Misc

[helwen]

Good post by Gene Logsdon today, on the healthy benefits of manure

Sharon Astyk's post on what she stores for non-food items has generated a lot of interest. Might be of interest for people interested in disaster-preparedness and also for folks trying to plan for how things are getting more expensive these days -- both the essay and the many comments: What I Store That Isn't Food

I was putting more mulch around the pumpkins and squashes, and the little cucumber plants in back.... some of them are starting to bear fruit, yay! Also, I should gather some greens for a salad today.

More haying today.

And hopefully I will get more done today than yesterday, when I had a migraine, various intestinal ailments, and more :p

Comments

[gardengirl6.livejournal.com]

Thanks for those articles, Helwen. I'm a big fan of compost/mulch/manure (though I only just recently got the rabbits, whose little organic, time-release fertilizer pellets fill my heart with joy) and just shake my head at those who fertilize the snot out of their yards, then cut their grass twice as often as I do and dump the clippings out back, while their pile of brand new bark mulch languishes in the front. *sighs*

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Welcome :)

Um, yeah, I never understood those people either. And apparently the chemical fertilizer/weedkiller stuff depends on the lawn receiving enough water, because in dry years some of the people who used those services had dead white grass. We like having some lawn, but the plant content was quite diverse at the old place, and the same is true here at the farm.

At our old house we had bark mulch in the front yard, but I had a lot of different plantings in the front and the bark kept in the moisture and kept down the weeds. Our lawn was in partial shade in the backyard, which was perfect for hanging out and for practicing Tai Chi. The grass clippings we either let lay on the lawn (during drought), or used to kick the compost pile into gear.