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THE IMPORTANCE OF BOUNDARIES
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So
it is important to establish the outside boundaries.
Rudolf Steiner launches his agriculture course with
this idea. Less well recognized is the importance of
internal boundaries within the farm or garden. There
are, of course, fences, roads, paths, banks, walls,
ditches, streams and so forth. Much can be done to
maximize the ratio of boundaries to total area
within the outside boundary or a property. For
example, when we straighten a stream, taking out all
its natural snake-like curves, we impoverish the
land. Not only have we decreased the length of bank
and creek boundaries, but also we should take a look
at what happens as the water falls down the slope of
the creek. It twists and turns and organizes itself
into laminate layers with the coldest, densest
layers swirling down the center and the warmer,
lighter layers caressing the banks. When we
straighten a creek we reduce its INTERNAL
organization, the way the water organizes itself
into different layers of temperature and density. Thomas Jefferson experimented with building brick walls on his plantation. He found that if he built them so they undulated like a snake he could make them one layer of brick thick instead of two, thus saving somewhat on the amount of bricks. And, to his surprise, the grasses, bushes and trees along his undulating brick walls grew significantly better than along his straight ones! In the deep south (e.g. Georgia and Alabama) we have found clean cultivated market gardens difficult to maintain soil fertility in. Summers are long and warm with good moisture, and soil organic matter breaks down rapidly. The solution has been to cultivate beds of approximately 40 inch width with clovers and grasses surrounding the beds. At the boundaries between the sod paths the cultivation of the beds stimulates the paths to grow luxuriantly. Mowing the paths and mulching the beds with the clippings feeds earthworms, fertilizes the beds, stimulating the crops in the beds to grow better. When the beds are cultivated the paths are a haven for wounded earthworms to recover, and earthworm populations remain high year round. In many respects this is better than having cows and making compost, though cows still have a place in nature because of the high degree of transformation they accomplish through their digestion. With the above thoughts in mind it may be useful to clearly establish the outside boundaries of the property being farmed or gardened, and to calculate or estimate the number of linear feet of inside boundary zones there are to the acre within the farm or garden. An acre is 210 feet by 210 feet, so your estimate should be expressed in terms of how many linear feet of boundary zones your growing area has per acre. If you want to get really fancy you can give thought to vertical boundaries as well. For instance, corn can be interplanted with soybeans. The soybeans tend to spread in a layer near the ground, while the corn--especially tall, open-pollinated field corn--will fountain out the top, producing its corn above the soy layer. This is a great way to shade out obnoxious weeds such as Bermuda grass, which can grow straight through a potato or onion. Ah, well! Enough said. . |
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