Daniel Hatfield

Corn wants lots of nitrogen, I would focus on designing a polyculture of fertility plants, heavy on taller nitrogen fixers you could easily cut down with your "V" for mulching the corn.  maybe one or two comfrey per row to accumulate other nutrients, and plant one fertility row per five rows of corn, as to have a nice solid block of corn, and the fertility plants wont take over the field.  I think tilling comfrey would spread it make sure to cut it down before it sets seed.

for furniture or fire?

Paw paw are delicious but apparently some people have an allergic reaction to them and the seed are supposed to be poisonous.  I have planted a few but they have yet to produce (only one was large enough to flower this past spring), so the only experience I have was with some I bought at a market, but they made great pancakes.  I've read that Native Americans used to mash the flesh into cakes and dry them to be eaten through the winter.  I'll do some experimenting once I have an abundance.  I do have an abundance of hickory nuts; shag bark, shell bark and pig nut, has anyone ever eaten these? do they require any leaching or roasting?

I think it was in Edible Forest Gardens vol 1 by Dave Jake that I read the native plants movement was supported but herbicide companies.  Which made sense because several of the native plant websites I had looked at recommended repeated herbicide treatments to clear the way for native plantings.... never a good idea!  Once again a giant corporate scam to exploit a niche market, which would also explain any bad mouthing of permaculture while leaving agribusiness unmentioned.  It is amazingly sad what someone will preach for a few dollars.

love it. I asked because my current situation is not settled enough to get goats yet, but am over run by wild deer and wanted to see what kind of humor was out there in the permie world.

Anyone know how to milk a wild deer?
love to all

Recently at a wild edibles workshop when we came across some mullein, the instructor said it is a dynamic accumulator, great expectorant when smoked, and the dry stem is hard enough to use as a fire drill. I have some drying to smoke now will let you know.  There is a quarry near my house covered in mullein so it must be able to digest nutrients out of rock and make them available for other plants.  One is one its second year near my compost and i use the lower leaves to wipe off my tools then throw them in the compost. 

I wipe with old newspapers.
Cheers

I split pine into kindling at the advice of a neighbor, one small piece is usually enough to get large oak chunks going and is not going to gunk up the chimney. In the spring and fall I burn ash and red maple(swamp maple), which are both soft, because we only need a little heat. Ash burns great green, even with the damper closed, were the maple wont burn at all unless seasoned.  The first year we put in the stove I bought a cord of "seasoned hardwoods" but within a short amount of time I realized it was pretty green and there was a bit of hemlock, the hemlock would put the stove out every time I closed the damper.  But my same neighbor said it burns if its totally dry. 

In "The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants" by Samuel Thayer he has a chapter on how to prepare black locust for human consumption.

Also honeylocust - Gleditsia triacanthos L. does NOT fix nitrogen according to USDA and other sources
black locust - Robinia pseudoacacia does, totally different genus.

Honey locust seed is also supposed to be edible buy humans but I've not tried it.

Hey all brilliant discussion. My thoughts.

Anyone who burns wood for heat in temperate zones should make a point of damping down the stove and allowing enough ash to build up that there are small yet frequent bits of char.  It would be foolish not to add this to your do do or what have you and spread around our land to feed this to the soil for eternity.  When ash and bits of char are added to the mulch the ash leaches away quickly to the roots of the plants while the char will become bio-char in the top dressing were it will not compete with deep rooted crops, while absorbing nutrients all year round.

Moderation is always key.

Especially when adding wood ash. Remember Fukuoka said he stopped using it because it maid the spiders go away. I've noticed worms detest it too, and a ring of wood ashes can keep slugs away from plants, wile making them grow like mad.  We know it raises the ph of the soil, which is better then importing lime. But I wouldn't cover fields with either.  And be sure to add some greens because there is no N in wood ashes.

As far as charged up bio char, If you need to double dig (so you need not till again) why not add a little to the sub layers if none is present. After all natural forces set bigger fires then we throughout history and before. Nature is constantly adding char to the soil, I frequently pass a burnt out gap were most of the charred trees are still standing, over the years all that char is absorbing nutrients from the rainfall and bird do and all other life activity around the spot before even hitting the ground. Now the site is full of shrubs, young trees and still many herbaceous plants among the standing dead.
We mimicked nature when burning, in the past because we found burn sites full of edible fruit and veg.
But i don't think anyone should be burning old growth to till corn fields. Maybe in a hundred years of proper management we might start clearing sites making char on site and planning the succession for peek productivity.  But right now we have to much damaged soil to heal and trucking in bio char or anything else is wrong.  Just plant the right seeds step back and let her do it.

When considering the removal of aerial fuel loads from forests ripe to burn. If you have the will to turn it into bio-char, I think a few pounds in the naturally occurring pits or small dug pits (with the corresponding mound planted with nitrogen fixers and dynamic accumulator understory species) covered with leaves and maybe some do do in the rainy season, would not be to disturbing, or pose a ground fire risk, but would hold lots of moisture and nutrients.  Eventual the tree roots and there mycorize would be in there digesting away.  And build a few morel beds.  Wouldn't that be awesome.

Good luck to you all