Benjamin Hiatt

Here is something interesting... The Maya had food forests in which grew everything except corn, squash, and beans. So they obviously grew one of the most light loving plants I know of.. tomatoes. These food forests were known as pet - kot, because of the loose wall of stones around them. These stones I believe were used to increase light levels. For one thing they were not mortared, just stacked on top of each other, in a circle. As well they were only 2 - 3 feet tall. Not tall enough to keep anything out of the garden. And, if it were to mark land why not make the wall smaller? Or even Mortared. Circles are great for reflecting light back on things. Furthermore, the most common stone in the Yucatan Peninsula used by the Maya is Limestone. Limestone is not only white, but it also sometimes contains shiny crystals. The perfect stone for reflecting light back on to the under story, and in the perfect arrangement to receive light and reflect it back at the "under story." Plus the Mayas didn't worship any crops or consider pet - kot sacred, like they thought corn was. So, to me the only logical explanation for the wall of loose stones surrounding their forest gardens was to increase light levels within their food forests, or pet - kot. (pet - kot actually means, wall of loose stones, and they referred to their food forests as "pet - kot".)

Hi, I've heard that it comes from Germany, (which you probably already guessed,) and that some Germans long ago were clearing a field and they noticed all of their excess wood and they wondered what to do with it, seeing as how Germans don't like to waste anything and always find a purpose for everything. (Trust me I have very strong German heritage.) And so time went on and they noticed that the forest's soil looked better than some of the older fields soil. So, they inspected the forests soil, and noticed that it has at lot wood in it, so a few eurekas later you have Hugelkultur.

I don't know about bagged leaves, but you could try to collect nuts like acorns or hickories as fodder.

Well, one idea is that you could have a horse mow your yard, and maybe train it to defecate in your garden or compost pile. You could also use it manure for biogas. And one thing my grandfather was interested in, but never got to do was to have a large horse, (like a Belgian, which are "gentle giants") turn a large wheel to generate power, or pump water. Although I don't know how well that would work out, or how efficient that would be.

I recently watched a video about Sepp Holzers' Bone sauce, unfortunately there aren't many threads or topics about this. According to the video it sounds like it could be a universal insect repellent. So, here are a couple of questions. 1. If you were to slather some on a fruit tree, would it repel the pesky insects. But, would it repel birds. 2. Could it repel the emerald ash borer, or EAB if you were to put it on the trunk of an ash tree, or coppice. And finally, could it keep raccoon away. I'm just curious because I couldn't find anything about this, and anything would be really helpful.

I have a feeling people who have a Food Forest, and Perennial based diet eat a lot of salads. But I have a question, I guess you could say I have an "average" American diet, or a "conventional" diet where most of the plants in my diet are annuals, like potatoes and tomatoes, and I eat very few nuts. Suppose hypothetically, I went on a perrenial, and forest - based diet, would I be miserable and hate it until I got used to it? Or would there be way to integrate, or combine both eating styles, so I have the best of both culinary worlds?

I've kind of wondering about a big obstacel with forest gardens. I've heard the density of trees in a food forest from being like woodland, to a well - spaced Orchard. However, I've also seen Food Forest with patches in it that look almost like "meadows" for plants that need full sunlight. But, before I can really ask my question I have to set a pretext. I (personally) consider a food forest to be a well - spaced orchard with plants planted within it following the 7 - layer system. So, I think that a food forest recieves partial light, but some plants like tomatoes want full sun. I've heard solutions such as adding patches like meadows in it, as well as growing full - light plants along trails where there's sun, and even planting full sun plants near ponds. One thing that I am wondering is if you surrounded your full sun pants with Zebra stripes, black to attract to the vicinity, and white to bounce it back at the plant. So, any suggestions as how to increase light levels? Really anything at all would help.

I don't know; a very popular system in permaculture as a means of producing produce is food forests, and in many of those you can't exactly grow "normal" food.

Here's an interesting question once hugelkuter ( I think that's spelled right ) is fully decomposed, and offers no more benefits, how "re do" the hugelkuter?

Thanks Dan that was just a plan I haven't done it yet.