Working with nature sometimes mean construe resolution or opportunities where others would see landscape problem . This is the intentional practice session of permaculture gardener , wild - food for thought foragers and non - timber timber mathematical product harvesters .
At a recent panel give-and-take at theUniversity of Kentucky , forest - based teachers share ways that Mother Nature provides opportunities . We just need to look beyond seeing a landscape trouble to work in harmoniousness with her .
Problem: Weedy Trees
Opportunity: Tap Their Sweet Potential for Syrup
Box elders , bread maple , eloquent maple and red maples sprout up all over the edge of farm in the bluegrass region . the great unwashed have school the land for century by fighting off its natural inclination toward reforestation , creating what some see as a landscape painting job .
Maples of all sorts hold a sugary commodity within that is simple to extract without harm the tree . sirup productionwas once a homesteading keystone , and yet extension and forestry federal agent are quick to recommend clearing out weedy Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree to make outer space for crops .
Seth Long and the Kentucky Maple Syrup Association recognize that it ’s not a product the South is known for . The mood is correct ( for now ) , with the necessary freeze - thaw cycles join forces from January into early March this twelvemonth .
Long ’s first year of maple tapping used 100 tree . Three years later , he has 270 trees in production , with a potential of 500 that he ’ll rotate through each year .
Problem: Steep Slopes
Opportunity: Let Gravity Work in Your Favor
Seth Long and his family accepted the fact that they would have to cart 50 to 70 congius of watery sap to make one gallon of sirup . But stuff buckets up and down 60 - arcdegree slopes was a limiting factor in their production process .
With a new tubing organization bond to the taps on the trees run down to the “ clams hut ” at the bottom of the hill , gravity drastically reduces the labor ask .
In summation , the instinctive vacuity create by the tube system increase Long ’s take by 300 percent . They also becharm the water that is removed from the saphead by using a reverse osmosis motorcar to sue it .
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This reduce the heat and fuel costs , increases the bread subject matter , and the by - product is purify water that can be bottle and sold .
Problem: Mismanaged Forests
Opportunity: Use the Extra Trees to Cultivate Mushrooms
Jack Stickney has been raise Chinese black mushroom and other cultivate mushrooms for a few decades .
As a professional geologist , he has an intimate noesis of his 140 acres near the scenic Red River , and he has won awards for his dry land stewardship and sustainable cattle management .
However , he had a landscape trouble . The forested surface area of his property were overgrown and their health was ache .
With timberland tie-up improvement , he aims to improve the character of the trees and reduce the quantity . The answer ? A excess of freshly cut down hardwood logs , particularly oaks , that are pure for shiitake vaccination .
Stickney claim that “ Kentucky should be the mushroom-shaped cloud capital of the man ” because of the copiousness of hazardous mushrooms in the forest and the surplus of woody medium for cultivated varieties .
In Eastern Kentucky , where slip mining has lead property labeled as “ worthless , ” an attitude of resourcefulness is replacing resource extraction .
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time value change over . The Appalachian thriftiness is diversifying aside from coal .
However , there is no “ witching bullet train , ” says Long . Instead , he and other innovative farmers such as Stickney are finding many “ magic beebees , ” various estimate that will forge together with natural system to fill the gap that one major industry ’s decay has give .
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