What the speaker calls 'plowpan' is more often called 'hardpan'. Even using a soil ripper or Yeoman plow is said to simply move the hardpan a little deeper into the soil profile. Don't know if this is true or not...but Gabe Brown in N.D. has broken the hardpan, increased his soil organic matter tremendously, increased the water infiltration from 1/2" per hour to something like 8" per hour... and virtually eliminated pests and diseases with the use of diverse 'cocktail' mixes of cover crops, and rotational grazing - while producing cash crop of grain, beans, etc. Plowing, discing, tilling - all disturb the soil life that provides the fertility to the plants. Pasture cropping - no-till drilling annual grain seed into a closely grazed pasture, preserves the Soil Food Web, prevents the 'burning up' of the carbon in the soil (what little is left), virtually eliminates soil erosion to wind and water, allows the infiltration of water into the soil to replenish aquafers, springs, and rivers, the living roots feed the soil life even when the grain is harvested, and the pasture will take off again as soon as the grain is harvested. Search Colin Seis on RU-vid for details on pasture cropping. Gabe Brown for info on using cover crops and permanant pasture to restore soil, the water cycle, etc. He grows crops and vegetables into crimped or winter-killed cover crops using NO-TILL. Dr. Elaine Ingham on the Soil Food Web.
Cattle will eat blackberry leave, and multi-flora, too. They may have to be trained to eat them. In the USA, cattle, and other livestock, have been coddled and fed to the point that they often have to re-learn how and what to eat. Multi-flora makes and excellent hedgerow or living fence, and once established, provides layers of nutritious forage. Horses pastured with goats or other animals that eat multi-flora rose will also learn to eat it. The hips are good for wildlife, they provide cover for wildlife, and the hips re also edible by humans. Though small, the flavor is good and they are a good source of Vit C. The leaves, flowers, and hips can all be eaten, or used as tea. Sheep will also readily eat these plants, if you can find sheep that have deep, wide bodies - not the extra long-legged, shallow gutted sheep that the show ring has pushed for the past 2 or 3 decades. Deep, wide bodies and shorter legs and an overall compact size are good traits to look for in grass-efficient livestock - cattle and goats as well as sheep.
@18:34 mulberry is light in color, but it fairly dense, comparable with some oaks. as a firewood, it generates a lot of joules/calories/BTU of heat per m^3, like persimmon.
Why not have 100' high chestnut trees? In addition to a nut crop, chestnut wood was a versitile and valuable lumber. Tall chestnut trees are a great overstory tree.
That is the goal! The American Chestnut Foundation (which can use your support!) and many nurseries are working to breed American Chestnuts to survive the chestnut blight which has decimated native populations of this iconic timber and nut tree. Chinese chestnut genetics are resistant to the blight and for that reason they are the main tree used in chestnut orchards.
Chinese chestnut trees only grow up to around 40-50 feet high and most of the American chestnut population has been wiped out by the blight. Only a small number of chestnuts have been found to be resistant of the American chestnut so many have been trying to multiple those numbers or just making Chinese/American hybrids, which probably still won't hit 100 feet tall.
@CovilleR I much more prefer the methodology of the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation. Their aim is to selectively breed blight-resistant all-American Chestnut trees. They began in the 1970s with two American Chestnuts that are survivors of the original blight, crossbreeding their young with other blight-resistant American Chestnuts, and back-crossing, etc. You can get seeds and seedlings from them, and even partner with them and contribute to their research by reporting on the blight-resistance of your trees when they come of age. There's no need for hybrids or GMOs (the TACF has funded the developmemt of a wholly unnecessary GMO Chestnut, and are distributing its pollen to members and wanting to introduce it into our native forests). American Chestnuts have the inherent ability of blight-resistance, they just needed help and selective breeding to get those genes to express themselves. Now, it's just a matter of getting those genes to be naturally dominant and expressive in all (or at least most) of the young, not just some.
I am VERY interested in doing this on our land. I have hard time finding someone in or close to Arkansas to help me with the process so if you know someone you can recommend, please let me know. I have basic understanding of permaculture, but the agroforestry is something else, but I really like the concept and it makes so much sense too
Sure we can. But traditional measurements had direct meaning to humans - and acre was the amount of ground a man could plow with a team of oxen in one day... a yard was arm-length, a foot was a foot (before people shrank after adopting grains and legumes as dietary staples).... etc. The metric system was devised to make life easier for scientists.
@@Jefferdaughter made for science, used for war....... the Metric system was used by the Germans before the First World War. There thought was if equipment and weapons were recovered on the battle field, by the enemy, they would have a terrible time trying to fix/maintain or use it. The French are credited with developing the metric system 120+ years earlier, in 1790.
@@Nightowl5454 Thanks for mentioning that. Math is not my strength so I was racking my brain out wondering if it was me...even after I check on google. Now, I feel better that it WASN'T me:))))
If anyone wants to use Black Locust for animal fodder then you have to be extremely careful because too much can be very toxic, especially if they eat the seeds.
Permaculture is simply utilizing more perennials in farming. It's main focus is typically in sustainability, but it's a broad, non-homogenous field. No one is flat-out against tilling, they are against harmful, habitual and unnecessary tilling.
