Plant of the Weekish - Silverberry

Silverberry

This shrub is Elaeagnus commutata, and is also referred to as Wolfberry, or Wolf Willow.

This is not to be confused with Goji, which is also referred to as Wolfberry. 

This is also not to be confused with Autumn Olive, which is also known as Silverberry.

They are entirely different plants and look completely different.

Now that we are all thoroughly confused, lets continue :-)

A close relative to Russian Olive, this particular shrub is a native of Canada, and is a valuable Nitrogen fixer in the boreal forest.

People typically place this plant in their yard as an ornamental feature, but it can be much more than a pretty face when put to work.

This shrub flowers in late May and provides hungry bees with an much needed source of food.

Growing to around 10 ft tall with a dense, thick foliage, Silverberry makes an excellent under story support species that can be used extensively as windbreaks, hedges, and chop n drop mulch, due to it's vigorous growth and coppicing ability. The bark is also a source of fibre for making rope and weaving baskets.

The wood itself produces an unpleasant smell when burned. This would probably be eliminated in rocket stoves, and mass heaters due to their high internal operating temperatures. However, there is little information about its suitability as a firewood due to this undesirable characteristic.

It produces a rather unattractive, yet edible fruit that can be used to make jelly. I have no idea what it looks and tastes like, so it might be more in the "survival food" category of value added products.

What is interesting with Silverberry, apart from what I've already written, is that fact that it is thorn less. Finally, a nitrogen fixing tree that doesn't require gloves to prune!

Widely considered as invasive, a permaculturist can put this plant to good use in a managed forest system. Furthermore, this plant does not tolerate shade, and will naturally die off as the primary tree species grow and the forest canopy develops. The very attributes that demonise this plant in the eyes of traditional agriculturists are essential in a regenerating forest ecosystem. 

It provides shelter and nutrients for the mature forest as it grows, and then gracefully steps aside at the appropriate time. It really is a rather polite plant.

Why Own Land When You Can Control It

Why Own Land When You Can Control It?

People seem to be fixated on the idea of owning land. They always have, and probably always will.

For a young person looking to work on the land, loading up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt just to acquire land is often a daunting prospect.

Before they even get to the starting gate, they're debt slaves to the bank, and the possibility of ever achieving financial independence is somewhere off in the distant future.

Throw in a gazillion dollars of more debt for tractors, combines, other farm equipment, and of course stock, and it quickly becomes obvious why there are so few young people getting into farming. Quite frankly, you would have to be insane.

Meanwhile the existing population of farmers are getting older and less physically capable of maintaining a profitable enterprise on their farm. The chances are they're also in debt with very few options for retirement. Many farmers have actually died, and their widows are left with a farm to run, but no idea how they will cope.

As a result, many farms slowly run down and eventually revert to some semblance of it's natural state as the forest reclaims the pastures.

I was listening to a podcast recently by a man named Greg Judy. He was speaking about how he went broke as a farmer in the late 1990's, and with less than $10 to his name he lost his farm and had to start over with nothing.

Today, Greg operates 12 farms totalling over 1,500 acres on which he runs over 1,000 head of cattle along with sheep and pigs.

The key to his success was the realisation that he didn't need to own the land or the livestock to be a farmer. 

Greg leased some land from an absentee land owner for a ten year period, and then rented his services to livestock owners who paid him a monthly fee per cow.

Because he could not afford farm equipment, he simply did without it, and changed his farming methods accordingly through the application of high intensity mob stocking and movable electric fences.

Even today, he doesn't own a tractor, doesn't make hay, doesn't fertilise, or irrigate. And yet the land he controls gets more fertile and productive every year.

Luckily for us, Greg wrote a book about how he achieves this, and you can purchase a copy from his web site and you can watch a handy book review below.

Granted, Missouri is a far cry from Thunder Bay. For example, he gets snow, but not for 6 months of the year.

However, I believe that many of the principles of his practice still apply. Lease instead of own, rent instead of buy, and stay out of debt as much as possible.

I'll finish with this... After Greg had been farming his leased farm for a year, the land owner turned up to see how things were going. When the tour was over, the owner took out the lease and tore it up in front of Greg, told him that they are going to forget about the arrangement they had, and drew up a new lifetime lease for him.

People who own land typically love the land, and have an emotional connection to it. 

Imagine the effect when they see someone being a good steward, and who demonstrates through their actions that they value the land in a similar way.