Subject: [NAFEX] Cheap way to increase organic matter
Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2009 11:17:51 -0600
When I moved here, most of my land was yellow blow sand and what little
organic matter there was, was one shade grayer than yellow. Now I have up
to 14" of rich black dirt, the envy of area farmers and it didn't cost me a
cent.
When I moved here, I lived on a dead-end road with very little traffic
from except my (few) neighbors. I put up signs saying, "Leaves and Pine
Needles Wanted," and word spread quickly. People from miles away brought me
their leaves and I spent my Winters spreading them. The most I received in
a single year was over fifty cubic yards. I removed the wheels from a
semi-circular metal garden cart, fastened a piece of flat iron around the
opening big enough to hold a 30 gallon can, making a make-shift sled that
moved easily across the snow for moving leaves to where them would be laid
down.
When Spring came I tilled them in as best I could.
I still put up my signs every Spring and Fall but I'm fussier now.
Nowadays, I only want pine needles and pine needle/leaf mixtures. I hire
neighborhood kids to spread them. Every two or three years each area of my
one acre garden/orchard gets a new covering of mulch and every Summer
tourists drive by to see a garden with no weeds.
Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN 56472
For jams, jellies & syrups:
www.bberryfarm.com
(877)265-6856 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My Cell]
[NAFEX] Cheap way to increase organic matter,
Jim Fruth, 01/04/2009