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  • From: Rob <becida AT comcast.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Tvo post, No-Till agriculture - 15 May 1998
  • Date: Sun, 02 Apr 2006 07:49:28 -0700

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Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 19:11:06 -0400
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From: tvoivozd <tvoivozd AT roanoke.infi.net>
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Subject: No-Till agriculture
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evelyn wrote: But isn't there something else the goats can eat
besidesgrain? I seem to remember talk about various perineals that we can
use in place of grain. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't acorns and
pigeon peas good substitutes for grain?

tvoivozhd>>>pigeon peas (cajanus cajan, gandul) are limited to
warm-weather areas---find the reference in this URL
http://www.newforestsproject.com/seed.html Also describes a lot of other
exotics (in English and Spanish) with interesting
characteristics.tvoivozhd>>>The basic requirement for goats is browse.
Their feeding habits---(an evolutionary response to prevent worm
infestation), prevents them from close grazing of grass other than to
avoid starvation. Like the other ever-present browsing animal---deer,
they would also relish fallen nuts and seedpods. (and apples, don't
forget apples!).

Low-tannin acorns would be fine and the best varieties (seedlings) are
obtainable from Oikos Tree Crops, P.O. Box 19425, Kalamazoo, Michigan
49019-0425. Everyone should plant them---their life-span can be 300 to
400 years, but for long-term benefit of your children, grandchildren and
their grandchildren, since most of the longer-lived varieties will take
ten to fifteen years before starting to bear.

Chestnuts closely approximating the feed value of corn would be quicker
to produce nuts, as would hazelnuts (both about five years) and the
equivalent of 400 bushels-per-acre grain in yield
Until The American Chestnut Foundation starts sale in 2002 of the
blight-resistant 15/16ths American, 1/16 Chinese, the best and cheapest
source of a variety of chestnut hybrids is Bear Creek Nursery (address
below) Other sites and cultivation data to be found in Northern Nut
Growers Association (become a member!) website at
http://www.icserv.com/nnga/. Join the American Chestnut Society too!

Here is a Philip Rutter paper on no-till agroforestry permaculture---the
chestnut treeand hazelnut bush (also a 50-foot tree in the Turkish,
Chinese, Indian Tree Hazel and hybrids thereof---Chinese and Indian are
shorter trees) as replacement for annual corn (maize) and soybean
plantings. (There is a possibility of turning corn into a perennial
plant, with some experiment toward that
end).http://www.traverse.com/earthkeepers/WOODYAG.html

Here is another Philip Rutter paper entitled "Kill More Trees". Read it
and find out why that is such good advice.
http://gopher.well.sf.ca.us:70/0/WER/kill.trees

A University of California "Small Farm Center" paper on
Chestnuts---species, varieties propagation, sources, markets, volume,
prices, cultural practices, harvest, storage
http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/pubs/newsletters/SFNews/archive/MarApr96-1.html

Bear Creek Nursery is a good source, but the best source---by far the
heaviest producing, most precocious varieties of hazelnuts is Badgersett
Research Farm (Philip Rutter--founder and Past President of American
Chestnut Foundation rehabilitating the blight-susceptible American
Chestnut) Badgersett Research Farm, Rural Route 1, Box 131, Canton,
Minnesota 55922 You have to order early, he's very shorthanded, very
busy, and always sold out very early since anyone associated with a
research group is acutely aware of how superior his hazelnuts are.



> And I remember Tvo extolling a honey locust that had so many
> pods they could easily replace oats.

tvoivozhd>>>The Calhoun variety of Gleditsia Triacanthos Honey Locust
(about 39 percent sugar content) may still be growing on some remote
southern hillside, but unless the seed source could be controlled, any
large-scale search effort directed toward rediscovery, or laboratory-test
of similar cultivars is unlikely to receive funding by any agricultural
college whose own source of funds and interests has shifted from those
TERRIBLE TAXES we've heard so much about, to research in which a
corporate contributor is the sole or primary beneficiary of results.

A variety tentatively identified as the Milwood variety (36% sugar and at
a density of 48 trees per acre, producing from 2798 to 3150 pounds of
pods per acre from five year-old trees) , is still being sold by a few
seedhouses and nurseries. Two that I know of are F.W. Schumacher
(wholesale seed source to most U.S. nurseries), 36 Spring Hill Road,
Sandwich MA 02563-1023, Telephone 508-888-0659 and SBE (run down their
website in Cyndi's Catalog of Catalogs)
http://www.cog.brown.edu/gardening/cat16/frame-cat.html

A lot of nurseries are of doubtful competence or perhaps indifferent to
accuracy in correctly identifying their seedstock, so there is always an
element of risk and it will take you five years or more to confirm
accuracy or error---(unless you own a reference germ-plasm bank and the
equipment to make DNA tests).

If "Milwood" is described as Gleditsia Triacanthos Inermis, as it was in
my last (old) Schumacher catalog you may be sure something is wrong---if
indeed the seed is truly Inermis (meaning without thorns)---it is a
cultivar selected as a yard shade tree because its fine leaves never have
to be picked up and it lacks dangerous thorns. It would also have
near-zero seedpod production---again because it was selected a shade tree
with no messy pods to pile up in the yard.

Both Calhoun and Milwood will have profuse thorns---they were selected
for heavy production of sugar-rich pods, not as thorn-free.

Note the above yields of 2798 to 3150 pounds, the higher yielding trees
(five years old) averaged 12.5 feet in height and 3.6 inches diameter,
the 3150 pounds being the food-value equivalent of 105 bushels of oats
per acre, or 56 bushels of corn.

At eight years of age the yield rose to well over 250 pounds of pods per
tree---at a reduced 35 trees per acre, the production of 8750 pounds
total being an unattainable 275 bushels of oats equivalent. As the trees
approached maturity, like chestnuts the seedpod yield could be expected
to be the equivalent of 400 bushels per acre corn

Note these trees were planted into Lespedeza, which in addition to
protecting the soil from erosion, smothering weeds, and producing
nitrogen , also produced 2 1/2 tons of hay per acre as part of a normal
two-tier agriculture as practiced in the chestnut forests of Southern
Europe for centuries.

It may be the poor soil here, but although Oikos (they no longer sell
Honey Locust) is extremely conscientous about carefully identifying their
seed sources, I am dubious about the true identity of the Milwood
seedlings I bought from them five years ago---mine are still only three
or four feet tall (should be ten or twelve), and are obviously not ready
to produce seed pods.

Note that you aren't ever going to permanently keep goats in a woodlot
that produces a seasonal flush of acorns, chestnuts, apples or seasonal
anything else. You would certainly harvest some or all of the crop for
winter storage---perhaps for sale to citydwellers. If there is an
unharvested balance you can rotate the goats in our out to conduct their
own harvest, but well before the fallen goodies are exhausted you want
them out---before they start girdling the trees in lieu of the twigs that
are too high for them to reach, and of course you would never allow them
in among small trees where they would gleefully nip off the branches, the
leaders, and all hope of establishing a tree-based permaculture..

For year-around goat-browse you want a combination of palatable
fast-growing trees and shrubs that are of a stooling-nature---i.e., if
cut to the ground, will react by sending up a profusion of new shoots
from the trunk or root-system. Here we are talking about willow or
bamboo as the probable best choice (and with best alternative homestead
workshop/craft uses as well), poplar and aspen (related) as most common
second best---some variety of willow and poplar anywhere and bamboo in
the southern states.

The willows of choice for forage browse would be a hybrid such as Salix
Alba x S.Madsudana, S.Alba x S. Tortuosa, a basket willow such as S.
Viminalis, or Gigantea Korso (which produces eight tons or more per acre
for cattle feed or firewood chips---and the best possible source of
mulch-chips for your no-till gardens). The latter (and many other good,
low-cost nut, fruit, browse trees and shrubs---and don't forget the
apples!) is available from Bear Creek Nursery---P.O. Box 411, Northport,
WA 99157. Website for new catalog still under development, but e-mail
address for printed catalog and orders is
mailto:sales AT bearcreeknursery.com

Shrubs to interplant (and don't forget the apples)---with varying degrees
of edibility, (and other wildlife utilization) are described in the
following Colorado Conservation Department list.
http://lamar.colostate.edu/~pbarth/csfs/wildlife_values.html And a
website for willow, aspen, poplar, cottonwood research results
http://poplar2.cfr.washington.edu/

For machine-planting and machine-harvesting of willow for biomass fuel,
for coppicing to maximize forage production, and ease harvesting by
either machine or animal, you need room for the machines, hence the
Swedish double-row system of 6200 trees per acre described in the
following URL http://www.esd.ornl.gov/bfdp/forum/96spring.html

The commercial planting of S. Viminalis for energy biomass is described
in this URL (yes you can still use them to make baskets too)
http://gis.joensuu.fi/research/paju/energy1.html

Things to think about as to where and whether to establish a perennial
biomass planting for fuel and forage. (converting row-crop land to
perennial biomass--good, converting diversified forestland to perennial
biomass--bad, a water-filtration strip and fish-cover adjacent to
streams--good, drying up wetlands which incubate marine life--bad).
(Remember the Law Of Unforeseen Consequence!)
http://www.panix.com/~jimcook/data/ec-workshop.html

The ShelterBelt aspect when food trees are planted adjacent to no-till
fields and garden---design the shelterbelt also to protect from wind,
conserve moisture, avoid competition from grass, and avoid trees that
compete with garden and field plants---or spread uncontrollably. And
don't forget in the mixture to provide for your insect, animal and bird
allies---browse, seeds, fruits, nesting sites, refuge.
http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/agdex/200/77002003.html

This is a brief note on what to do for your goats with a headache.
http://www.kcweb.com/herb/whitew.htm

Source (there are others) on S. Alba x S. Matsudana
http://www.traverse.com/earthkeepers/SALIX.html

Community Forester Institute (who sponsors S.Alba x S. Matsudana and
other "Supertrees" in the U.S.
http://www.traverse.com/earthkeepers/SQ494.html

High tech trees for chemical feedstock (ethanol, methanol--better yet
DME--Dimethyl Ether, not mentioned here, as liquid fuel for your car,
truck, tractor and chainsaw)
http://www.esd.ornl.gov/bfdp/papers/misc/trees.html

I mentioned bamboo. Fast-growing, many types, with a myriad of
uses--animal food, your food, furniture, construction, for shame if you
do not include it as part of your no-till, permaculture plans. The
American Bamboo Society is the best starting point for an overwhelming
amount of information If you didn't save it from a Lee Flier posting a
while back, here it is again..
http://www.halcyon.com/abs/.:




> If we could just track
> down that vanished variety! If we could replace grains with
> other things (technical term, I know) then we wouldn't have
> to worry about planting and havesting acres of grain.
>
> evelyn






  • [Homestead] Tvo post, No-Till agriculture - 15 May 1998, Rob, 04/02/2006

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