Subject: Re: [Homestead] Tvo post Mar 98- Trashland Treasure
Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2006 11:05:46 -0700
That would be just about the whole of the West.
A typical farm here wouldn't even pass muster back east. It's bone-dry
and people feed hay in the summer even more than in winter. My friend
has a typical big ranch on a logged hillside, one she inherited, and
it's no wonder that she doesn't see farm ownership as leading to
self-sufficiency. My God, the feed bill she has! I'm lucky to have an
underground water flow down the middle, so I can keep almost as many
sheep as she has without feeding them.
Otherwise, it's better just to leave it in trees, but they can still be
useful ones. Conifers aren't very good for multipurpose agriculture
because they shade everything out and toxify the soil; wherever two
conifers grow near each other, the grass in between dies. But deciduous
trees allow our winter-adapted grasses to thrive, letting light through
in winter, keeping it shadier in summer, and softening the impact of the
first freeze, when the ground is sometimes still dry.
Bill
S. Oregon coast
Two caveats---don't buy land without running water on it, and don't
build on a hillside that will move downhill with wet weather or
earthquake.