it from nothing - what you start with is just the raw material, you can turn any soil into rich topsoil, even a heavy clay subsoil when all the topsoil's gone. Yes, but it takes time and effort. We North Americans have a fetish for instant gratification that goes beyond our penchant for debt. The local developer put a great deal of pressure on us to get our landscaping done after we'd finished our house. He was in a hurry to sell the rest of the lots in our subdivision and didn't want our unsightly yard detracting from his sales. Not surprisingly, he's lost all concern now that the lots are sold and being built upon. The contractors don't bother cleaning up anymore, our street is cluttered with construction debris, and the quality of building that we were so admonished to uphold has deteriorated significantly over the past year. I actually feel sorry for the people who will be investing in those houses and moving into the neighborhood. How about Dexters? Nobody takes them seriously because they're so small, they're regarded as pets, but they're excellent cattle. http://journeytoforever.org/farm_animal.html Farming with animals Ha! I live on a 300 square meter lot, at least a third of which is occupied by the footprint of our house. Even Dexters require half an acre of pasture per head. I don't have room, Keith! I wouldn't have anything to do with goats, soil destroyers, and horses on their own are not good for pastures. My father in law likes goats. We have a running joke in the family about setting up a goat herd that my saintly mother in law doesn't find very amusing. . . Have a look at this Robert: Ley Farming http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library.html#ley I have been there many times. It's an excellent resource for everyone who reads this forum. :-) It's not that kind of hemp, nothing to do with cannabis, and it doesn't look like cannabis. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1996/v3-389.html Crotalaria juncea: A Potential Multi-Purpose Fiber Crop It's a legume and fixes a helluva lot of N. Nice plant. Weed, you know. LOL! When I was in college, I built a fluidyne engine as a water pump for an ecology demonstration project. The local authorities were invited to examine my still more than once before they were convinced that what I was building was really innocuous. Neighbors are funny that way. Do you remember the old James Thurber story called The Very
Re: [Biofuel] Optimism
Keith Addison wrote: Hello Robert Thanks for this, nice read! You're welcome. I thought things were sounding a bit grim on this forum lately! Too much reality? It does tend to be a bit grim at times. Equisetum arvense? Yes, that's the one. It's toxic to colts and lambs when it's dry. I've read that its tubers store food reserves, which, coupled with an extensive creeping rhizome system, makes the plant very persistent. I've dug up rhizome leads better than a meter in length, but the plant will regenerate from even a tiny bit of root left in the ground. Thank God the fertile stems don't remain active for very long! Interestingly, equisetum arvense has medicinal uses. It's widely used in traditional medicine. Also, it says here, Romans always used horsetail to clean their pots and pans, not just to make them clean but also, thanks to the silica, to make them nonstick. In the Middle Ages it was used as an abrasive by cabinetmakers, to clean pewter, brass, and copper, and for scouring wood containers and milk pans... This herb has been associated with various goblins, toads and snakes, and the devil. I guess you'll agree with the devil bit. :-) Actually it said in the Meddle Ages, LOL! But that'd be now, not then. The dried herb aids in the treatment of urinary and prostatic disease, repair of lung and pulmonary tissue, among others, but its high inorganic silica content makes ingestion dangerous for children. Ancient plant. Midori picked a whole bunch of them two days ago and stir-fried the tops according to Japanese traditional practice. Not bad! My loving wife, who is a very good cook, wrinkled her nose when I told her you'd written this. Give it a try, the shoots are tender, good! Makes a good medicinal tea too. Horsetails indicate acid soil and drainage problems. This is certainly our situation. It rains a lot in this climate, and acidic soil loving blueberries grow well here. Probably it's acid because of the poor drainage. When we built our house, the excavator removed 17 loads of soil from our property, leaving us in a sea of grey colored muck; a perennially wet clay in which very little that's useful to us will grow. We stopped several trucks that were removing dirt from the properties around us and asked them to dump their loads back on our lot, simply so we could get proper landscaping done. (And worse, we got a bill from the excavators for taking our dirt away!) Now, as the area around us develops, the same thing is happening on other properties. The trouble is they so often mix up topsoil with subsoil. Of course they shouldn't remove it at all. Wantonly destroying topsoil has to be a mortal sin, IMO. Right now, we have a very lumpy front yard, mostly in grass, that is doing marginally well. Our front flower beds are flourishing, but we've conditioned the soil extensively with barn litter and compost, so we have very little trouble with horsetail at the front of the house. I had a vision for the western slope of our property that involved a combination of fruit trees, shrubs, evergreens and aspens that was supposed to provide shade as well as food. (Our house gets very hot during the summer because we're a corner lot and there is NO shade around us during the long daylight period. R 50 ceilings trap heat very nicely!) After grading by hand (agonizingly) to minimize run off (which had been a REAL problem when we first moved in), we planted the trees, shrubs and covered the ground with cedar bark mulch in the hope that creeping ground cover would eventually occupy the slope. So far, the creepers we've planted have hardly taken a foothold. This is where our horsetail problem is dominant. The north end of our property is the sunniest place during the growing season. This is where we've built four raised beds and where our crops of lettuce, cabbage, beets, purple beans, broccoli and carrots thrived last summer. On the eastern side of our driveway, a long, narrow strip of land serves as our area for corn, squash, potatoes, eggplant and other large plants. It's been extensively worked, the topsoil there is about half a meter deep, and it's literally crawling with living things! Horsetail doesn't grow there. We subsoiled one of our fields today, thin layer of topsoil over really sticky clay, with, indeed, severe drainage problems. Tomorrow we'll compost it and rotavate it lightly, since we can't lay our hands on a disk harrow. Then what would be ideal would be a deep-rooting grass mixture and a two-year ley, heavily grazed by livestock, along with several hay cuts. But we don't have the grass mixture either, nor can we get anything suitable here, but we'll do what we can. Getting a thick layer of well drained topsoil seems key to controlling the horsetail. Key to just about everything. You can build it from nothing - what you start with is just the
Re: [Biofuel] Optimism
Yeah, that's right, she does all the work, or most of it - she's the one who's learning, it's the only way. I should say Midori does most of the gardening and farm work, but that's by no means all the work there is around here - there's also all the biofuel work (and not just making the stuff), lots of Appropriate Technology projects, seminars, lectures, plus website maintenance and development, mailing lists, a constant flood of feedback and correspondence. We both work really hard all the time. Lots of variety and lots of fun, but it can get kind of gruelling just the same. No complaints. Plenty of optimism! Regards Keith ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
RE: [Biofuel] Optimism
Bravo, it is early fall where I live and although the one of my jasmine bushes are still blooming I can tell the season nearly over. But I have fond remembrances of my black raspberries straight from the canes and the incredible ice cream my wife made from this first year of harvest. I never dreamed that those three stunted canes I received from a departing friend would fill the 3 meters of trellis I made two years ago. This year the harvest from those scrawny starting was more than three kilos. I expect even better results next year and have scavenged two brand new cuttings to give to my father in law so his wife can remember better the taste from her native country of Chile. Stay connected to the Earth. It«s wonderful. Tom -Original Message- From: robert luis rabello To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 31/03/05 17:16 Subject: [Biofuel] Optimism All this talk about oil depletion, climate change and pollution seems lost on the robins that are hopping around in my yard. My neighbors don't seem to notice, but the robins stay on my property and simply don't bother venturing anywhere else. Right now, there are about a dozen of them hunting outside my window. In between the rain storms, my sweetheart, my boys and I have been outside working our gardens. It's been a long, hard road, but our soil is alive--it's literally crawling with arthropods, nematodes and annelidas. My boys shout excitedly when they see evidence of mycorrhizal fungi in our soil. They hack at Keith's beloved deep rooted herbs with hoes and shovels, saying die weeds! with great enthusiasm. Although I don't sanction attitudes of that nature, those thoughts have crossed my mind as I dig out the maze of interconnected horsetail roots that proliferate around my property. Our trees are blossoming. The fruit bearing bushes responded well to heavy pruning in November. It looks like the pear we didn't think would make it through another season is bravely putting out flowers, while the Italian prunes and native aspens are growing at astonishing speed. (They were seedlings two years ago, and now they're all taller than I am!) My efforts last fall, digging compost around the trees, appears to have spurred this wild growth. We will have lots of apples. Our lonesome cherry seems far happier than it was at this time last year. The only tree that isn't doing well is the dogwood in my front yard. Dump trucks rumble downhill, laden with dirt taken off of someone else's property, their jake brakes growling as tires kick up clouds of dust. I shake my head, knowing that someone else will have to labor to rebuild what the trucks are carting away, and all that soil ground by their massive wheels will wash into the storm drains when the rains return this afternoon. Some people call that progress. . . My back hurts and my shoulders ache, but I feel very alive and somehow better connected to the piece of land on which I live than is the case with neighbors who are now convinced beyond doubt that there is something terribly wrong with me! I smile and wave. Working in the dirt has this magical way of inspiring contentment, despite oil depletion, radical religious zealotry, climate change and the host of other problems we face. Everyone should have a garden! robert luis rabello The Edge of Justice Adventure for Your Mind http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=9782 Ranger Supercharger Project Page http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/ ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
Re: [Biofuel] Optimism
Bravo, it is early fall where I live and although the one of my jasmine bushes are still blooming I can tell the season nearly over. One of the many advantages I find in this list derives from the global nature of our discussions. The ebb and flow of seasons occurs everywhere. The connection of my garden blooming with yours now in decline reminds each of us that our world is very small indeed. If each of us can deal with energy, food and resource issues close to home, where our efforts have maximum impact, the cumulative effect might tip a scale or two in the sustainable direction. But I have fond remembrances of my black raspberries straight from the canes and the incredible ice cream my wife made from this first year of harvest. I never dreamed that those three stunted canes I received from a departing friend would fill the 3 meters of trellis I made two years ago. This year the harvest from those scrawny starting was more than three kilos. I expect even better results next year and have scavenged two brand new cuttings to give to my father in law so his wife can remember better the taste from her native country of Chile. Wow! That's impressive! Our local raspberries are of the red variety. We buy ours from an Indo Canadian family, people who came to North America with NOTHING, but have worked hard to buy land and build up their farm over the years. They have prospered from the abundance of the earth, mostly because they take very good care of the soil that sustains them. Stay connected to the Earth. It«s wonderful. Indeed! robert luis rabello The Edge of Justice Adventure for Your Mind http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=9782 Ranger Supercharger Project Page http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/ ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
Re: [Biofuel] Optimism
Thanks Robert and Tom. Just what the Dr. ordered! Homemade Ice Cream! Sweet nectar of the Gods! It's been years since I've wrapped a lip around that stuff, made by the kindest hand I've ever known; my Granddad. Crammed full of fresh strawberries, blackberries, or peaches. And each of these grown in his backyard garden. I have a garden now as well, and I think that I will judge my success or failure as a gardener, not in bushel's produced, but in my level of joy, and contentment, at the end of the day. Antifossil On Mar 31, 2005 6:01 PM, Tom Irwin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Bravo, it is early fall where I live and although the one of my jasmine bushes are still blooming I can tell the season nearly over. But I have fond remembrances of my black raspberries straight from the canes and the incredible ice cream my wife made from this first year of harvest. I never dreamed that those three stunted canes I received from a departing friend would fill the 3 meters of trellis I made two years ago. This year the harvest from those scrawny starting was more than three kilos. I expect even better results next year and have scavenged two brand new cuttings to give to my father in law so his wife can remember better the taste from her native country of Chile. Stay connected to the Earth. It«s wonderful. Tom -Original Message- From: robert luis rabello To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 31/03/05 17:16 Subject: [Biofuel] Optimism All this talk about oil depletion, climate change and pollution seems lost on the robins that are hopping around in my yard. My neighbors don't seem to notice, but the robins stay on my property and simply don't bother venturing anywhere else. Right now, there are about a dozen of them hunting outside my window. In between the rain storms, my sweetheart, my boys and I have been outside working our gardens. It's been a long, hard road, but our soil is alive--it's literally crawling with arthropods, nematodes and annelidas. My boys shout excitedly when they see evidence of mycorrhizal fungi in our soil. They hack at Keith's beloved deep rooted herbs with hoes and shovels, saying die weeds! with great enthusiasm. Although I don't sanction attitudes of that nature, those thoughts have crossed my mind as I dig out the maze of interconnected horsetail roots that proliferate around my property. Our trees are blossoming. The fruit bearing bushes responded well to heavy pruning in November. It looks like the pear we didn't think would make it through another season is bravely putting out flowers, while the Italian prunes and native aspens are growing at astonishing speed. (They were seedlings two years ago, and now they're all taller than I am!) My efforts last fall, digging compost around the trees, appears to have spurred this wild growth. We will have lots of apples. Our lonesome cherry seems far happier than it was at this time last year. The only tree that isn't doing well is the dogwood in my front yard. Dump trucks rumble downhill, laden with dirt taken off of someone else's property, their jake brakes growling as tires kick up clouds of dust. I shake my head, knowing that someone else will have to labor to rebuild what the trucks are carting away, and all that soil ground by their massive wheels will wash into the storm drains when the rains return this afternoon. Some people call that progress. . . My back hurts and my shoulders ache, but I feel very alive and somehow better connected to the piece of land on which I live than is the case with neighbors who are now convinced beyond doubt that there is something terribly wrong with me! I smile and wave. Working in the dirt has this magical way of inspiring contentment, despite oil depletion, radical religious zealotry, climate change and the host of other problems we face. Everyone should have a garden! robert luis rabello The Edge of Justice Adventure for Your Mind http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=9782 Ranger Supercharger Project Page http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/ ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever:
Re: [Biofuel] Optimism
Thanks for this, nice read! All this talk about oil depletion, climate change and pollution seems lost on the robins that are hopping around in my yard. My neighbors don't seem to notice, but the robins stay on my property and simply don't bother venturing anywhere else. Right now, there are about a dozen of them hunting outside my window. In between the rain storms, my sweetheart, my boys and I have been outside working our gardens. It's been a long, hard road, but our soil is alive--it's literally crawling with arthropods, nematodes and annelidas. My boys shout excitedly when they see evidence of mycorrhizal fungi in our soil. They hack at Keith's beloved deep rooted herbs with hoes and shovels, saying die weeds! with great enthusiasm. Although I don't sanction attitudes of that nature, those thoughts have crossed my mind as I dig out the maze of interconnected horsetail roots that proliferate around my property. Equisetum arvense? Ancient plant. Midori picked a whole bunch of them two days ago and stir-fried the tops according to Japanese traditional practice. Not bad! Horsetails indicate acid soil and drainage problems. We subsoiled one of our fields today, thin layer of topsoil over really sticky clay, with, indeed, severe drainage problems. Tomorrow we'll compost it and rotavate it lightly, since we can't lay our hands on a disk harrow. Then what would be ideal would be a deep-rooting grass mixture and a two-year ley, heavily grazed by livestock, along with several hay cuts. But we don't have the grass mixture either, nor can we get anything suitable here, but we'll do what we can. I've solved this problem before without subsoiling, just by growing weeds. I had the best weeds in the valley, taller than me! Sunn hemp, it ended up being at the end of the succession, and it sure fixed the drainage problem, excellent field that was, though it was useless at first. Our trees are blossoming. The fruit bearing bushes responded well to heavy pruning in November. It looks like the pear we didn't think would make it through another season is bravely putting out flowers, while the Italian prunes and native aspens are growing at astonishing speed. (They were seedlings two years ago, and now they're all taller than I am!) My efforts last fall, digging compost around the trees, appears to have spurred this wild growth. We will have lots of apples. Our lonesome cherry seems far happier than it was at this time last year. The only tree that isn't doing well is the dogwood in my front yard. Dump trucks rumble downhill, laden with dirt taken off of someone else's property, their jake brakes growling as tires kick up clouds of dust. I shake my head, knowing that someone else will have to labor to rebuild what the trucks are carting away, and all that soil ground by their massive wheels will wash into the storm drains when the rains return this afternoon. Some people call that progress. . . My back hurts and my shoulders ache, but I feel very alive and somehow better connected to the piece of land on which I live than is the case with neighbors who are now convinced beyond doubt that there is something terribly wrong with me! I smile and wave. Working in the dirt has this magical way of inspiring contentment, despite oil depletion, radical religious zealotry, climate change and the host of other problems we face. Everyone should have a garden! Yes! There's nothing better. I was reading someone who said that any health problems that don't vanish after a day's gardening should be taken seriously. I think you have to add the mind and the spirit to that too. For them that hasn't noticed: http://journeytoforever.org/garden.html Organic gardening: Journey to Forever Small farms library City farms Organic gardening Why organic? Building a square foot garden Plant spacing guides No ground? Use containers Resources When to sow what Seeds Garden pond Gardening resources Organics resources Square foot gardens Companion planting How much to grow? General gardening Herbs Composting Small farms Best wishes Keith robert luis rabello The Edge of Justice Adventure for Your Mind http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=9782 Ranger Supercharger Project Page http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/ ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
Re: [Biofuel] Optimism
Hello Robert Thanks for this, nice read! You're welcome. I thought things were sounding a bit grim on this forum lately! Equisetum arvense? Yes, that's the one. It's toxic to colts and lambs when it's dry. I've read that its tubers store food reserves, which, coupled with an extensive creeping rhizome system, makes the plant very persistent. I've dug up rhizome leads better than a meter in length, but the plant will regenerate from even a tiny bit of root left in the ground. Thank God the fertile stems don't remain active for very long! Interestingly, equisetum arvense has medicinal uses. The dried herb aids in the treatment of urinary and prostatic disease, repair of lung and pulmonary tissue, among others, but its high inorganic silica content makes ingestion dangerous for children. Ancient plant. Midori picked a whole bunch of them two days ago and stir-fried the tops according to Japanese traditional practice. Not bad! My loving wife, who is a very good cook, wrinkled her nose when I told her you'd written this. Horsetails indicate acid soil and drainage problems. This is certainly our situation. It rains a lot in this climate, and acidic soil loving blueberries grow well here. When we built our house, the excavator removed 17 loads of soil from our property, leaving us in a sea of grey colored muck; a perennially wet clay in which very little that's useful to us will grow. We stopped several trucks that were removing dirt from the properties around us and asked them to dump their loads back on our lot, simply so we could get proper landscaping done. (And worse, we got a bill from the excavators for taking our dirt away!) Now, as the area around us develops, the same thing is happening on other properties. Right now, we have a very lumpy front yard, mostly in grass, that is doing marginally well. Our front flower beds are flourishing, but we've conditioned the soil extensively with barn litter and compost, so we have very little trouble with horsetail at the front of the house. I had a vision for the western slope of our property that involved a combination of fruit trees, shrubs, evergreens and aspens that was supposed to provide shade as well as food. (Our house gets very hot during the summer because we're a corner lot and there is NO shade around us during the long daylight period. R 50 ceilings trap heat very nicely!) After grading by hand (agonizingly) to minimize run off (which had been a REAL problem when we first moved in), we planted the trees, shrubs and covered the ground with cedar bark mulch in the hope that creeping ground cover would eventually occupy the slope. So far, the creepers we've planted have hardly taken a foothold. This is where our horsetail problem is dominant. The north end of our property is the sunniest place during the growing season. This is where we've built four raised beds and where our crops of lettuce, cabbage, beets, purple beans, broccoli and carrots thrived last summer. On the eastern side of our driveway, a long, narrow strip of land serves as our area for corn, squash, potatoes, eggplant and other large plants. It's been extensively worked, the topsoil there is about half a meter deep, and it's literally crawling with living things! Horsetail doesn't grow there. We subsoiled one of our fields today, thin layer of topsoil over really sticky clay, with, indeed, severe drainage problems. Tomorrow we'll compost it and rotavate it lightly, since we can't lay our hands on a disk harrow. Then what would be ideal would be a deep-rooting grass mixture and a two-year ley, heavily grazed by livestock, along with several hay cuts. But we don't have the grass mixture either, nor can we get anything suitable here, but we'll do what we can. Getting a thick layer of well drained topsoil seems key to controlling the horsetail. We can't have grazing animals here because we're in a subdivision, though I've thought of miniature goats or miniature horses. I have to come up with a better solution for our western slope than the one I planned originally because I'm a slave to weeding right now. At present, my home business isn't exactly thriving, so I have the time to work outside. I'm hoping, however, that things will pick up soon. . . I've solved this problem before without subsoiling, just by growing weeds. I had the best weeds in the valley, taller than me! Sunn hemp, it ended up being at the end of the succession, and it sure fixed the drainage problem, excellent field that was, though it was useless at first. My neighbors ALREADY think I'm crazy. If I start growing hemp, that would remove all doubt! Yes! There's nothing better. I was reading someone who said that any health problems that don't vanish after a day's gardening should be taken seriously. I think you have to add the mind and the spirit to that too. I
