Well, it’s 2016 so Happy New Year to you all. I hope it’s going to be a good one.
One of things I’ve noticed about smallholder life is that I spend a lot of time moving piles from one place to another. Logs, rocks, MOT, compost – there’s always a pile of something to be moved. Presently, there’s a pile of coppiced willow branches and a dead apple tree to be cut into logs. On top of that, there are also two trees that have blown down in the recent storms to be cut up and stored.
However, yesterday, our local farmer delivered a trailer full of horse manure. I am quite pleased with this arrangement. I’ve tried other means of collecting it but it’s hard work. This way, a pile just landed in the garden.
Of course, then I had to move it! So I got moving and barrowed it up to the veggie patch. Our soil is pretty much clay, so it needs a lot of organic matter. I spread it quite thickly. It never ceases to amaze me how small an area a full barrow covers.
Nevertheless, I have moved it all and most of the veggie patch is now mulched. I have another trailer load coming soon so that we can also mulch the fruit cage and some of the flower beds plus the bits where veggies are still growing (couldn’t really cover those areas).
And I just love standing back, when it’s all done, and looking at the veggie patch. It’s the only time it looks relatively under control! Hard work, but intensely satisfying.
