Kabir424 Hatfield

backyardfarmer wrote:
I recently heard Paul speak on The Survival Podcast and he is definately AGAINST using newspaper or cardboard in the garden (or any horticulture project, as he stated). Paul, rhetorically, asked the listeners if they would "drink the soy based ink used on newspapers?" (it would kill you). So, why use it in the garden?

I have been hauling home cardboard from work and saving newspaper for a year in anticipation of starting a so-called 'lasangna' garden this year. Hmmm, but now I seem to be SOL regarding a weed barrier.....

Anyone have thoughts on this? Any thoughts on an inexpensive alternative to cardboard/newspapers?


Thanks......

I put lots of things in my soil/on my plants that I wouldn't drink. Fish emulsion comes to mind. Neem oil would be another thing.

Don't worry about it. Any sort of mulching material you would buy is probably processed as well and it would cost you money.

Loose mulch like wood chips and straw are great except that they can still let certain persistent weeds through. Cardboard and newspaper are wonderful in that they can very securely block some tenacious weeds.

I have never heard of fermented rice husk cob. However, I have heard of using a litema (pronounced dee-tay-ma) dung plaster that has been fermented. Apparently this binds the dung to the clay quite well and it creates a very smooth consistency that makes it easy to apply. It also helps with its water resistance and durability.

I am glad that Joel Salatin has reversed his perspective on employing women. I have a friend that applied there years ago to apprentice and he refused her and basically told her that he doesn't hire women as apprentices because they can't physically do what men can do. If you look at the photo below you can see how many women apprentices he has had between 1995 and 2005.

http://www.polyfacefarms.com/apprentice.aspx

Now he has some women in positions and I am very glad to see the shift.

Btw, my friend definitely did not fit the stereotype of women not being as strong as men. She played college rugby and could have trashed me at anytime if she felt like it. She could work harder and longer than anyone else on the farm that I worked at.

My father works at Warren Wilson College and I can highly recommend that school for permaculture kinds of stuff. If you are vegetarian/vegan they have a whole floor in their dining area devoted to vegetarians and vegans known as the "Cow Pie". They are also the Southeastern Mecca for contradancing where they will regularly have 200 people show up on a Thursday night for contra.

You also might want to check out the University of Indiana in Bloomington. That's where the Permaculture Activist magazine is now based out of. They moved it there after it had been in Black Mountain, NC(5 mins. away from Warren Wilson) for over a decade. Keith Johnson who is one of the editors for the Permaculture Activist heads this up.
http://www.indiana.edu/~llc/academics/permaculture.shtml

I have made a couple of test bricks with them and from what I can tell they work "ok". I have concerns about them because they have a waxy coating and they get decently brittle when dry. They are also kind of short so they wouldn't work as well as some long straw. They would work better for plasters where you are chopping straw anyways. But, I still have concerns about their becoming brittle and their waxy coating forming a poor key.

You really should read his book "Wild Fermentation". Very fun to read and so much great info.

So, we got very off topic in a discussion about Russian Permaculture and ending up talking about the pros and cons of communism. This is where we should cordially, respectfully, and comically discuss communism. Have at ye.

If you want any vegetation to grow there then you will have their little roots growing through your packed trench. If you don't want any vegetation growing there then you will be constantly fighting a losing battle of water erosion. You can't have both. Either way the packed drain fails as an impermeable form to transfer water.

The seeping from the edges of the drain would be negligible unless you have extremely permeable soil. If that is the case though then you have bigger problems than water seeping in.

You are exactly right. And the same is true for your packed trench or for your paul/french drain. It's just that the french drain with a pipe can handle greater loads of water than either of those in a more controlled fashion(with the exception, in certain situations, of a well built packed trench with good vegetation). But, with that same packed trench you would actually have more water infiltration because of the fact that the plants would create lots and lots of little holes in your packed trench for water to infiltrate down. The french drain does not have this vegetation and thus is superior.

Edit: Please look at my modification of your "packed trench" diagram, about 4 posts up, to show you where the water will infiltrate.