permaculture

[rick valley <bamboogrove@cmug.com>]

>Which brings up another good thing about them. They're edible, both young
>pads and fruit. And they look nice. So that's four uses of a widely
>adaptable, easily cultivated plant that takes very little water (but likes
>it when available).
>There are thornless varieties developed for eating, and really thorny ones
>that I'm incorporating into my nasty-neighbor exclusion system ("fence" in
>usual terms).
Thornless, but still with the little glochid (sp?) spines- peel 'em all.
And talk about invasive- around the worl they've given cacti a bad name! I've
seen big thickets in Nat. parks in Kenya....
Sure do love the fruit though!

>A travois hitched to
>a horse could still go pretty much everywhere the horse could, whereas a
>wagon could not.  They presumably discerned that this worked better for them
>than messing about with wheels and all the associated infrastructure.
And the Metis people of the Red River Valley? They used carts- w/o greased
axels to catch the git and wear out- hear the screetch miles away. They were
'breeds- so I bet it  was the culture of the wainwright that was lacking with
the tribals.

Paulownia- doesn't naturalize very quickly in the West. If you want quick
shade, try an N fixer like Scots Broom- just don't tell people you're
planting it or they'll get violent, it's an invasive non-native. Sure does
work, though! 
And you can propagate Paulownia easily via root cuttings.
-Rick

Rick Valley Northern Groves 
PO Box 1236, Philomath, OR 97370 
Mobile-(541)602-1315, hm.& msg. (541)929-7152  Bamboo catalog $3 or at 
<http://www.teleport.com/~dbrooks/bamboo.html>
"Useful Bamboos and other plants‹ Permaculture education‹ Ecological design &
consultation centering on water,landform and horticultural systems"