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[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

This was lost in the Junk email box.

Who doesn't love madrone?  I don't see any growing in the local area, 
and I have underground water flows everywhere here.   And who doesn't 
have enough firewood?

I'm talking about compost crops.  During the last few years when I lived 
at home, dad and I took to using the ivy clippings to mulch tomato 
plants.  The result was so delightful.  Years later I learned that many 
people are exploring these types of coppice/compost crops.

To be suitable for this purpose, a plant must be perennial, fast 
growing, with soft foliage (and hopefully no thorns), have a large 
leaf-to-twig ratio, and be capable of taking care of itself (not to 
mention vigorous, hardy, etc.).  Did I mention that conifers cannot be 
used?  In the whole world, there aren't too many plants that qualify.  
The closest plant I can think of among natives is wild cherry.  In our 
wet, shady wood, evergreen huckleberry grows bushy and tall, and at some 
point I'll be composting large amounts of it.  No one knows where nettle 
is "native" to, but it's also a water lover.

So acacia fills a niche that no other compost crop can fill.  It 
completely takes care of itself on the driest of ridges, and you just 
come along and cut 100 pounds of soft, finely divided biomass in 20 
minutes with the loppers.  Its seeds and pollen are both abundant food 
sources, and it's palatable to stock.  The toasted seeds taste like 
chocolate-covered hazelnuts.  I wish I lived near the established acacia 
patches that grow in the area.

Bill

Lynda wrote:

> Madrone grows quite nicely under fir trees, they don't like irrigated land, 
> do quite nicely where it is high and dry and is a native.  It makes better 
> firewood than acacia.  So why not plant a native?  And, if you cut them down 
> during the winter, the following spring new sprouts appear and you don't 
> have to plant new madrones, they perpetuate themselves.
>
> As to your fir trees, would you be talking Doug Fir or a real fir?  Doug 
> Firs should net you at least $200/1000, minimum.  That would be, with the 
> current diesel prices, a lot more than 10% of what the mills are offering. 
> Closer to 50%.  I'd suggest you shop around.  Or are the mills and loggers 
> up there a lot less honest than the ones down here?
>
> Lynda
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bill Jones" <billj AT harborside.com>
> To: "Homestead mailing list digest" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 11:00 AM
> Subject: [Homestead] "Non-Native Invasives" Useful in Permaculture (Part I)
>
>
>  
>
> > Us, to begin with.
> >
> > Actually I was talking about plants.  Here's a small list I typed up
> > this evening.
> >
> > 1.  Acacia dealbata (Silver wattle)
> >
> > There are no natives that can be expected to persist here on high,
> > unirrigated ground, other than fir trees.  The only particular value of
> > fir trees, except to squirrels, is to sawmill owners who live forever.
> > There won't be any production from a planting for many decades, and even
> > if there were, the crooks will offer me 10% to take it from me.
> > Furthermore, fir trees toxify the soil and prevent all but adapted
> > plants from growing under them.
> >
> > That really only leaves acacia, the drought-tolerant plant that you can
> > put on any dry hillside and expect to harvest _useful_ biomass in just a
> > few years.  I'm planning to order 4 more for the front driveway edge
> > today.  I wonder where, exactly, is it going to "invade" to from there?
> > I'd be reluctant to give it access to water, which it has no need for
> > anyway.
> >    
>
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