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Post by shoshannah on Aug 22, 2016 20:56:00 GMT -5
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Post by walt on Sept 12, 2016 15:41:37 GMT -5
I lived 3 years in Rep. du Niger, west Africa. Sorghum (milo to Americans) and pearl millet are the staples and were domesticated in that general area. So were cowpeas. So those are the native and very well adapted crops. The traditional, and still used, way to farm is to go out with your hoe in May when the rains are due. They dig a hole about 6" wide and a couple inches deep and throw in the seeds. Cover the seeds and wait for the rains. Why work the field if you aren't sure the rains will come this year? The planting holes are about 6", 2 m. apart each direction. If the rains come and the seeds sprout, then they will go out with their hoe and work another 6' wide ring around the origional hole. That makes the the worked circle around each seeded spot about 18' 1/2 M. wide. When the sorghum or millet get about 10' tall 25 cm tall. Then they decide there is a chance there will be a crop, and they go out and hoe the rest of the field. About 20 years ago, I moved to a home where there had never ever been a garden. It was planting time, so I dug holes like the Nigeriens did and planted corn, beans, and squash. I had no tiller, not much time outside my new job, and I needed food. When the seeds were up, I started digging a spades-width wide around each planting hole. As soon as I was finished with one added spade width, I started another. Finally my worked rings were touching, and I could work the remaining area. I got a good crop. The hard part was keeping the soil working ahead of the sqaush vines.
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Post by steev on Sept 12, 2016 19:56:05 GMT -5
I did somewhat analogous in a yard, using only a shovel and a trowel; I'd dig a 1 cubic foot hole, put in the weeds that had been there, followed by whatever kitchen waste there was, and return the soil; when next I had time, I'd repeat the process in an adjoining cubic foot; whenever the "tilled" space suited, depending on the season, I'd plant it; I continued that until the whole back-yard was dug, amended, and productive, re-doing any space where something was finished. It was sort of "square-foot gardening" on steroids and remarkably productive.
It was sweet to be able to gather "salad" and sweet corn (in season); spark up the hibachi; fix the salad and shuck the corn; put on some meat; grill the corn; eat on the "patio", surrounded by the garden; there was a high clothesline which was perfect for a chayote-vine.
All this half a block off one of thoroughly-urbanized Oakland's main drags (Highway 580, before it was re-directed and raised, killing all the motels along the old urban highway, which were bought cheap by Patels and turned into half-way houses for paroled felons and no-tell motels; I'm talking 3-5 women on every corner, 24-7, in hot-pants and high-heel sneakers; one of Oakland's designated "free-enterprise" zones. At the time, I was a graveyard-shift cabbie with day-time free to garden. Oakland was a gritty place with the best weather in the SF Bay Area and a bad reputation.
Forty years later, it's getting gentrified and "urban gardening" is officially a "thing"; when I was a graveyard cabbie, come dawn, you could hear chickens and ducks all over town; it wasn't "trendy", just real life. These days, one can buy a place in a week-end class in gardening, poultry-keeping, bee-keeping, canning, pickling, whatever; it's a good thing; people are learning that they can DO, as opposed to BUY. I'm encouraged about the younger generation and the values/activities they're teaching their children.
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Post by shoshannah on Sept 12, 2016 21:06:24 GMT -5
I was a suburban back to the earth person. Big movement in the early 70's. Didn't have any animals. Did the garden, fruit trees, canning, sewed my own clothes.
Did crochet, knitting, embroidery, quilting. Cooked everything from scratch. We were closer to the earth in Montana. Did more foraging, cut wood, shoveled tons of snow,
shot deer and other game, butchered pigs, My husbands idea of butchering a pig was to slice them up with a band saw starting with the hoof cutting all into chops until
he reaches the other hoof. I laughed so hard because there was a piggy pink ring of greasy pig in our kitchen.
Had to get rid of cranky skunks under the cabin. I used to bury my veggie scraps the same way as Steev. I liked the hand howing over the rototiller.
I liked digging the Intensive Chinese raised beds. I'm quite content using low tech/low cost method gardening. I am hoping to do more experimentation next year.
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Post by steev on Sept 12, 2016 23:16:01 GMT -5
The secret is the soil; if you build great soil, you can nearly till it with your hands; not saying you'd want to, only that you could, in a pinch.
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Post by shoshannah on Sept 24, 2016 17:20:58 GMT -5
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