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I was thinking the same thing Cweick. I think its called the "Three sisters" style of farming. I read something about it where corn, beans and squash all work in unison to grow together giving you a triple crop on the same square footage due to the varying maturity times of the crops.
The corn grows tall and fast. The beans grow up the corn instead of on poles, and then the squash grows at the base killing off weeds as they grow. Together you get three crops.
That is just by memory though, I am sure some goggling of the three sisters farming will get you a better idea of what the people are doing instead of my vague memory.
I love vegetarians...slice them real thin, dip them in ranch dressing and they compliment lamb quite well! :-)
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Doug I don't see anything wrong with your plan, with possibly the exception of your red clover picking. I think you will find that it is not worth the time because the forage will be in the 90% moisture range. When you bag it up, the heat from decomposition will get the feed VERY hot and it will caramelize super fast. That is a huge no-no in fermented feeds like grass silage and corn silage. What you are really doing is bagging up green chop, and green chop has a very short life span. Think days not weeks.
By all means go ahead and try it, but just be VERY careful feeding it out to your animals. Improperly ensiled feeds like haylage and corn silage can lead to listerosis in all livestock such as sheep, goats and cattle. Sheep are the most sensitive to it of them all, with goats a close second. The problem is, it takes about 3 weeks for the listerosis to show up, and when it does, its typically lethal. I don't remember any cases where we were allowed to save the animals.
I'm not saying don't try, I'm just cautioning you to be ready for the feed to go VERY bad quickly. (I was told the black mold is harmless in carmelization, but the white mold is what kills, but I can't confirm that).
I love vegetarians...slice them real thin, dip them in ranch dressing and they compliment lamb quite well! :-)
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the 3 sisters you speak if was the first type of farming shown to the first whites who came to new england. The trouble is that it's hard on the soils due to all the plants in one space...that is the down side.
The thought crossed my mind, since draw dragged it up.....that just because it worked in some places it may not work in others. My area was simply a large hunting place for native people who lived about 40 miles north in a river bottom. They would have used the 3 sisters principle in that area, however it's deep rich flood plain.
as we have said before, production can change every time you move over the next hill.....
give it a shot, but I would suspect that if you don't have deep rich soil you may need to double your compost ration.
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| It never crossed my mind to plant squash, too. But the way I understand it is that the corn takes out the nitrogen and the beans put it back. I don't think we would put squash in the mix because the chickens and P2 going up and down the lanes would squash the squash...LOL...
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| Three sisters plantings are also done extensively in the desert south west so deep rich soil isn't an ablsolute to make it work. The early people would have probably always (don't quote me on the always word) planted near a river or where they could irrigate either with a perennial stream (not a lot of those in the SW) or with run off from monsoons. My understanding was that the combination is it's own little "rotation" that one puts back what the other takes. I am planning to do this in what used to be my front yard at the burned out house where the pigs are so graciously rototilling. I'm guessing that the chickens will need to be restrained once blossoms and fruit appear on the squash. Mary Ann
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