*idly wonders if there are people in the fediverse that talk about sustainable forestry and hobby tree farming of hardwoods*
@evanarchitective that all sounds great! We have some black locust on the property and have used it for stringers for boardwalks through the marsh. Really sturdy stuff. Heavy like lead though - I think it would sink to the bottom if we dropped it in the water. We've been promoting black walnut for long term timber, but I didn't know about mulberry. Will have to look that up. Wife hates what the walnuts do for her garden's soil. She'd also like to put in fruit trees someday…
@englishm I've seen walnut guild designs that include mulberry, hackberry, wolfberry, elderberry, eleagnus, currants, and even tomatoes / peppers / nightshades. Also, here's an article on black walnuts that includes a list of juglone-tolerant species: http://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-and-plant-advice/horticulture-care/plants-tolerant-black-walnut-toxicity
@evanarchitective I did know some about juglone tolerance already, but TIL: "guild designs" are a thing. Thanks!
We've so far mostly just taken a sustainable managed forest approach to promoting long term value timber trees on otherwise wild forest and wetlands, but the idea of studying and applying permaculture ideas really appeals to me. Are there others I should follow on here or elsewhere for more about this kind of stuff?
@englishm Yeah, you're super welcome! The idea of discovering/cultivating associations of species whose yields and/or resilience is increased by their interactions with one another is really kinda rad, I think.
I dunno, hashtags might help find more permaculture people on the fediverse...
Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway is a pretty good intro.
Permaculture: A Designer's Manual by Bill Mollison is classic and comprehensive.
@englishm I didn’t even know that hobby tree farming existed but that is really cool.
@Ghost yeah! Totally a thing. I just weirdly never thought to look online for other people doing it. Seems like this got quite a few re-toots. Not sure if that means lots of people are tree farmers or if they just like the idea and want to help me find my people, but either way, I'm grateful. :)
@englishm I hope you find them! I don’t think I will ever get land to do it, but it sounds fascinating.
@englishm oh wow, this kinda blew up.
@englishm nope but tell us more.
@englishm
some trees I'm excited about trying to grow in the near-ish future:
black locust and osage orange, best firewood/tool-handles/fence-posts, as pioneers and as part of mixed hedges/windbreaks
willows, living dendro-sculptures/weaving, on pond/chinampa edges
walnut, long-term staple, with mulberry as bird forage and to buffer walnut's allelopathy
chestnut, yummy carby long-term staple
also apples, cherries, plums, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots, pawpaws, because food is good