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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Fast growing nitro fixers, semi tropics

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  • From: "John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Fast growing nitro fixers, semi tropics
  • Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2012 20:45:41 +0100


Unfortunately, it does not quite work like that. When you work here with animals, some of them big brutes, often in bad rain, you can not drag cameras around. Chances are they would not last long.
I don't even wear a wristwatch any longer for that reason and I also never carry a mobile phone. I used to and it became too expensive.

And then there is the time factor. I ridged my potatoes for the last time at least 12 years ago and it was a lot of work going with the draft horse pulling the ridger between all the rows. When we were done it looked professional and neat with the top of the ridges a good foot higher than the bottom of the trenches. Two days later it was all flat again with potatoes lying on the surface everywhere. And it was a sight when two hundred or more blackbirds (Turdus merula) were digging like badgers in the soft soil. Good shot for a film but I did not have a camera then and I just grew potatoes in the flat from then on without problems. A good layer of rough mulch kept the blackbirds from doing their worst but they did continue to pull up large numbers of seedlings and generally be a pain. If I had filmed all that it would have given the impression that blackbirds are the devil and need to be destroyed. And I like birds.

Interesting shots of New Zealand flatworms would be rare. We find most of them underneath silage bales. Mostly black worms clinging to black plastic while not moving overmuch. Great film! There were four months between seeing the slug being eaten and the fly being prevented from flying and on both occasions it was about a mile away from home and in the middle of nowhere. On the one occasion we were moving sheep and on the other cattle and there was no occasion to hang about for longer than about 30 seconds and also no chance to go back later.

The hawk now is another thing! A good professional might be able to capture on film a flash of a bird weaving between trees or hugging the tops of hedges in fast flight, striking a smaller bird and disappearing with it over some other bushes in seconds. We saw the hawk almost every day, sometimes 2-3 times per day, for the best part of three years. Especially that they also cleaned out my tame carier pigeons at a rate of 1-2 per week. If I had been carrying my shotgun ready to fire at all times (and I don't do that either because it is dangerous and illegal) I might have had a chance of shooting that hawk maybe 5 times in three years. I am a lot better with a gun than a camera. So, no cheese.

john

On 10/18/2012 8:38 PM, John D'hondt wrote:

Another new bad thing is an explosion of a new species, the New Zealand
flatworm, (Arthurdendyus triangulatus) that is known to reduce earthworm
populations below detectable levels. The situation is dire. We even noticed
36 immature worms eating a big slug (Arion sp.) and one half grown worm
holding a life Tipula fly (big!) on the ground and preventing this from
talking off.
Interesting times.

I would say that you have the making of a great new nature video, an
action packed thriller...to say the least.

......birds eating most of the worms in raised beds causing them to sink
and become more compacted.....hawks eating the birds doing this
then flatworms moving in and decimating earthworm populations all over
again.... what a scenario...document this in a video and sell the dvd
for $25 each - upload trailer to youtube, let it go viral, make lots of
money, buy villa on the cote d'azur, retire kick back and relax eat
truffle quiche .............

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