> It is ever!!!!! All the driving around in the car...

i din't understand that .

 > Jean-Claude, I am astonished and admire your efforts to nurture a piece of
land as a foood-bearing habitat for both humans and animals.  I would like
to hear more about that.

To have a balanced ecosystem , diversity is the key ,each species presence
contribute to all the other species well being at the same time that each
species   keep the others in check .There is a natural regulation that occur
if the game of evolution is allowed to be played .

weed , parasites ,viruses , pests problems etc.. occur mostly in our mind
because they interfer somehow with our wishes.They become even louder in
our perception of their behavior when we disturb the balance in
ecosystems.( we need a scape goat to get rid of the guilt )
For ex here in British colombia there is many conservationists who are upset
about what they see "he scothbroom invasion ".
 From my observation this occur only in sites that have been disturbed by
humans ( mostly logging,  roads etc..) in the wild ecosystems that have been
untouched scoth broom have no chance .
when you look carefully of what scotch broom doe to the land you can learn
they are nitrogen fixing and are storing calcium in their tissue . So thru
their cycle of life they in fact contribute to the restoration of the land
that as a result of humans disturbances have become nitrogen and calcium
defficient .

it is true for any species , they have a purpose as long the game of give
and take is allowed to be happenning .
on my land i have noticed the presence and participation of so many species
from the smallest to the biggest ( even a cougar that is rare sight on this
island left his poo.)
we have many deers They are allowed on 2 third of our 5 acres ,the other
third they are permitted by invitation at times ...a big  owl got trapped
inside the pigeon coop after he killed 3 of them . I am okay because if i
look carefully to his contribution to my garden it is enormous (particularly
by eating rodents ).....

<  I am thinking of converting an unused flower bed in my yard into a patch
of wild edibles, just seeding it with dandelions and other stuff and letting
it go.  Any insight into this would be helpful -- what plants to use, etc.

I will need to know many parameters ( climate for one , light , water etc..
conditions to  have some ideas of what could work but in definitive the land
will talk itself . just give away seeds and see what want to establish there
.
think about mixing different story of vegetation (winter radish underground
,  corn salad as a ground cover,  dandelion,  little bit higher then kale
,then fenell is a type of association i have at home  harvestable now )
also associate different timing of harvestable all year round ( some grow in
the winter others in the summer )
differents familly is important too to keep the nutrients availability
balanced ( ombellifaere like parsley chervil fennel with crucifers like
radishes kale turnips arugula ,  even grasses for juicing etc...)

etc.. Dandelion greens by the way are sold at my local grocery store for
nearly $2 a bundle; ironic considering what people spend/do to get the stuff
NOT to grow in their lawns!

most likelly it is not actually dandelion but what they called here italian
dandelion .It is in fact a type of domesticated chicoree ( like escarole,
belgium endive ,curly endives ,raddichio ,...) the leaves are growing
upright and look like a dandelion leave but thicker . It is a great green to
harvest like many chicorees during the cool season ( not so bitter ) if you
cut  at least 1 and half centimetres from the root and fill a flower pot
with saw dust or shreded leaves or even sand that you turn over the root ,it
will regrow as a "chicon" inside  the mulch  ( belgium endive type )let the
tip of the leaves just before harvest  getting some light , to have them
more nourishing than the yellow kind .

A best way to sow less seeds ( they becomes so costly ) on the surface on
untilled ground  insert them in a clay ball ( To  eliminate or reduce
predation from animals )
for peoples interested by natural way of farming ( Masanobu fukuoka ) a new
email list ( i discovered it yesterday and am not sure it is active yet . i
wrote a long message of intro there but still didn't received
it )http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fukuoka_farming
jean-claude