John,
I agree that one is risking a main wing stall condition with increased foreplane lift. Thus I could just be chasing my tail around the issue. On the otherhand, I remember early "takeoffs" with my Ferret where it simply wouldn't rotate off the ground until the velocity was very high and the end of the runway coming up fast. (If there are engine thrust angle problems in addition, as we found out, cutting the throttle to abort the takeoff resulted in the plane leaping off the ground - but that's another story). In order to warm up for the Ferret, I built and flew a Sig TriStar which, with the intial cg location, didn't want to rotate off the ground either, until the last second at which time the extra drag brought it down very ungracefully and quickly. Even with the cg at the back of its suggested range, no takeoff would occur until the speed was quite high.
Until the foreplane lift reaches a minimum point, elaborations on the main wing are not going to help because the plane is still taxiing on the ground. I think (guess might be a better word) that the limited area/high loading on a "high lift" foreplane will still result in a pitch stable airplane.
Probably the best answer to a low takeoff and landing speed is to build it really light for the wing area. Unfortunately, I suspect that Canard Lover has to deal with high winds in addition to his pine trees.
Allan