Re: [tomato] Kudzu

Thomas Giannou (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Tue, 13 Apr 1999 17:38:09 -0700 

Diane,

Did you write that one with a "sheepish grin?"

If sheep can eat it, why can't it be ground up and made into a mulch for the
rest of the country where it doesn't grow?  I know when we first started
talking about kudzu it was with respect to a tomato grower who was growing
great tomatoes and using kudzu mulch.

Regards,
Thomas Giannou
Spokane, Washington

-----Original Message-----
From: Diane Roeder <droeder@javanet.com>
To: Tomato@GlobalGarden.com <Tomato@GlobalGarden.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 13, 1999 5:16 PM
Subject: Re: [tomato] Kudzu


>I'm getting a little tired of reading about kudzu, but since I raise
>sheep I thought I'd throw in my two cents, a couple of paragraphs from a
>national sheep publication:
>
>Sheep being considered for year-round, weed-whacking work
>        Tallahassee, Fla., has a big problem that just keeps on growing
>.... and growing. It's kudzu, an invasive species that's killing trees
>and shorting out power lines as it creeps and crawls its way around the
>northern Florida city.
>        But the fast-growing weed may soon be chomped down to an
>acceptable
>size.
>        Tallahassee city officials are awaiting a proposal from Dick
>Henry, an
>enterprising New Hampshire sheep producer, who would like to fatten up
>250-500 of his sheep on free fodder. The sheep, in return, would keep
>the kudzu in check by grazing one-acre allotments at a time ... before
>moving on to the next bountiful buffet.
>        Henry says sheep are right for the job since they can easily
>scramble
>over steep terrain, are placid, and unlike goats, flock nicely.
>"And when you see a 120-pound sheep, you don't grab your two-year-old
>and start running away," Henry told a Tallahassee Democrat reporter. "In
>a place like a public park, people won't be saying, 'Hey, my kid's going
>to get crushed!'"
>        Henry's proposal for year-round employment of his sheep would
>cost
>roughly $80,000 -- well under the hundreds of thousands city officials
>estimate they'd have to spend on mechanical and chemical control
>methods.
>
>
>Diane
>