permaculture

[FranksFarm@aol.com]

Good day all:)

Really appreciated Larry's ideas on pond community. It's just the thing I'd 
like to do too.
I've already crenelated the edges, when I had the pond built, and the edges 
were quite shallow. Over time the cattle stepping in and out seem to break 
down some of the bank creating a shallow but steep edge.

By the way...do you think bald cypress would be appropriate near the edge of 
the pond? Also there are lots of willows on the property. Not sure which 
kind...but they seem to be very brittle, prone to wind damage and short 
lived. They do sucker profusely. And they are not weeping willows. 
In a message dated 8/20/02 3:42:17 PM, lfl@intrex.net writes:

<< Get out the backhoe-loader  and tractor equipped with a good, adjustable 
blade or better yet, a Gill Rollover. >> 

ROFL   I sure wish I had a backhoe. A dump truck too:) And a flat bed trailer 
for hauling hay, and a heavy duty truck for pulling a load of hay etc.

I was so impressed by the logic of the folks who continually advised you not 
to get caught in the trap of buying depreciating machinery that I told myself 
I'd not get into that trap! Ha, ha! 

Even worse I am smart enough to realize I don't know much about such 
machinery. So I'm very leery of buying anything used or at auction. I'm 
learning about such machinery the hard way...by using them, and making 
mistakes. I'm fairly cautious, and safety conscious so I have managed to stay 
whole:) Shoot...in the beginning even a slight slope would give me the 
jitters:) I'm getting better though.

Little by little I have had to acquire basic machinery to simply get work 
done. I thought I could hire much of the farm work more cheaply. But in a 
rural area there are not a whole lot of folks who are willing to do custom 
work, and those that are often not available when you need them. It's not 
uncommon for folks not to even show up for weeks.

Took me 6 months to get the fellow with the dozer to come out and build the 
pond...the good operators are generally booked well in advance.

  Many of the PC projects on farms of size require moving a lot of earth, 
reshaping it etc.

Unless you have lots of equipment or access to same, or money to spare many 
of these projects get tabled due to expediency.

Much of the day is spent doing what needs to be done, and little time is 
available for some of the PC type stuff that I'd really like to be doing:)

See ya!   Frank