goodshephrd McCoy

Absolutely the grazing helps.  The ones I was cutting out were too big for the animals.  I don't know if the grazing would kill the young tree or not.  Maybe.  I think runners draw a lot of nutrients from the main tree. Didn't know they used the thorns for nails.  I wonder if the Indians used them for an arrowhead?

Hadn't thought about growing tea.  That's quite an idea.  Wonder if you could grow it in a big pot and move it into a barn in the winter.  We're right on the border of zone 5 and six.

If it's the same as the kind we have in Kansas the only good I know of is to make more work for me to eradicate it from the property.   Seriously, though, I have heard of it being used to make gun stocks.  Supposed to be quite beautiful.  And it makes excellent fire wood.  Puts off a lot of heat.  The longest thorns I have seen were close to six inches but I have seen some thornless trees on the property.  They spread by seed and by runners from the tree.  Runners travel quite far until another tree pops out of the ground.   One tree can very soon have a dense stand around it.  It survives our winters quite nicely--zone 5/6.  Goats and sheep will eat small trees and leaves they can reach and it seems to draw bees in the early summer.  Don't know about the nitrogen fixing.  My main complaint with them is the sharp thorn and spreading into areas I don't want them.  Please donate my seedling--if earned--to the charity of your choice.  As long as it's far from here.

Namenda and aricept and omeprazole and triam/hctz.  Thanks for the help.

If you market your product properly I don't think it needs to be certified organic.  I think people are starting to like putting a face to their food.  They know their banker, their doctor, their lawyer and accountant but most have no idea who produces the most important thing in their lives.  Once they see you are genuinely passionate about producing a wholesome product the organic certification becomes less important.  As for big ag versus the little guy I say "Why not both?"  I have no desire to produce food for people on the other side of the planet.  I don't have the acreage, the equipment or the economies of scale to do it and still make some kind of living.  But big ag does.   

Interesting pictures puffergas.  How many plants were in each box?  And did you clean up the potatoes in the pics or were they that clean when you harvested?

How much fiber can you get from a rabbit?  And how much does it take to make a small sweater for instance?  Or is it used more as a filler and insulation?

Burra--the nappy liner is in idea I'll have to look into.  Hadn't thought of that.  Soil--That's an idea I hadn't thought of either.  Would the maggots be safe for chickens to eat?  Mom does take a few meds--head and heart.

I had dorset cross ewes.  They are more of a meat breed so they didn't have as fine a wool.  Average fleece weighed about seven pounds.  It can be tough to find someone to shear the sheep.  Especially a small flock. And it costs about three dollars per head.  You can shear them yourself, though.  It's not hard once you get the hang of it.  I don't know about rabbits but I do know there is nothing more dangerous than an intelligent sheep.   BTW: how does one get the fur off a rabbit?

I planted millet or hybrid sudangrass for the sheep and goats to graze.  The sudangrass did not go dormant in the heat of the summer and produced lots of feed if it got a little rain.  Both millet and sudangrass will keep growing until a hard freeze.  Main thing is don't let stock graze until it's at least 18 inches tall.  Lower part of the plant can be toxic to animals.  Builds up prussic acid.  Don't remember if that is the correct name or not.