Subject: Re: Strip crops and poultry

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 07:19:41 -0400 (EDT)

Re:  Dan Settles post.  

In the 1940s it was standard to run poultry or, more commonly, pigs, in
stockyards, which is more or less what Dan is describing, though with less
crowding.  

The ducks will be ok to eat but you have to cook them.  I'd look into the
matter more in tropical countries where ducks are  disease vectors.  

Ducks won't work for us because they will head for the water and the
alligators will eat them.  Turkeys are probably a better companion for cattle
as they are less subject to predators from the sky, though they have to be
rounded up every night. Turkeys don'tget big enough that an owl can't fly off
with one and of course foxes and racoons are all over the place.  

It happens that we have, or rather the steer has, egrets who keep him company
and keep insects down.  I don't think that they deliberately eat vegetable
matter and of course they eat a lot of our sacred frogs, too, but they
probably help us more than they hinder.  For this role, they are rightly
protected under Florida law. Even if they were a minor nuisance, eating more
frogs and less insects, they are so damn beautiful, especially at sundown
when they gather in soaring spiral patterns, silver against the pink and
orange sky, with the green of the water lilly pads darkening --  god, I can't
wait for dawn now to get out there again.

Lots of combinations work.  Beware of making so much soil bare unless you
have plans to plant it.  I mulch even the small bare spots where the steer
likes down--I think his urine kills everything.  Bare soil is
anti-permaculture, except as a very brief transitional phase.

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
courses via email.  Next starts in Oct. 1997. Internships available.
Copyright, 1997, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, Sparr FL 32192 USA
 [email-masked]  

We don't have time to rush.

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From: Daniel Lee Settles <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 09:11:26 -0400 (EDT)

On Tue, 14 Oct 1997 [email-masked] wrote:

> Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 07:19:41 -0400 (EDT)
> From: [email-masked]
> To: [email-masked]
> Subject: Re: Strip crops and poultry
> 
> Re:  Dan Settles post.  
> 

Yes, I was planning on cooking them.  I don't think I'd care to try raw 
duck, even though your alligators probably like them. 

> with one and of course foxes and racoons are all over the place.  

Fortunately, we don't have to be concerned with alligators, but there are 
plenty of stray dogs, racoons, bobcats, owls, hawks and other wild things 
that would like to snack on our ducks.  The only reason we can manage things 
as we have is due to our livestock guardian dog, Sultan.  He lives with 
our animals and in the 6 months that we have had him we have not lost a 
single animal to predators.  I don't think I've read any permaculture 
books that mentioned these dogs, but I think they could be an excellent 
addition to many permaculture systems that utilize livestock. 

> wait for dawn now to get out there again.
That sounds beautiful.  We have a blue heron that visits our pond most 
days to do a little fishing.  I really enjoy watching it fly off into the 
sunset in the evening.  

Dan Settles

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From: Daniel Lee Settles <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 09:11:26 -0400 (EDT)

Dan Settles