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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Elephants in Permaculture

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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Elephants in Permaculture
  • Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:52:28 -0500

On 2/8/2012 6:29 PM, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
On 2/8/2012 3:51 PM, Ossi Kakko wrote:

investigate this issue with indigenous people, who have a lot of
practical wisdom with elephants - rather than to try to invent systems
without practical relationship with elephants. Elephants are pretty
extensive pathways in forests.

Oxen and draft horses, then.

If the layout of the agricultural region lends itself to regular mechanical tillage, flatland village or community farming on contiguous
individually owned tracts or broadacre flatland farming, then either machines or animals will have to do the tillage. If it is tractors & implements then they require feeding with fossil fuel and they pollute a lot, all of which is an added expense. With elephants and possibly other draught animals you have to feed them a nutritious diet to keep them content and healthy and get real work done. So, take your pick.
Grow enough for the elephants and keep them penned adequately so they won't damage crops. Obviously there are variables in this scheme and they might not work out at all considering the risks involved, but oxen and horses would. Again, I am talking about them pulling the 2000lb. hiller-bedder-tilther-subsoiler depicted in the gallery of photos I posted a link to. If I had it to do over again I would substiture Yeoman's Keyline plow shanks for the Roll-A-Cone mini-subsoilers I did use, and might use as many as three 26" shanks. The Yeoman's uses a 4" square toolbar and that is what the Roll-A-Cone system I used offered.

LL




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