Brian Cady

I'm really excited about the just-linked review article,( the one I couldn't find before) because it has species-by-species ratings of survival and success of the plantings there in Kilmun.

Brian

I found the link to the Kilmun retrospective review: http://37.97.130.228/~adm0rsfs/images/journal1947-2005/53/530407.pdf

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:

Favism is pretty common among beans... The poison is deactivated by intense cooking. Some people have run into problems with favism when using slow-cookers to cook kidney beans for example. I definitely wouldn't eat fava greens raw. And I have determined that I'm not going to sell fava greens, pods, or shellies at the farmer's market. Seems too risky to ask people to be prudent.

Joseph, I fear that you (or I) misunderstand favism. As I understand it, favism is something that humans have, not an attribute of fava beans, and intense cooking of fava beans will not protect the humans who suffer from favism who eat them. There's more on this at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucose-6-phosphate_dehydrogenase_deficiency

Hope this helps.

Brian

J Grouwstra wrote:I didn't even know there were trees growing in Iceland!

I did manage to find the journal you were trying to link to, by going to the main page of the Royal Scottish Forestry Society, then press the 'Journal' tab, then use the search function - I searched for 'Kilmun', and then it's result nr. 37. I don't know why direct linking doesn't work.

From USA, I can't get the journal page at rsfs.org/journal to work here. There may be more than one entry on Kilmun; the 1999 Mason Cairn and Tracy article in issue 53, volume 4, reviews results in detail.

Here's an Icelandic forestry introduction video:  
Not much detail, but encouraging results in a cold, wet, windy clime.

Brian

Across the Firth of Clyde from Glasgow, near Dunoon, is Kilmun, where many trees were trialled in little plantations many decades ago, starting in the 1930s. See More Here
There's a report of which did well, with ratings from 1 to 3 of an enormous number of tree species from cold, wet, windy spots around the world:
Report
Some of the results surprised me.
It might guide cool maritime tree plantings, in Koppen climate code ET/Dfc/Cfc climates.
EDIT: that report isn't the one with the 1 to 3 ratings, sorry. I'm still searching...I think this is the one, but the server's down now:  http://www.rsfs.org/images/journal1947-2005/53/530407.pdf
Brian

I've heard of making very rat-resistant concrete with cement and broken glass.

r ranson wrote:It's amazing what you can find by looking.

Today I was walking my new field, checking up on my fall rye which is nearly as tall as my big toe.  When suddenly, next to the fence, something caught my eye.

R Ranson, I'm interested in getting some of that grain. I hope to grow it in  a place with wet early Autumns, where Spring is drier, and I will pay for a packet of it and shipping.

Bangladeshi floating gardens:
Not quite sure these belong here, but they're similar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JatsIs73RA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK_qTm2pUsw
This one's not in english, but has inspiring images:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktzkGqvWnUE

Scott Fike wrote:     ...why can Oxen get away with such a simple harness system whereas Horses and Mules cannot?
Thank you

I don't know. I think I've heard that with a harness instead of a yoke, oxen can pull more, and get less tired. Interesting question.

Brian