permaculture

[rick valley <bamboogrove@cmug.com>]

>How does your area do on wild rice or cranberries?
Both are established crops in Oregon. I don't feel prepared to deal with the
weed situation for more than a home patch with cranberries.

>Carol Cox of Ecology Action in Willits has come up with a backpack
>basket.

A friend who works with our local expert, Margaret Matthewson, has found his
backpack baskets to be his #1 seller. My former farmmate Katie Stokes sews
the nylon straps for them.

>Have also seen some wonderful work lately combining basketry and
>gourd work.  Are there any gourds that grow in your cool weather?
Cucurbita pepo types only- Lagenaria won't do it.

>> >The Real Goods... there was a variety of mature fruit trees and
>shrubs and bamboo along with lots of other things.

now is any of this *in* the water? I do have some ideas for blueberries-
which I've successfully done on artificial hummocks mimicking the swamp-stump
habitat I've seen them in in Michigan. The problem is harvesting a hummock!;
but I plan a waterside planting mulched with logs that enter the water...

>Does the time of water coincide well with the life cycle of salmon?

This dry year, they've not come in yet! We had 1/2 normal rainfall (36 vs
65-70) in 2000. But in any case, my streams are subterranean before they
leave my land, then they pick up creosote and herbicide at the railroad, then
drop high out of culverts, ie, not salmon streams in any stretch of the
imagination.

 >daylily varieties for flavor:
first thing is to taste 'em. Thde best are mild and sweet, no astringincy or
sharp off-tastes, smooth texture, not stringy. Orange and dark yellow types
seem best. If someone could get Stella D'oro's continual flowering into a
tall, big flower (easy to pick) that'd be way cool. Stella's decent flavor
anyway. My favorite is an old hybrid from the guy (name forgotten) who had
Chehalis Rare Plant Nursery bred in his younger days- very brief-blooming
light orange, narrow petals.  I haven't done much comparison with dried
blooms ("dried golden needles" of Chinese cuisine, as in mu shu) but it seems
to me that it correlates. I use the species Hemerocallis fulva as the
baseline for comparing. I definitely don't like the dark brick-red
heavy-petaled triploid hybrids.
>
>What are the canes that were lashed together and used for boats?
Like the caballitos del mar in Huanchaco, Peru, or the boats on Titicaca?
tules or bullrushes. you need standing water, some depth, for them.

>I've heard of people weaving with iris leaves, but haven't tried that yet.
My local species, Iris tenax, was used before we invaded. As "tenax" would
suggest, it has tenacious fiber. It is a great dryland species- loves
clearcuts and logging roads...

>From: FranksFarm@aol.com
>Interesting topic!  I'd be interested in growing bamboo here in south
central
>Kentucky. Does anyone have any recommendations on best types, varieties to 
>grow? Especially those that can be purchased at reasonable cost!

Arundinaria gigantea, canebrake bamboo or river cane, is native in Kentucky,
habitat for endangered Warblers. If basket weaving ain't your thing, drive
the brushhog over a swath of bamboo, gather it with the hayrake, till it into
clay an sand with some water, and you've got a superior adobe. The Kentucky
farmer that told me about the method said, "makes a real good hog house- and
hogs are HARD on their houses!"
Or try any of the species described on my webpage that are rated to below
zero temperatures. Bashania fargesia is one I don't think I have on there
that would work, too. If you check or better still join, the American Bamboo
Society webpage source list, you'll find other local suppliers. But Adam and
Sue are real good, and Adam's been at it longer than most in the US, and he's
not too far away.
-Rick

Rick Valley Northern Groves 
PO Box 1236, Philomath, OR 97370 
Mobile-(541)602-1315, hm.& msg. (541)456-4364  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"