permaculture

["Frances and David" <fdnokes@hotmail.com>]

good tips here, Lawrence.

The gmo picture is, sadly, worse.
Think of the fields and fields of gmo corn.
Fed to cows, so present in dairy and meat. And not the natural fodder of 
cows even if it were non gmo.
Incredible boon to health is pastured beef.
And then there is the bio fuel, the ethanol, and the 'compostable' bags.
Meet the new green revolution same as the old green revolution.
It's not really green.
Also, when it comes to gmo, look to all sorts of center aisle products. Many 
names are clever disguises.
Vitamin C is now largely corn derived and you know what that means...

Going to see Vandana Shiva this week. There is a woman who speaks the sad 
truth but with such heart and such courage...

frances


-----Original Message----- 
From: Lawrence London
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2013 8:42 PM
To: permaculture
Subject: Re: [permaculture] alfalfa

On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 2:28 PM, Scott Pittman 
<scott@permaculture.org>wrote:

> While I am against GMO anything, I am particularly against GMO alfalfa.
> Alfalfa has become one of the largest commodity crops in the southwest,
> every day I see semi-truck loads of alfalfa on the highway from Colorado 
> to
> Texas and Oklahoma.

As far as I know most of the output of US agriculture is for export, from
hay, to sweet potatoes, to soybeans, corn, wheat
and other crops. Most of China's soybeans come from the US and Brazil,
possibly Argentina. There has been increased monocrop farming in Argentina,
soybeans, probably gmo and probably for export at the expense of the small,
traditional independent diversified and specialty farming sector and much
to their disappointment (was in the news years ago).


> Alfalfa is a great soil conditioner and is great protein for livestock but
> I
> follow the Mollison rule "never sell of the farm what can't walk off the
> farm".  To produce alfalfa as an export crop is essentially mining the 
> soil
> for export, a form or strip mining, or clear cutting.  Unless the manure 
> of
> the animals is returned to the soil then there is an annual net loss to
> soil
> fertility. Yet another reason that it is difficult to accomplish
> permaculture without animals.
>
> Ideally we grow crops with the least loss of biomass from the land;  That
> would be fruit and vegetables, or grains if the straw is chopped and
> reincorporated into the soil.

Deep nutrient mining crops like tall sweet clover (mellilotus alba) and
greater burdock should be
part of standard cropping schemes in small and large plantings. Interplant
other crops with these
for harvest and let them benefit from the fixed nitrogen and added
mineralization of the topsoil while
leaving behind plant residues as mulch and to increase soil OM. Alfalfa,
vetch, crimson clover, red
clover can be integrated.within crop rotation schemes interplanted and
succession planted with grasses and grains.
Use rye, lambs quarters, amaranth, burdock for biocontrol of weeds.

LL
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