Strider wrote:

On Sat, 27 Dec 2003 22:30:07 -0800, Jim Dauven
wrote:

Strider wrote:


Sorry. It didn't connect.

Can the waste plant matter in your process be reused as animal feed or
fertilizer or does the process contaminate it somehow?

Strider


All waste material is valuable, you just have to find a use for
it.
The planting of alfalfa in wheat serves two purposes. One is
fertilization the other is animal feed harvested in late fall.

The alfalfa and wheat stubble provide cover and feed for pheasant
and quail which can be harvested in the fall with a shot gun.
Wheat stalks and chaff from the thrashing process is almost pure
cellulose and is perfect for making nitrocellulose which can be a
plastic or smokeless gun powder.

The planting of flax for flax seed and flaxseed oil (linseed oil)
is an ideal crop because the flax seed is a food source, linseed
oil can be used in preservatives, and the flax stalk is the source
of linen fiber for making long wearing clothes.

The vines from vegetables such as beans, peas and corn stalks
can be used for animal feed. Plants such as potatoes and tomatoes
are members of the nightshade family and can build up dangerous
alkaloids that are toxic. These plants should be used for
composting with animal dung.

With the no-till strategy of farming it is advisable to run a disk
harrow over the harvested land as soon as the food crop is
removed.
( I disagree with this where alfalfa and grain are planted
together) but for potatoes and tomatoes this chops the plants
up and turns them under into the soil to decompose. The been
and pea plants can be left laying in the field as cattle and
goats will readily eat them. Of course goats and cattle also
leave piles of fertilizer in the same fields.

What I am trying to do is take the old technologies of horse
drawn farming (which may be the only way to farm if there is
a collapse of the energy production and distributions systems)
coupled with the advances made in farm technology and organic
farming of today. Remember if the energy production and
distribution system fails, there will be no herbicides,
pesticides, fertilizers, and fuel for equipment.
That means that we will have to use natural fertilizers such
as animal dung and nitrogen fixing plants to a maximum extent.
The pesticides will have to be replaced by natural pesticides
such as the toxic Rapeseed oil, (You can buy that stuff at most
nurseries today as a house hold pesticide, and I am told it
makes a good insect repellent also). Planting Rapeseed around
the edges of a food crop will also discourage pests from
entering the food crop. (Rapeseed border will have to be 50 to
100 feet wide however).

While a lot of what I have been thinking and researching
is not really that economically feasible with today's
reliance on chemical, mechanized farming, if the crunch comes
it will provide a source of abundant food, fiber, leather,
and some fuel to start a rebuilding process.

Hell even in the advent of a major war in the middle east
when our oil supplies are shut down, the production of
biodiesel by individuals to run their own equipment will
be of a economic benefit. The excess fuel can then be
sold to energy companies. (I like the idea of Texaco
buying diesel from me)

The Independent






Have you calculated how much fuel it will take per acre to produce
Rapeseed?

Strider


--
Robert Sturgeon,
proud member of the vast right wing conspiracy
and the evil gun culture.