Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Harvey Ussery <boxwood@nelsoncable.com>]

Responding (comments interspersed) to Morgan's post:
> I also like amaranth grain, 
> good thing for me that the wild version is a local weed, so I will be 
> playing with growing that this year and hoping that I can figure out how 
> to isolate what I'll need to save seed that will produce good grain.
>   

In my experience isolation might not be such an issue--YMMV. About 3 
years ago I planted three amaranth species. Did nothing to prevent 
crossing. It was the Amaranthus cruentus which both did the best, and 
volunteered most profusely in subsequent seasons. So I just let it do 
its thing each season, starting some plants from seed, but letting large 
numbers of the volunteers establish. Last year there were only a few 
plants out of maybe a hundred that were off-type--the rest were, far's I 
could tell, absolutely pure A.cruentes.


> I would kind of like some 
> chickens or ducks, but I have some concerns about H5N1 (bird flu).
>   

I'm highly skeptical about this issue of H6N1 and the backyard flock. 
Don't get me wrong--I think there's *plenty* of threat coming in from 
commercial poultry operations, the world over. But I don't know 
*anybody* practicing poultry husbandry in more traditional ways who has 
had the slightest problem with highly contagious diseases (or who is 
concerned about it), my own flock included (for many, many years now). A 
few years ago when an AI outbreak here in Virginia led to the bulldozing 
of ten million broilers and turkeys in the Shenandoah Valley, no 
responsible "flockster" of my acquaintance had any contagion, despite 
the fact all their flocks were outdoors and they weren't fanatic about 
"biosecurity" (forbidding public access, moon suits, and all that). Two 
of those producers had sizable pastured poultry op's right in the heart 
of the outbreak. (Joel Salatin was one--produces tens of thousands of 
broilers and hundreds of layers on pasture.)


> Look thorough old books and old cookbooks to see what people used to eat 
> in the days before frozen foods and year round "fresh" fruits. Learn to 
> can if you don't already know how.
>   

In the coming energy crisis maybe canning won't look like such a good 
option, really. Much better to make friends with those vegetable crops 
that store without artificial processing: onions and garlic and winter 
squash in ordinary room conditions, cabbages and root crops stored in a 
protected hole in the ground (or even right where they grew under a 
heavy mulch), nuts, many varieties of apples and other fruits, etc. And 
don't forget lactofermenting of many vegetables and fruits--some 
processing, to be sure, but not energy intensive: or rather, the energy 
is provided by you (lots of shredding) and our microbe allies.


> Look into a winter garden. See what you can grow in a cold frame or, if 
> you have one, see what you can make produce in a small greenhouse.  

Now you're talking! Learn to appreciate just how cold hardy some of the 
salads and cooking greens are. Eat fresh right through the winter chill. 
(If you don't have room for a small greenhouse, think cold frame.)


> I 
> have heard that you can "heat" a greenhouse with rabbits. 

I keep mixed a poultry flock in my 20x48 greenhouse in the winter--250 
lbs or more of live warm bird *has* to moderate the chill somewhat. And 
their exhalations increase the ambient CO2, a boon for the crop plants. 
For more, see the pages starting at:
      http://themodernhomestead.us/article/Greenhouse.html
     
> Look into expanding in to "non traditional" uses of foods. I hate okra, 
> but I am going to grow some and grind the seed into flour and see if I 
> like to eat it in breads.
>   

A further take on "non-traditional" foods: Think of plants you can plant 
"around the edges" that both feed your face and provide multiple other 
integrative functions:   
   *flowering medicinal and culinary herbs enhance insect diversity
   *"fertility patch" plants like comfrey, stinging nettle, dandelion 
provide potent nutrition for us and our livestock as well as their role 
in fertility applications all over the homestead
   *cover crops grown to improve soil can do double duty as livestock 
fodder
   *don't forget local wild tree crops like hickories, black walnuts, 
mulberries, native persimmons
   *I'm currently writing an article for Mother Earth News about living 
fences. Many benefits of living fences, including provision of livestock 
fodder; support species diversity; furnish us with foods, medicinals, 
"superfoods" such as hawthorn fruits, rugosa rose hips.

~Harvey

--
Harvey in northern Va
www.themodernhomestead.us

"Can't you see those dark clouds gathering up ahead?
They're gonna wash this planet clean, like the Bible said.
Now you can hold on steady, try to get ready,
But everybody's gonna get wet--
Don't think it won't happen just because it hasn't happened yet!"  (Jackson 
Browne)