Veganic gardening

https://veganicpermaculture.com/

Helen Atthowe has spent her life trying to extend Masanobu Fukuoka's methods to drier climates like Montana and California in the US and at larger scale. She uses machinery to mow her living mulch and the rows between them, and she maintains all 200 acres by herself. Helen professes that this method is not the most space efficient kind of natural farming, but it is impressively energy and labour efficient.

I've been in contact with Helen, and will write up the summary of our chats here, as well as include our raw email below. TODO

Some more questions I have:

1. Why does she not broad seed? Did she ever try it in an effort to determine suitable plants to grow in particular areas of the farm?
2. What is the harvesting effort required of her vegetables, orchards and grains? Does it support mechanisation (ie could you hypothetically adjust it to be done with machines)?

Some questions I have as I explore her work:

1. What is her opinion on sapling transplants versus growing from seed? Does she broadseed, seedball, etc?
2. Reduced tillage and organic matter loss. Helen mentions here that living mulch can be mowed or tilled into the soil to provide nutrients, but also mentions here that tillage and weed cultivation reduced soil organic matter compared to unfarmed grassland even when lots of organic residue was added after tilling. Does her technique of mowing cover crops suffer the same reduction in organic matter?
3. Beneficial insects and mowing. Helen mentions here that she creates safe havens for predators between every crop row, but also that she does routine mowing here. Given her emphasis on undisturbed areas for insect populations (measured through eg spider overwintering), how does she achieve this while also using (probably) high-disturbance tools like mechanical mowers? She mentions here that some cover crop is always left unmowed, but how much (ie what percentage of the cover crop, are unmowed sections spaced out or together)
4. Succession planting. Does Helen alternate what grows in which soil? If so, has she ever tried broadseeding the successor's seeds directly into the field shortly before the harvest of the current crop (as Fukuoka suggested)?

To plant within a cover crop, Helen lightly mows and tills to suppress the cover crop while the desired crops establish themselves. The extent of mowing and tilling depends on the cover crop.

The timing of when living mulch (or other crops) are mowed can impact the nutrients they release.

Biodesign farm has found differences in carbon:nitrogen ratios and macro- and micro-nutrient levels provided by a clover living mulch mowed at different times of the season (spring vs. summer vs. fall). Source

Providing habitat for native bees within cropping systems may significantly affect crop pollination. The proximity of pollen and nectar plants to crops and their pests affects how effectively parasites (ie parasitic wasps) keep their prey (many other insects) at bay. Source

First, read
It's about Helen Atthowe, who Paul Wheaton considers to be at the level of the greats like Fukuoka and Holzer.

Then, if I'm still keen, read:
https://goveganic.net/gardening-how-to