The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: nancyscho on October 23, 2009, 10:01:43 am
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I appreciate the welcome - many thanks.
My first question is.
We have two marshy fields which get wet during the winter also a bog and have been thinking that perhaps they may not be suitable for putting pigs on, we also have a strip of woodland planted with mature fir trees and our worry there is, would pigs dig down and undermine the root system. I would be grateful if anyone has experience of either of these situations and could give advice.
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Hello!!! thinking about it, pigs certainly make the ground boggy!!!!! well, I suppose ducks chickens etc do thier fair share of mud making too!!!! no wounder they used to put pigs in the farm yards on hard bases!!!!! Welcome
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Permanently marshy ground is not good for pigs unless they have a good sized dry area. They will dig for and eat the roots of the fir trees.
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Forget the pigs, plant eucalyptus gunnii for firewood. 5 year rotation, will grow in wet conditions, cut and come again.
Go with the flow !
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That's very interesting, but it would depend on how easy it would be for us to harvest it. We use heaps of wood on our 2 wood burners and a multifuel rayburn.
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following on from Polly's suggestion of eucalyptus, what about growing willow? Burns easily, fast growing, used by some electricity producers, easy enough to harvest.
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As an aside - do willow roots drink the ground dry like other trees? My friend has a waterlogged garden above her house and it is totally unusable. I thought willow round the fence might work - if I'm right anyone know where to get willow shoots for her(and possibly me too as I have a water problem too) in Central Scotland
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We have willow ;D LOTS of willow ;)
It's great for wet ground and grows so easily from cuttings - just push in into the ground and wait (tho not for long as it gets going pretty quick)
I will double check cutting/planting times with my Dad (the resident tree hugger ;)) and if this is the right time of year I can bring some to the meet up on the 7th.
Is that of any help Annie ?
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Yes, that sounds great - but would I not be better just driving down for them - I'll be on the train from Alloa on the 7th! Not sure they'd let me on with a bunch of willow!
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The bits are generally about 6 inches long and roughly the thickness of a pencil, so will easily fit into a bag. But if you want to come and visit the madhouse (and bring the dogs for a run in the woods ;)) you are more than welcome ;D
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Might just do that sometime. Thanks for PM. See you 7th Off to check puppies now.
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If you think of growing willow, there is a market out there for the sale of willow to basket weavers. I had great difficulty in purchasing the stuff and ended up getting it from Kent or somewhere down south (I'm in the Midlands). So could be a money earner. Ros :chook: :cat:
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I know somewhere in Uk it is grown and sold to the electricity board. Might be worth googling for.
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What do the electricity board do with it? Burn it to make electricity? We do it with water in Scotland ;) ;D ;D ;D
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Yes I think its chopped into small pieces and burned. Odd really burning trees to produce electricity to heat homes etc.
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The power station here in Scotland do burn wood and also s**t!!! they call it "biomass!!"
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Isn't that just typical! I think that is the height of nonsense when we have so much water around. It is free! It is in abundance! It is a source of destruction unless harnessed! It causes untold fear, damage and heartbreak! So why can't they catch it and use it's power to create the electricity we need instead of burning stuff. OMG I'm beginning to sound like Rusty! ::)
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Isn't that just typical! I think that is the height of nonsense when we have so much water around. It is free! It is in abundance! It is a source of destruction unless harnessed! It causes untold fear, damage and heartbreak! So why can't they catch it and use it's power to create the electricity we need instead of burning stuff.
Now that would be too sensible ...... and cheaper ??? so of course not
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If you plant Willow - any of that family of trees - be careful not to get them near drains as their roots 'find' water and will almost certainly block drains within 10m.
I think the industrial production of Willow for fuel plants them in rows about 1m apart and keeps them cut once the stems get 2-2.5m high producing an effect like a coppiced Hazel - all small stems.
You have to keep on top of Willow in bulk or it will take over!
Birch trees grow quickly, can tolerate damp soil and are very pretty but the wood isn't much use as it's too soft and doesn't make good fuel.
As alternatives, Hazel has advantages (nuts!) and traditionally Ash was grown as fuel (hence the name). It produces a good tree for coppicing. I've got about 15 in the hedge on one side of my land. The trunks grow up about 8-10m when they are around 15cm diameter and ideal for logs. You can split the logs to make palings for fences or similar so the wood has other uses. It's fairly quick growing so I can re-coppice each stump every 5-6 years.
Willow can grow in very wet soil but if you get on top of this with better drainage plus the drying effect of the Willow, you can then plant other trees like Hazel and Ash and they will do well.
NN
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I'm hoping the willow will help me. The half acre of grass at the front of the house is well under water a lot of the winter as we are quite a bit below the rest of the village, and next to a burn that comes to the top of the bank if there is a lot of rain, but is just a trickle in the summer. I have one large drain pipe that pumps effluent from my house up to the main drain on the road at the other side of the railway line so I'll keep them well away from that. I helped my neighbour up North build a willow house for her children with cuttings from the willow hedge they had planted along the stream. We found it had invaded all their and my field drains and blocked them so I now know the risks. Are there any other trees that would help take the surplus water away from the grass?
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Me and Steve have just ordered loads more stones from Beastons!!!
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I'm thinking of using some willow too, we have a clay soil and its so wet just now its horrible :(
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Beth, speak to Karen Happy Hippy - I'm getting some from her on 7th December. She's not far away, maybe she could get some for you too? By the way, thank you so much for the goat's milk - we all love it!
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Glad to hear it- do you want some more on Tuesday? Will speak to Karen, I have been trying to get a hedge going for the past two years of Hawthorn and beech, and its just not doing very well. Hopefully willow would do better. Also, the hedge was planned to be one that would be edible for the goats, so willow is fine for that.
Beth
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Don't need any more milk meantime - still have a couple of the big bottle left in the freezer. Maybe week after?
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Dog training finishes next week- last week until January. May pop over and see you (and the puppies) though.
Beth
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Sorry, forgot! Will be there! You're very welcome to come over any time.
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doganjo try poplars. Used all over here in Brittany for drainage purposes. Make very very fast growing trees. Can be cut down and will regrow again from stump.