posted 13 years ago
Dear Toby,
In Gaia's Garden, you don't talk much about cereal grains, aside from some of the perennials (ryegrass). However, in the north country and in the winter when our birdies cannot rely so much on insects for their protein and when they need that energy boost, stored cereal grains are key to producing eggs or putting on weight (broilers). However, cereal grains are not very conducive to growing and harvesting in the context of edible forest guilds, especially if one wants to use small-scale grain harvesting equipment (some of which is produced, apparently, in Europe). Have you given much thought to how small-scale cereal grain production can fit into the edible food forest garden? If so, can you share some thoughts on that? Thanks!
BTW, your book is hands-down one of the best guides to edible food forests that I've come across, and I've read plenty of them (including the great books _Designer's Manual_, Mollisen, _Edible Forest Gardens_, Jacke, and other great books, _Creating your own oasis_... so many more).
Happy photosynthesizing! Rick Freeman
