tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023803000478958088.post765559617564817829..comments2023-10-19T05:34:19.425-04:00Comments on Little House in the Big Wood: A Farm For The FutureWendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11557512606416161272noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023803000478958088.post-60818094610208767912010-09-17T04:39:44.464-04:002010-09-17T04:39:44.464-04:00Some of the ground covers that put nitrogen back i...Some of the ground covers that put nitrogen back into the soil are favorites of chickens, too. Well, that is what I hear. trucked-in mulch gives me the heebie-jeebies. I figure it is nuclear sludge! <br /><br />Chipper and fossil fuel using things. Just let the horses drag limb, deposit all in a pile and let the compost make itself. It will take a few years, but continual piles, one next to the other should start giving you piles of compost year after year. Aren't you happy when someone suggests such a labor-intensive plan? <br /><br />I would love to live in the place in the film. It looks so peaceful. Mind you, I did not say I would like the work or am capable of doing it.Practical Parsimonyhttp://www.practical-parsimony.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023803000478958088.post-54029889856504523852010-09-15T06:25:03.236-04:002010-09-15T06:25:03.236-04:00I do use cardboard, collecting it through the wint...I do use cardboard, collecting it through the winter. There's never enough to cover the whole garden, but it does make the rows I do get covered much easier to deal with. <br /><br />A chipper would present one of those interesting, which is the lesser evil scenarios. Using fossil fuels to get (pick up truck & chainsaw) dead trees, fossil fuel to run chipper, versus rototilling. Or buying mulch in plastic bags (fossil fuel) shipped from where? (fossil fuel)... I don't know which is better, just that they're both bad. <br /><br />I do use the weeds as mulch, leaving them to rot around the base of other plants, along the edge of rows. It still leaves the rows exposed, but helps with fertilizer as it composts, and water retention. <br /><br />I'm going to look into ground cover crops for next year. Something that stays short...Wendyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11557512606416161272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023803000478958088.post-49936986971911242082010-09-13T14:14:17.746-04:002010-09-13T14:14:17.746-04:00Wendy, I have not watched the video, but I have re...Wendy, I have not watched the video, but I have read in other places that tilling is the reason we need fertilizer. Not mowing or tilling would suit me. Is there any way that you could put your efforts into mulching to avoid weeds and weeding? It seems the cardboard, carpet, newspaper trick is what some people use in the rows of the garden and around plants. Even if you had to use one of the chippers or whatever to put dead trees down as mulch, it might be the thing that worked. Unfortunately, fossil fuel seems to be the answer we come up with for all our problems...sigh. Okay, I will watch the film now.Practical Parsimonyhttp://www.practical-parsimony.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.com