Disclaimer: Outside of its native range (in and around the Appalachian Mountain range in Eastern North America) Black Locust – Robinia Pseudoacacia – can become invasive. It is a pioneer species meant to recolonize disturbed ground and compete with grass. If you are outside of its native range please proceed with caution with this species, or consider using a species native to your area that fills the same niche.
Black Locust Coppicing – Part 1, Part 2, … Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
It is now mid-May and the sprouts on the stumps are clearly visible, some of them are even a couple feet tall already. Unfortunately, I failed to find a few stumps as they are currently lost in a poison ivy tangle that I am not going to wade into. Photos cannot really show all the sprouts on each stump very well, so I have taken a few representative snaps and the data will be solely numbers.
Continue reading
I find it interesting to read agricultural texts from different eras of our civilization. At the present moment I am increasing my collection of USDA Yearbooks of Agriculture, which I would recommend to anyone who is curious about agricultural techniques, policies, and studies. Particularly interesting to me are those books which were published during and directly following the Great Depression. In these years, agricultural science was making great leaps and bounds, not necessarily with new discoveries but with scientific proof that the practices of the preceding millennia were indeed spot-on, and that we should continue following our ancestors’ examples of land husbandry.
Anonymous Appalachian Agrarian 