I can't kill anything anymore, except chickens. I hate chickens. But I live live in the 'burbs so there are no chickens anyhow. My dad tells stories of his chilhood in Arkansas and pig killing, which they did from November - January. I'm pretty much a vegetarian anyhow these days.
Tom Irwin wrote: > Hi Andres, > > Castor beans grow wild here in Uruguay as well. I have some deep > seated childhood memories of castor oil as an emetic. Just the smell > makes me gag. I'll use it with a mask if I can find no other source > but it is kind of a last resort material for me. The yields are good > though and it's essentially free for the taking. I was looking at > jojoba as a natural fence material but I think I'm a bit too wet here. > I suspect I'd have lots of fungus problems than in drier climates. I > may use raspberry or blackberries instead. The weather is is rather > mild. We actually had a light frost day this winter. The summer's > reach about 38 C. but you can expect rain in a day or so to bring > those temps back down to 28. It's mostly flat grassland here with > 38-78 cm of rainfall. This year we'll probably exceed the upper end. > I'm hoping global warming will keep it there but I'm not sure. Lot's > of people think it could shift to the dry end. I just haven't seen > much evidence in that direction. > > I keep telling everyone who will listen that oil prices are going to > change the nature of agriculture back to small organic farms. Now I'm > going to show them. I'm a bit squimish in killing animals, too. I was > raised as a city boy. I was giving thought to lethal injection with > potassium chloride solution. Pigs and humans have lots of > similarities. It's worth a question to the local vet. > > Tom Irwin > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > *From:* Andres Yver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > *To:* Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > *Sent:* Tue, 27 Sep 2005 10:17:27 -0300 > *Subject:* Re: [Biofuel] New question on oil seed crops and ley > farming > > Hello Tom, > > >> Hi Keith and all, > >> > >> You mentioned in a previous thread that you liked castor beans > as an > >> oil seed crop. > > You're in Uruguay, right? In Chile, castor bean is a serious weed. It > grows extremely fast, reaching over two meters height and diameter > within 8 months. If you have moisture, as near an irrigation > canal, you > can collect many hundreds of seeds, even perhaps a thousand or more > from each plant. It thrives on no management or additional > fertilization. Roadsides are a good place to find them. I considered > them, together with jojoba, as an oil seed crop, before selling > out and > moving to Argentina. I crushed one, yes one, plant's worth in a > primitive homemade press and got about a liter of oil. i haven't gone > to purdue's newcrop site to see what average yields are. The area > i was > in was a mediterranean climate, 250mm annual rainfall, min temps down > near the canal were around -2 or 3 C in the dead of winter. > Summers got > up to around 35C max. Bear in mind it was summer dry, winter wet. I > think Uruguay, as is Argentina, tends to be more continental, ie > summer > wet and winter dry. > > I composted the seedcake and found you need to include lots of woody > feedstock as well as cow manure (what was at hand) to avoid > rancidity. > In other words, don't try to compost it as a major component of your > compost. If you heat your seeds first by spreading in the sun on > top of > shade cloth, you get higher yields. > > Sorry about the unscientific comments, your mileage may vary, etc. > Weeds are an opportunity waiting to happen, they have lots of > unexplored potential, on many levels. Right now, we have an area that > is overrun with comfrey, which is here considered a noxious weed. > Following Newman Turner's lead (see JTF small farms library for > his and > other invaluable books on farming the easy way), we have wilted it > and > are feeding it to rabbits. They LOVE it!!! > > Good luck with your future farm. Working for yourself can't be beat. > Especially if what you are doing is not only pleasurable but gets > other, local, people interested and heading down the path to > sustainability. I've found that, here in South America -and probably > everywhere, the best arguments for sustainability in general, and ley > farming in particular, are economic ones. It's just way cheaper to > farm > this way. Farmers of other stripes sit up and notice when you get > successfully through a season without having used any inputs labelled > Monsanto or Bayer or BASF... > > On a personal note, our winter rye (Korn to you in europe) is just > starting to head, is close to 160cm tall, and has NO rust > (puccinia) of > any kind, nor any insect infestation. We're setting up an electric > fence around those fields today, and tomorrow our neighbors horses > and > mules will be grazing it down prior to discing and seeding a > summer ley. > > I can't stress overmuch how easy ley farming really is. Things just > fall into place, and everything you do benefits something (or > perhaps a > few things, if you're paying attention) else, making the next steps > even easier... > > What was not easy was killing Dick and George last week. Anybody have > any tips for killing your animals in a way that sends them off to > better pastures without fear? Dick got a 9mm round behind the ear, > George a knife into the heart. Both ways were to me horrible. The uni > kids didn't see that as we did it a couple of days before they got > here. There has to be a better way. Succinyl choline was mentioned i > think on this list? It's way too high tech, though. How about an > injection of air into an artery like they do (used to do?) at the > mortuary- or is that an urban legend? > > andres > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > <javascript:kh6k0("new","Biofuel@sustainablelists.org")> > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 > messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >_______________________________________________ >Biofuel mailing list >Biofuel@sustainablelists.org >http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > >Biofuel at Journey to Forever: >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > >Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): >http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
