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  • From: "Marjory Glowka" <forestgarden@austin.rr.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Mesquite Milling this Saturday
  • Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 14:44:24 -0600

Hi Lisa and all,

I have been thinking of growing honey locust. It just so happens that
mesquite does not grow well on my farm, but they are plentiful down the road
(very diverse soil types around here). There are two black locusts that are
thriving in my orchard, and I am seeking to plant some honeys. does anyone
know where I can source soem non-thorny, big pod-bearing honey locusts?

Lisa, what animals were you feeding through the winter? chickens, horses,
pigs...

Thanks,

marjory



-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Lisa Rollens
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 9:45 AM
To: permaculture
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Mesquite Milling this Saturday


Hmmmm....I wonder if milling would work for honey locust pods, and if the
product would be useable??? If I remember mesquite from my Texas days, they
might have more and larger seeds Last year, after reading of their feed
value on this list, I picked up a whole bunch of honey locust pods and ran
them thru a chipper/shredder. My animals loved them all winter!

Lisa, in honey locust country now.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg" <FarmerGreg@UrbanFarm.org>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 8:34 AM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Mesquite Milling this Saturday


> Milling Questions
>
> The milling went great for our first one. I followed it up with a
> visit to Tucson for their milling and mesquite pancake breakfast.
> What a fun time.
>
> The biggest challenge for for putting on a milling is locating a
> mill. The one we used was from Tucson. If is a gas powered hammer
> Mill. See desertharvesters.org. A steam or hand powered one would
> be great, just need to find it.
>
> From 5 gallons of beans we were getting about 1 to 2 gallons of meal.
> An very little chaff.
>
> Mesquite beans can be VERY plentiful. Last year I harvested 20
> gallons of beans from a tree in a matter of a few minutes. A tree
> can put out hundreds of pounds of beans. Mesquite wood is used for
> furniture, I suppose it could be used for tool handles.
>
> Mesquite is a desert plant so it is very drought tolerant. Not
> allelopathic. A mesquite farm could be feasible, but there is so
> much that grows in the wild you may not need to. A hammermill is
> suggested as the beans are so hard that the power is needed to mill
> them.
>
> Greg
>
>
>
>
> >
> >
> >> Hi Greg and all,
> >>
> >> How did the milling go? I am quite interested in seeing if we could
do
> >> comething like that here in Central Texas - we've got a lot of
mesquite. I
> >> bought some meal and have been serving up mesquite meal pancakes to my
> >> neighbors to see if I could generate enough interest in pursuing a
milling
> >> demo or operation here.
> >>
> >> Is the milling fairly easy to do and not too manual-process oriented?
Can
> >> the beans come from any variety of mesquite - or are there only some
that
> >> work well? How much meal can you make from say, a five gallon bucket
full
> >> of mequite pods? Could the mill be run via a steam engine?
> >
> >How about a human powered mill? Use an 18 speed bycycle connected to the
> >mill directly or to a gearbox connected by V-belt to it. A steam engine
> >is a good idea. Burn the chaff from the milling process plus twigs,
> >stems and branches for complete combustion and extraction of max BTU's
> >with minimum smoke. When you look at the loads steam locomotives are
> >able to move, the power they can unleash is truly amazing.
> >
> >A few questions:
> >
> >Are mesquite trees plentiful in their natural habitat? Can the wood be
> >used as lumber or handles for tools? Is it rot-resistant?
> >
> >What plants grow naturally with it and what crops could be grown
> >successfully within a grove used for bean production?
> >Fertilizing and irrigating the crops would benefit the mesquite
> >while it provided some shade. Is it allelopathic? Is it drought
> >tolerant? Would a mesquite bean farm be feasable? What kind of mill is
> >required to make flour? Can grits be made?
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >permaculture mailing list
> >permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> >http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
>
>
> --
>
> The Urban Farm
> Growing good food
> Having fun gardening
> Connecting with nature
>
>
> Greg Peterson
> http://www.urbanfarm.org
> 602/565-7045
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture

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