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homestead - Re: [Homestead] Tvo post Mar 98- Trashland Treasure

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  • From: Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Tvo post Mar 98- Trashland Treasure
  • Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2006 11:05:46 -0700

That would be just about the whole of the West.

A typical farm here wouldn't even pass muster back east. It's bone-dry and people feed hay in the summer even more than in winter. My friend has a typical big ranch on a logged hillside, one she inherited, and it's no wonder that she doesn't see farm ownership as leading to self-sufficiency. My God, the feed bill she has! I'm lucky to have an underground water flow down the middle, so I can keep almost as many sheep as she has without feeding them.

Otherwise, it's better just to leave it in trees, but they can still be useful ones. Conifers aren't very good for multipurpose agriculture because they shade everything out and toxify the soil; wherever two conifers grow near each other, the grass in between dies. But deciduous trees allow our winter-adapted grasses to thrive, letting light through in winter, keeping it shadier in summer, and softening the impact of the first freeze, when the ground is sometimes still dry.

Bill
S. Oregon coast


Two caveats---don't buy land without running water on it, and don't
build on a hillside that will move downhill with wet weather or
earthquake.







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