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  • From: Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] mediterranean orchards, terracing and fire protection
  • Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:50:00 -0500

Nora,

be peace wrote:
Dear friends,
my name is nora and i live on a farm and a learning centre called axladitsa
avatakia in northern greeecethere is few dilemmas that we face:

1. how to keep clear the ground in between the olives - so far we were turning around
the soil with a tractor - shallow ploughing, but i want to find a different method
which would be gentler to the soil. the local knowledge holds the olive for a very
"jealous tree" that wont like other things growing around it, hence the
ploughing practice. i know about mulching but the area is too large and mulch presents
a fire hazard which is very critical in this area. i have considered green mulches but
then we would need something strong enough to supress the omnipresent brambles and
somthing which gets harvested before the main fire season starts (june). Any ideas? It
would be also great if we could get a plant which is somehow compatible and will
benefit the olive and mitigates protection of topsoil for which olive is a total
disaster having no surface root system.
Our colleague and past editor of the Permaculture Activist, Guy Baldwin, raises olives in California. They are growing in grassed pasture and his olives are beautiful and abundant.
I also tended many olives in the landscapes of my clients and, while some of these were mulched, most were growing with many other types of ornamental and edible plants growing under and around them. Despite this they produced fine crops.
2. great part of the land is on a steep slope, the local practice is to
terrace it, i understand that the terraces have similar function as swales in
water retention - is that right? what would be benefit of swales over the
terraces? (or vice versa?) what is the maximum slope u can do swales on
without causing more erosion?
Similar but not exactly the same. Swales focus the concentrations and depth of moisture more than a terrace, unless your terrace also has a swale / ditch at the rear or pitches to the rear. I often saw terraces in Europe slope toward the lip or wall which might spread the moisture but might also increase evaporation.

The maximum slope issue is one of those, "it all depends', sort of questions. It depends on the type of soil, the amount of rainfall, the aspect, the amount of vegetation, tendency to slump, and etc. I've seen fairly steep slopes swaled effectively whereas a similar slope in another circumstance could be disastrous.
3. mulching - im very fond of mulching but here the locals are very
distrustful of the practice as they consider it a great fire hazard. in long
term - with retaining more water in the soil and cultivating the humus layer
- does the fire risk become less? can the fire risk be minimalised somehow in
the mean time? lets say with the drip irrigation under the mulch? any
experiences to share?
I encountered this attitude in many places, in particular the very arid fig orchards and farmlands of Baja, Ca, where every speck of fallen or pruned organics was burned(!) and the soil was sand irrigated by deep wells which were being infiltrated by salt from the nearby ocean. Clearly not sustainable. Yet, tradition, misinformation, and fear ruled (they killed earthworms because someone told them they were a hazard). In contrast to this were my multiple experiments with mulching in diverse California landscapes where, in every case, the soil became blacker and more full of life and moisture making the overall landscape MORE fire-resistant.

A deep rough / coarse mulch is more likely to burn than a fine shallower layer. Drip irrigation will definitely reduce the hazard.
4. any fire protection/management advice or resources are welcome!!! so far the two
main approaches that i encountered are - clearing the land periodically nevermind the
soil. or burn the land - as previously "natural fires" did. im conflicted
about both approaches and i feel i need more perspectives, more points of view to gain
my own understanding.
I generally avoid burning in favor of the slow metabolic "burn" by fungi and soil organisms. More soil life means more water. A rule of thumb is that for every unit of carbon we can incorporate into soil we can increase the moisture content by 4 units. Bare earth is wounded earth. Weeds, and plants in general, are the healers.
5. any greek pc contacts, please? or mediterranean? any resources relevant to
olive farming and mediterranean?
Sadly, I have no Greek contacts in the directory and would be happy to make you the first to be listed. I, too, would like more info.
i hope to get some advice and im willing to continue sharing experience as we
learn adn experiment here. I would love to get in touch with other people who
have experience with olive farming and mediterranean ecosystems in general.
Thanx for considering my message!
peace&pace
norak
--
Keith Johnson
"Be fruitful and mulch apply."
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN 47407
(812) 335-0383
http://www.permacultureactivist.net
http://www.PermacultureTradingPost.com
Switch to Solar Power the Easy Way
http://www.jointhesolution.com/KeithJ-SunPower
http://www.PowUr.com/KeithJ-SunPower
Blog: http://kjpermaculture.blogspot.com/
also Patterns for Abundance Design & Consulting
http://www.permacultureactivist.net/design/Designconsult.html
also Association for Regenerative Culture
http://www.ARCulture.org
also APPLE-Bloomington (Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy) It's a
small world after oil.
http://www.relocalize.net/groups/applebloomington
also Bloomington Permaculture Guild



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