permaculture

[Pat Meadows <pat@meadows.pair.com>]

On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:25:18 EDT, you wrote:

>One picture can be worth a thousand words, Margaret. A few miles west of 
>Chase City, in southside Virginia, there's a historical marker at the side 
>of the 
>road celebrating the spot where kudzu was first introduced in America-- as a 
>useful planting for erosion control. The date is something like 1941.
>
>I'll say this-- it is that! Surrounding the sign for easily a quarter mile 
>in 
>every direction are hillsides swallowed up in its luxuriant verdure. None of 
>them have moved a bit. And you'll notice the plant cover is very lumpy.
>
>That's because underneath it you'll find the remnants of the old forest it 
>devoured. Woods in the middle stages of digestion are enveloped up to the 
>tree 
>crowns, and streamers in full leaf then fall back down to the ground. The 
>effect is much like the one described in the book Green Mansions, where it 
>looks 
>like giant cathedrals of green. Dinosaurs would not be out of place.
>
>Very spooky. The plant outgrows ordinary biocides. The only way I know to 
>get 
>rid of it is to come in with bulldozers and grade down to a depth of five 
>feet. This should get rid of most of the roots, which you can then pick out 
>of 
>the dirt and isolate. 
>

If we must have biofuels (which I think are generally a bad idea); how
about using kudzu as a biofuel?

Pat
-- Northern Pennsylvania
http://www.entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/
'Every one of us can do something to protect and care for our planet.
We should live in such a way that makes a future possible.'
 - Thich Nhat Hanh