Back to Eden Gardening

[baymule]

Our garden is covered with pine shavings from the horse stables. Our 3 feeder pigs are starting to plow it up, rooting and pooping in it. There is a nice neighborhood nearby that I will haunt for bagged leaves to throw in with the pigs. I sowed whole oats in the garden on the pine shavings and they are coming up, so I tossed some more in today. If the pigs root up the oats and eat them, OK. If the oats grow and the pigs eat the greens, OK.

 

[ninnymary]

Bee, want to see a picture of the truck with all the bags!

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

I took a pic of the first truck load but didn't take any pics of the truck and trailer loaded down...next load I'll do that. It's quite a sight...looks like the Grinch that stole Christmas, but lacking the little dog with a stick tied to his head.

 

[bobm]

You will definitely see some pics on this story, Miss Mary. It's too enormous to not take pics of it all, even though some of the bags are stored in the shed and more have been emptied into the coop, and still more have already been deposited onto the garden....there will still be a sufficient amount for you to get the picture, so to speak.

I'll also take pics when they have all been emptied and spread out on the garden...it should be quite a sight! And, I'll still be collecting as many times as I can, as this bounty won't last for long.

It's staggering to realize how many bags of leaves are heading to landfills all over this country right now and what a horrible, horrible waste that is. God meant for those to nourish the trees and to be used in just this way(gardens), I imagine, so it's just another sign of how far this country has fallen away from all that it normal and natural, and how incredibly wasteful it has all become.

Just think that those same people that get rid of their leaves are the very ones that buy only "organic" foods and products at extra higher prices to be as "natural" as they can be to save the planet.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep! Some had even bought the large paper leaf bags from the local farm store and I'm guessing their reasoning was to not add plastic to the landfill. Each of the yards of these houses had room for a small garden where these leaves would soon have rendered them a rich, lovely soil in which to plant...something, anything, that was fresh and nutrient dense.

A short clip of the BTE guy discussing pH of this wood chip gardening.

 

[baymule]

Yes those leaves would make lovely soil for the people throwing them out. But that entails WERK! EEEEWWW! Dirt? On their hands? Under their nails, those acrylic painted talons? Never.

 

[Beekissed]

Somebody raked them all up and that took some work....work I didn't have to do!!! I'm still thrillin' over that!

Will go into town again this coming week to see if I can score on leaves once more....I'd like to reach 300 bags before I'm through. That should do it, you think?

One downside....I've already found one bag that had more than leaves in it. Rather...the dogs found one bag that had trash in it. Guess that's the price ya pay when picking up leaves meant for the trash service. It wasn't much but the dogs made it look like a huge amount...don't they always when they tear into trash?

 

[ninnymary]

You are so lucky the leaves are bagged. I'm happy if I find a pile. The only leaves I can get are on the street edge along the curb. People don't rake them here because there is a street sweeper that comes every week. So my husband and I have been raking and bagging them. He is starting to feel more comfortable with the idea of going out in public raking leaves. The other day he came home and told me there was a pile not too far from where we collected some. Told me I better hurry and pick them up before people started parking their cars for the weekend.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

How lovely that your hubby is willing and working alongside you on that! I don't see any shame in collecting leaves and, apparently, neither did the people I collected from...they all asked me if I was putting them on my garden and then told me to come back next week for more!

I belong to a UK gardening site and one person was asking about if they should rake the leaves that had fallen on their allotment or just leave them in place...there were folks telling her to rake them up!!! I told her to leave them in place and beg anyone else around her for their leaves as well. Worms LOVE leaves.

 

[Beekissed]

As promised...a pic of the "landfill" starting in my garden. Now, keep in mind that this pic is lacking about 70 bags~some at my son's house(since brought home), some in the shed to be used this winter, and some already placed in the coop and on the garden.

The truck and the very first load of leaves I brought home(underneath are melons, pumpkins and a lawn sweeper)...now I use the truck AND the utility trailer(4x6) to bring home loads and they are piled much higher. I'm learning....

I'll take more pics after I collect leaves this coming week and, hopefully, the week after.