permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

Jody Troupe wrote:
> Permaculture group-
>
> My apologies to the list for submitting this topic at all. I'd intended 
> it for interests sake,
> not for debate, or to convert people to my way of thinking.

No problem whatsoever. Convert away!

Before the algae thread is tossed to the dustbin....

I was told by a Japanese that in Japan they grow chlorella in ponds and harvest and eat 
it as "chlorella sphagetti".
Don't know how spirulina is grown but maybe they grow this for the table also.

I have small catchment ponds (3) in strategic locations to catch nutrient-rich runoff from my gardens. One often 
contains muddy water and has cattails, papyrus, duckweed and waterlillies growing in it. The other two are muddy
but have a considerable amount of green algae spreading throughout them. After a time this algae clumps up leaving the 
water somewhat clarified. The fresh rock dusts in the garden soil add micronutrients to the runoff entering the ponds.
This probably helps the algae grow too.

Apart from the dissolved nutrients in the pond water I wonder what the nutritive value of the algae itself is and 
whether it may be colonized by microorganisms that would benefit soil and plants.

Any proposal to grow algae in municipal waste effluent for fossil fuel generation (oil) seems like a good idea. Doing 
same with livestock manure or compost would be a terrible waste of a valuable resource.

Feedback welcome.
--
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
Venaura Farm
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
http://market-farming.com/venaurafarm
http://venaurafarm.blogspot.com/
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech