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Post by seedywen on Jul 10, 2011 16:36:08 GMT -5
HappySkunk posted a link back in 2010 to this website. scytheworks.ca/index.htmlSeems there's a resurgence of 'scythe culture'...in my relatively speaking, geographical backyard. I was taught scything technique by my 85 year old Russian immigrant neighbour, because that's basically what his community that emigrated from Russia to Western Canada circa 1910, used. He also let me borrow his homemade wooden hay-rake in 1982. I left the hay-rake at the side of my barn overnight after a day of raking. A wind whipped up and tossed that sucker into the field. Breaking or losing a number of the hand-whittled 'teeth'. Whoo-eeh! He was one mad neighbour! My husband and myself 'whittled' the replacement teeth, in timely fashion. To keep that particular piece of peace:) |
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Post by DiggingDogFarm on Jul 10, 2011 18:58:37 GMT -5
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Post by orflo on Jul 13, 2011 13:57:05 GMT -5
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Post by DiggingDogFarm on Jul 13, 2011 14:03:59 GMT -5
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Post by steev on Jul 13, 2011 22:48:15 GMT -5
Who would respect Death if he carried a weed-whacker?
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Post by seedywen on Jul 14, 2011 9:41:11 GMT -5
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Post by steev on Jul 14, 2011 13:54:26 GMT -5
Nothin' new under the sun; that cartoonist is obviously my good twin.
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Post by raymondo on Feb 24, 2014 15:10:09 GMT -5
My neighbour is keen to try some Fukuoka style gardening experiments and has enlisted my help. We'll fence off a couple patches (3m x 3m each) and spread different mixes of green manures starting with a mix that we know will winter kill. At about the time the first frost is due we'll sow winter hardy green manures. The neighbour is interested in finding out how effective this approach will be in preparing a garden bed over time. He has running grasses and I don't think he'll eliminate them with just repeated green manuring. I think Fukuoka already had fields growing things when he changed his farming style. Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens to the soil. It's cracking clay. After an eight month drought there are plenty of cracks for seeds to fall into so sowing should be easy!
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Post by flowerweaver on Feb 24, 2014 16:56:45 GMT -5
Ray, I tried to implement Fukuoka's no till method for several years, but for me it didn't work in my arid climate where I must irrigate or no food grows. I've planted tomatoes and three sisters among the native clump grasses and the grasses quickly overtook the crops. I spent a lot of time whacking it back. Perhaps if implemented over time it would work in a dryland situation, but if you need to feed yourself I find it has its limitations. At most I let nature do my composting, and I use green manures.
Now I keep a high biodiversity of native plants on the property, and I don't till the tall grasses with deep roots. Instead, I have a lot of small plots scattered about in short grass prairies where tilling isn't destroying a lot of root matter.
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Post by raymondo on Feb 25, 2014 19:58:27 GMT -5
The Fukuoka approach probably does have limited application in a number of climate zones and soil types. Fukuoka was on the island of Shikoku in southern Japan at around 33°N latitude, a fairly mountainous and dampish place so very different to the desert around you. Where I am has cracking clays, average annual rainfall of 800 mm (~31.5") with (usually) good summer rain but dry, frosty winters. It will be interesting to see how it works. I think his principles of agriculture are admirable, but perhaps not workable for everyone everywhere.
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Post by diane on Feb 25, 2014 20:54:36 GMT -5
Japan gets its rain in the summer - it was so odd to me to see green grass in the summer.
It is so dry in the winter that people dry fruit and vegetables outside then. ( I remember someone
who had fruit tied to his bike which he would wheel out to the road edge each morning)
These conditions are the exact opposite of mine.
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Post by steev on Feb 25, 2014 22:23:17 GMT -5
The environment is so variable, from place to place, as well as (increasingly) locally; one must pay attention, or risk being shaken out. It's an adventure, always. Were I living on my farm, I'd have no problem, whatsoever, feeding myself. Growing enough to make a living; that's a different kettle of fish. What I want, or am willing, to eat, isn't necessarily saleable. I don't see anyone selling Patience dock, salsify, or wild mustard, but they are all valuable to me.
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Post by MikeH on Feb 25, 2014 22:29:30 GMT -5
I think his principles of agriculture are admirable, but perhaps not workable for everyone everywhere. Yep, they didn't work for Emilia Hazelip until she tweaked them to her situation. She had to deal with gardens flooding so she went to raised beds. That meant disturbing the soil but only once at the beginning. After that, she basically was following Fukuoka sensei's natural farming approach. The challenge is to figure out how to obtain a yield - edible, medicinal, or other while disturbing nature, in particular the soil, as little as possible. |
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Post by flowerweaver on Feb 25, 2014 22:35:57 GMT -5
Ray, good luck with the project, it will be interesting for sure. I, too, admire Fukuoka and take what I can apply. We used to get about 22 inches of rain annually, but it's diminished to 11 inches the last three years. We didn't get our gentle winter rains, but there's still the hope of thunderheads dumping on us in spring. Unfortunately it's usually about a month after everything is planted out that I know whether there will be enough water.
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Post by steev on Feb 25, 2014 22:49:23 GMT -5
May the rain gods piss on you like a cow on a flat rock; I hope they do the same for me!
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