Permaculture use for WAY TOO MUCH sweet clover?

So, we are trying to decide what to do with this sweet clover. Do we mow it down or leave it up? Blown snow is a good source of water for our area so I want to collect it. I'm just not sure which method would be best. Fill in the crevices of the mowed down clover or have the non-mown clover stalks catching snow? Just not sure. Ideas? Picture of what we are dealing with here. About 30 acres of it.

A more in depth look.....

Seems like the standing clover would slow the wind down better than mowed clover (trees would be even better). If you slow the wind down, it will drop a load of snow. The standing clover would offer a little shade for the snow (trees would be even better). If you shade the snow, it is more likely to melt instead of sublime (evaporate). If you shade the snow, it melts slower, giving it time to soak in better instead of all running off.

Maybe mow in strips adjacent to the prevailing wind? Then the snow might build up in the strips and you would have a focused source of moisture. Better yet if it was on contour AND adjacent to the wind. They would be a little like standing sweet clover swales for grabbing up flying snow. Just an idea but, hey, 30 acres sounds like experimenting to me!

If the snow capture did work then those strips could be the foundations for future swales and hedge rows that could capture even more moisture!

I was thinking that this sounds like a great opportunity to do some experiments. section it off into different parts and try different things then in future years you will know the best ways for your land! i dunno how practical that is but it is what I was thinking.

Fred Tyler wrote:Seems like the standing clover would slow the wind down better than mowed clover (trees would be even better). If you slow the wind down, it will drop a load of snow. The standing clover would offer a little shade for the snow (trees would be even better). If you shade the snow, it is more likely to melt instead of sublime (evaporate). If you shade the snow, it melts slower, giving it time to soak in better instead of all running off.

We have 40 acres, full time jobs and kids. So we are doing it a bit at a time. We have 5 acres earthworked and planted out with trees. That is the ideal solution but I don't have the time or financial resources to do all 30 right now.



I think I'll do like several of you suggested and do an experiment with it. 5 acre parcels. Will let ya'll know how that turns out next year!