camelot-forum.co.uk

... just as we talked about that plant

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... dApp_Other

and a study about energy potential of gorse

https://www.aidic.it/cet/18/64/081.pdf

Very interesting. Do others remember the video about the man in N Zealand who realised that instead of wasting energy trying to exterminate it, they could just let it grow and provide the protection for native seedlings? It died when the new canopy shaded it out.

I have been interested in the value of "browse" as opposed to forage for many decades now. Years ago I read something about mixed woodland farming, possibly even in the magazine "Undercurrents." The author was saying how valuable trees and bushes were compared to grass. Apparently lime trees are particularly palatable, and proper uncut mixed hedges are good for a widely-varied animal diet too. I don't know where the currrent anti-oak hysteria of horse-owners comes from. ("Every part of the tree is toxic to them!")

People used to cut "tree hay" for livestock to eat in the winter, but I'm not sure whether that was stored for later use, or just cut and fed when needed, when most of the value would be in the bark and buds. Holly was apparently very important in winter, the higher branches staying green and growing without prickly leaves.

The book "Wilding" is a real eye-opener and should be read by everyone who is interested in environmentally-friendly farming and gardening. Tree (the author) quotes an old saying "the thorn is the nursery of the oak" and points out that in mediaeval England thorn scrub was protected for that very reason.

Lots of interesting old ways yet to be discovered, I suspect...
A

Highlanders & islanders have known the value of gorse in a sticky moment for a long time as forage, not a news story really, just a potential monetisation in the wrong hands who sunk us this low anyway.