Keith, I've recently bought 10 acres in France and am trying to plan an integrated farm (as well as get my largely irrelevant French farming qualifications required to be a farmer here).
Anyway, one of my problems is that I have very compacted clay and need to use a subsoiler. I don't want to invest in a tractor. I saw that you used one on the farm in Japan. Was it a tractor-pulled one or using some other form of energy? Do non-tractor driven subsoilers even exist? I haven't been able to find any information on them, I was considering driving posts into the ground and pulling a subsoiler to the post using an engine fixed to the post and a very strong cord of some sort (it seems potentially dangerous). Has anybody looked into such alternative arrangements? Another question. I've been wondering what alternatives exist for feeding chickens. I think you were wondering about whether potatoes and their peelings could do the job. How did this go? I've planted fifteen chestnut trees at 10-metre spacing, as these seem to have the right protein-carbohydrate balance for poultry. Before I go and plant any more, I would like to verify their suitability as a food source for poultry. Anyone? If not, I guess we could eat them ourselves. I may use wood pyrolysis for running an old tractor if I actually do end up needing a tractor. Has anyone here actually managed it? Is the power really only 1/3 of what the engine would produce using petrol (or alcohol)? Does anyone here have any real-world experience of using this expedient technology? Thanks for the inspiring work (and answering the questions that I'm only just starting to ask myself), David _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
