"Chookie" wrote in message
...

OK, I'd say not permies, just idiots.

i found that their records didn't leave much that was useful in terms of
their "permaculture" orientation. :-)

I would guess they had never kept
chooks before and didn't know they needed care at least once a day (eggs,
food, water) -- this is usually mentioned specifically in the pc books I
have
read. Therefore, you want the chooks close, but not too close, to the
house
(and water tap and feed bins).

Close planting of (productive) trees is the cardinal sign of the novice.
Note
that in some cases people plant wattles and similar as "nursemaids"
(dappled
shade for slower-growing productive trees, and if these were left to grow
instead of being removed once the saplings were bigger, you'd end up with
a
jungle. The years of neglect might account for part of what you are
seeing.
Could the fig or hazel be self-sown, for example?

well i don't think so, but i don't know. certainly others strongly appear to
have been planted 2-3m apart round the yard. these two are just unusually
close. (the fig is doing very badly - it only recently stopped looking like
a pile of sticks & revealed itself as a fig ;-) but we will try to move it.

The 100m of jonquils might have been an earlier planting -- it certainly
doesn't sound like something a permie would do. What was the history of
the property? Was there a house on it 100 years ago?

there might have been 100 years ago but certainly later. there are old
foundations etc. however, the line of jonquils is mentioned in their
records. shall i refresh my memory of what it was purportedlly for & let you
know? (there's actually another shorter line of jonquils too).
kylie