permaculture

["Kirby Fry" <peace@totalaccess.net>]

Heide,

>>  So what then is the point in eradicating these weeds?  <<

It seems there's a loose agreement that in agricultural systems
(permaculture and otherwise) one ends up having to eradicate undesirable
plants when they physically get in your way.  Where we draw this line of
when to weed and not to weed is a matter of ethics and economics.  A
commercial farmer or rancher will certainly end up getting rid of more weeds
than a Pc farmer in a food forest or pasture.

It would seem almost impossible to raise all of your own food and or make a
living without removing some undesirable plants, e.g. in our orchard the
morning glory vine has pulled over several fruit trees and would have pulled
them down completely if I hadn't removed it.

Also in one herb garden the Johnson grass came up so heavily that I've lost
track of more than half the herbs in the garden.  I've whacked it back TWICE
this summer and still all you see is the J. grass and its seed heads.  I'm
almost at the point of deciding to let it go and see what happens.

Now ranching (as opposed to grain and pulse monoculture cropping), I think,
is a better example of when its practical and helpful to leave many forbes
in the pasture - such as dandelion, chicory, dock and various bulbs.  Also
Fukuoka's method of hand harvesting grains lets you work around weeds.

The most contentious arena for the weeding issue (including "trash tree"
removal) seems to be restoration work and maintenance of our lawns and
settled landscapes.  We can agree that when growing food for survival we are
entitled to shape the landscape to suit our needs, but it is the lands on
the margins of our fields and settlements where the ethical battle about
invasive exotics is raging.

Along these margins and in their adjacent wild lands many factors come into
play like what was the land like 200, 400 or 10,000 years ago.  What era are
we aiming for?  Should we be managing for an ecosystem that can no longer
maintain itself - e.g. a prairie without bison or fire.

Personally, I'm leaning towards low maintenance ecosystems, that increase
humidity and rainfall and sustainable yield large amounts of biomass and
diversity.  As far as I can tell non-native plants and woody plant
encroachment are two mechanisms Nature has in place that are moving things
in that direction.

Also, I think we have to get the animals back on wild-lands in order to
reduce the hazards of wildfire.  Perhaps insurance companies should foot
part of the bill.  From what I've been reading an ecosystem without the
right numbers of animals chomping and stomping does become an incredible
fire risk.

>>  We should have a category on "weeds" in the database, together with all
the useful information we know about them...  <<

I've scooped up several articles and links both pro and con for invasives.
We can assemble what we have and put it up on the Pc Wiki.

Kirby