Deep litter method

[TheSpiceGirls]

Thanks for the encouragement. I don't have much access to leaves. They sort of all fall right about now and then we're done. So I can bag up some and save them. Or just buy pine shavings. I've found one source that has these super light, very fine shavings and they break down much faster than the course one I had before. And I'm not a perfectionist in the garden, if you can still see bits of shavings in the spring when I spread it around the fruit trees, etc. it won't bother me one bit.

I'm sure I'll have more questions. Love this thread.

 

[Arielle]

Thanks for the encouragement. I don't have much access to leaves. They sort of all fall right about now and then we're done. So I can bag up some and save them. Or just buy pine shavings. I've found one source that has these super light, very fine shavings and they break down much faster than the course one I had before. And I'm not a perfectionist in the garden, if you can still see bits of shavings in the spring when I spread it around the fruit trees, etc. it won't bother me one bit.

I'm sure I'll have more questions. Love this thread.

Bag up everything you can for future use. THough I find mine last better if I leave them in the woods and collect fresh, but if you like to have a raked yard, bag and hold them until you need them.

Recruit friends and neighbors to your cause. Be willing to pick up . . .

 

[Beekissed]

That's what I did when I lived at a place with few leaves...I just contacted a lawn service in the area and asked if I could collect their leaves they sacked up and they were all too eager to comply. Seems they have to pay to dump those in the land fill, so they will give grass clippings and leaves to folks if they ask.

I currently have a world's supply of leaves at my disposal and so spent part of the day storing even more of them than I stored last year. I've been sneezing and snuffy nosed ever since.

I have three trash cans of packed leaves stored, an 8x3x4 pen full of loose leaves, and have raked the coop so full that I had to go in there and smash them down so the birds wouldn't drown in leaves. Then I raked a huge load of leaves into their lounge area as well.

LOVE free bedding materials.

 

[Arielle]

Bee do you worry about chemical sprays on the lawns??? The perfect lawns in my area often have signage posting herbicides applied . . . . maybe not an issue this late in the year.

 

[Beekissed]

Rural towns...they don't spend money on growing better looking lawns, only money on getting the lawns cut and cleaned up.

Country folk are a little more practical in that way.

 

[Arielle]

Rural towns...they don't spend money on growing better looking lawns, only money on getting the lawns cut and cleaned up.

Country folk are a little more practical in that way.

I'm a transplant from where no one pays for clean up-- all do- it- yourself.

 

[Beekissed]

Me too!

But...old folks get to where they can't do their own lawns and then they start hiring that out. These are the same old folks who don't place chemicals on their lawns because they can barely afford the lawn service, let alone the cost of fluffing a lawn.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
LOL! If I had better aim I might try that. It is an old technique. My great-grandfather used to talk about growing up in the French countryside. The family had designated areas in the garden for peeing. They would change the designated areas depending on which crop needed the most nitrogen at the time. Makes a lot of sense to me. I think that's why women used to wear skirts all the time. Made that process a lot easier

 

[Beekissed]

We just peed in a bucket each morning and side dressed the crops from that...no trying to aim the stream or anything.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Thanks for the encouragement. I don't have much access to leaves. They sort of all fall right about now and then we're done. So I can bag up some and save them. Or just buy pine shavings. I've found one source that has these super light, very fine shavings and they break down much faster than the course one I had before. And I'm not a perfectionist in the garden, if you can still see bits of shavings in the spring when I spread it around the fruit trees, etc. it won't bother me one bit.

I'm sure I'll have more questions. Love this thread.

Poke small holes in the trash bag fulls of the leaves and straw and stuff so it wont mold inside the bag.