permaculture

[Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>]

At 01:39 PM 9/20/02 -0500, you wrote:
> I have just bought 23 acres of  sandy land ( almost a beach) with close to
> no organic matter in  a tropical drylands area...
> Although I plan to use the strategy of intense dryland polycultures to
> create on-the -spot organic matter,

All good replys so far.  I'd add that you might want to look at imprinting 
the soil to create little dips that concentrate water and OM.  This can be 
very helpful in such sandy ground in establishing vegetation.  You may be 
able to archive this with the cattle's foot traffic.  You will also find 
that adding even small amounts of clay to sandy soils can be very 
beneficial, try mixing it into compost piles.  Good luck and keep us posted.


Mark P. Ludwig
Poultry Research Lab
University of Wisconsin -Madison
608-262-1730 WK
608-846-7125 HM