Re: RE: Ethics? [Online Permaculture Course: File: Ethics Note

sal schettino (sals@rain.org)
Sat, 01 Feb 1997 18:45:14 +0000

Thanks does Buckwheat, need to be watered or can I grow it free in the
winter here. My friend has a cart he pulls his chickens around. the
friend I told you about that has cows between his rows of fruit trees. And
now the chickens follow the cows when he moves the cows to another row the
chickens walk with the cows and seem happy to move with them. and the
chicken cart (house)moves along too. I can just see the chickens
following your water buffalo at your place. Also maybe kiwi may be a good
idea for your temp. Dan. and thanks for all the great ideas on growing
grain and letting the chickens do the work. >
>Chickens love to eat any grain--they are all easy to grow if you just cut
>them and harvest the grain stalk and all--no threshing, no winnowing, use
>them for mulch or littler in the chicken coop and let the chicens do the
>work. I'm talking true grains or cereal grains here. Buckwheat, a seed crop
>but not a grain (from gramin--- something or other Lating root for
>grass/grain), is a lovely forage crop for poulty. Theat the greens (so do
>I!) or the seed and it is a great biological control crop when in flower as
>it feeds adult stages of "beneficial" insects (unless you happen to be one of
>the little guys who gets a voracious egg laid inside him).
>
>If you screw up the timing to get everything out of your enclosure at the
>same time, or nature messes you up similiarly, you can fill in with
>buckwheat, grows very fast, while waiting to finish the later crops. This
>will be extra feed for the chickens at any stage of growth and you get greens
>for yourself, buckwheat grains (I pick them like blueberries which I find
>easier than cutting or threshing after frost has killed the leaves), etc.
>
>The thing chickens like best to eat is invertebrates and I did mention how to
>grow them. Deep mulch. If you have a slug and/or snail problem, throw in a
>few ducks to educate the chickens. Duck eggs are great.
>
>For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
>1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
>consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now correspondence
>permaculture training by email. Copyright, 1996, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O.
>Box 2052, Ocala FL 34478 USA YankeePerm@aol.com
>
>We don't have time to rush.
>
>
>