What permaculture plants to grow in Tasmania?

[Bubba8]

Hi

I am new to this forum and relatively new to permaculture. We have read heaps of books nad articles and watched hours of video and are really keen on the whole idea and concept.

We have twelves acres in North West Tasmania, where we run a little bit of livestock in order to be self sufficient. We are in the process of redeveloping the farm using permaculture principles. However we are having trouble with two issues and hoping that some one will be able to shed some light and share some inspiration with us.

Our first question is...what do you do with all the pests?

On the property and surrounding areas we have birds, wallabies, rabbits and possums all of which can decimate an entire crop in one night. So do you, just plant heaps of your edibles and HOPE that their maybe soemthing left for you to have? Or do you fence, net and use exclusion for your edibles? In which case what do you plant in the rest of your gardens? Possums love roses too!

Second...what plants to use for fodder?

We have read heaps and got very excited about lots of plants to use for fodder but have come up short and disappointed many times. Many mentioned plants are great in tropics or other climates but we can't grow a lot of those. We get heavy frosts here. On top of ths many plants that heve been referred to in books etc are considered weeds here (like Tagasaste (tree Lucerne). So what fodder bushes, shrubs, trees and ground covers do you grow down here that will handle the cold, is NOt be a weed and won't be decimated by possums? We are hoping that someone can help us and share their inspiration.

Thanks in advance and look forward to hearing your replies.

Debbie

[Mirrabooka]

Hi Debbie.

North West Tassie- Paradise!! Say hello to Lorinna the next time you pass by.

To get the ball rolling-

Download a copy of -

T R E E CROPS
A PERMANENT AGRICULTURE
BY
J. RUSSELL SMITH
SOMETIME PROFESSOR OF INDUSTRY
WHARTON SCHOOL OF FINANCE AND COMMERCE
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
NOW PROFESSOR OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
COLUMBIA

It is a helpful 'ancient' classic.

It suggests-

(not exactly short term)- oak trees (buy the ones innoculated with truffle spores at little extra cost) for acorns for pigs, -
carob trees (only the female produce so you may need to think about grafting female shoots onto what comes to be identified as male further down the track) produce cattle (and human) 'fodder'
persimmons
chetnut
honey loscus
mulberry
pecan
and others.

I also think about- lucern, blackberries as 'fodder' for goats, wattle seed in a food forest as 'fodder' for chooks, and figs that seem easy to grow.

As for pests- is it possible to find a solution in the problem? (I'm not sure there are any but it's a very Permie thing to say!!)

[Mirrabooka]

Honey Locust

[Bubba8]

Hi

Thank you for your reply.

Honey Locusts is considered weed here and I am not sure Carob would grow here. I thought it was more a tropical type tree.

Look forward to more replies.

Thanks

[eco4560]

Have you been to visit Tagari for some ideas?

[Raymondo]

Is there a local permie group? Or a Tassie one? I'd try them first. Ask people running cattle/sheep in Tassie about what native plants the stock like. They should do well for you as fodder plants. As for exotics that might provide fodder try linden (you can eat it too), alder. Check out plants that were/are used in English hedgerows. Many of these provide stock fodder. There's a bit of info on the (online) video A Farm for the Future (lovely little film). Contact the state ag department about suitable stock fodder. Contact the ag/botany department(s) at the Uni in Hobart. Contact the state farmers group.
Perhaps a useful document - http://vvpcmn.files.wordpress.com/20...20part2011.pdf