Farms: Pigs in the No-Till Permaculture System
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Josh describes how pigs help us in transforming forest to gardens. www.DAcres.org D Acres is a non-profit Permaculture Farm & Educational Homestead located in Dorchester, NH. D Acres researches, applies and teaches skills of sustainable living and small-scale organic farming. Striving to improve the human relationship to the environment, the center functions as a demonstration farm to role model exemplars of healthy living. Sharing a communal living situation, individuals come to respect and share values of interdependence and love of nature. In addition, the organization supports educational activities directed toward improving the quality of life of residents and the larger community.
Comments
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Great video. I use my pigs as part of the rotation in my garden to clean and turnover the soil after each crop has been harvested.
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It is true that pigs won't completely root out big stumps, but that was never the object of using pigs to take out stumps. The proper way of using pigs to clear land is to make holes with a crow bar along both sides of the largest tree roots and fill the holes with corn. The pigs will root around the tree roots until the roots for the most part are exposed and their hold in the soil is loosened enough to pull out easily with either a work horse or tractor. But first they must be detached from the stump by cutting them off the stump using an ax, and the roots are then pulled out one at a time. My father used to remove big stumps this way by letting the pigs do half the job for him. Once those big roots are removed the stump can be pulled out quite easily with either a tractor or four wheel drive pick up truck. The one exception is big oak stumps, they have a deep taproot that goes down several feet and it is almost impossible to pull them out of the ground. That's when you hire a backhoe. ha ha. Love the thoughts you have about homesteading and wish you all the success in the world. I live in Maine and you live in New Hampshire, and with all that Yankee ingenuity we possess the sky is the limit to what can be accomplished. lol
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For the stumps, could mushroom mycellium be inoculated in them and thus accelerate their decomposition?
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You should use the stumps in hugelkultur (spelling?)
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Pig tillage is still tillage so it isn't a no till system.
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Great video.
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So permaculture is the ethically based design science behind the field of community ecology (communities have multiple species) talking and discussing things with the animals and plants you steward is one of the most ethical practices I have experienced. And while I think over the long term replacing electric fences with living ones will be key to a truly regenerative design they are an appropriate transition technology in my opinion. Kudos on your nature based listening skills and happy pigs!
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Happy as a Pig in muck, a bit cold there for me though!
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I used pigs 2 years in a row now to prepare my berry orchards. Pallets that came from local businesses were used to confine them to a specific area and them moved as needed. 2 three inch deck screws held them together, easy to move. Some were cut in half and turned at right angle to use like posts.Pallets are used here for many things.
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So if I understand you correctly...... you suggest talking to your pigs and coming to an agreement on work details??? Hahaha
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Great video! Check out our Permaculture Homestead Design video in the mountains of Costa Rica http://youtu.be/QDvEN3NtUKM
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Unfortunately life and farming is about a tradeoff but you seem to have struck a balance of using natural resources while looking after it. What an amazing way to live and work. I would be doing this if we had the space in the UK. I am a greengrocer and I would love to sell the produce grown in this way. Keep doing it please! !!
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Do you kill the pigs :( ?
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Are you guys making sure the food you get from supermarkets and elsewhere isn't genetically modified? I worry that it could work its way into your ecosystem if the pigs feed on leftover food. GMO foods tend to cross-contaminate and may cause future issues. Just something to think about!
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oxen
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Those pigs are so cute..
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oops to you------! nice hogs
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YES!
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My friend, I recommend refraining from making assumptions. Separate objects(ideas, people) do not operate on fixed laws in time a space. Everything is a variable. Saying something is behaving a certain way because of one thing is certainly limiting your scope of perception and in my experience leads to reduced enjoyment of life(for you and others).
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we are looking for successful method of farrowing without the confinement of a farrowing pen any suggestions? we have 10x10 stalls and make hay available for the sow to make a nest but we would rather leave them out on pasture if possible