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Chronological Thread  
  • From: martha_davis@highstream.net
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Fruit & ecological systems
  • Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 18:16:00 -0500


Donna &/or Kieran schrieb:
> Cats may take their toll, but the humans are doing more than their fair
> share. What's really reduced the quail population in Tennessee is fescue,
> they say that it's so thick that baby quail can't move around in it. The
> other thing, that really gets me, is the damned weedeaters. People move out
> in the country and try to make their entire yard look like a carpet,
> including cutting all grass and weeds right up to the road. They have nice
> smooth expanses which would be convenient for watching wildlife, if only
> there were any wildlife left to watch. Sure, deer and rabbits eat grass,
Donna comments are certainly well taken. Another movement that addresses some
of these concerns in a more pallnnned ecological way in the permaculture
movement and forest gardens. They are often a planned ecolofical system
including fruit plants and nuts, but also other food plants and insetariary
plants etc etc.

Martha


> but quail need bugs and weed/grass SEEDS, which aren't produced when
> everything is kept 2" high.
> Another thing that gets me is the horse population. Used to be that
> horse lovers would have one horse. Now they have 4 of them, in the same
> space. The horses not only eat everything down to the ground, but they are
> dependent on lots of hay and grain. I hardly ever see anyone actually ride
> one of the creatures.
> If you stop and think about it, most NAFEXers increase species
> diversity. Certainly compared to the average American lawn, we create more
> green stuff at different heights, creating both cover and food. At our
> place, the soil was so terrible in the cleared area that few species of
> weeds would grow. Now the soil is better over an acre or so, and we have
> provided a great deal of food to the voles, flying squirrels( they like
> tomatoes), chicken snakes (they like eggs) hawks and owls (they like
> chickens), cardinals (they like chicken feed, and peas pecked fresh from the
> pods) and a multitude of birds that like blueberries. A bit of controlled
> predation is not a bad thing, especially as so many wild predators are gone.
> The real enemy for birds is loss of food and habitat. I remember someone
> years ago commenting that after bug zappers became a fad, they heard and saw
> far fewer birds. Donna





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