Progress report

Levi loves the tractor.

  This week we finished the boxes. It was fun to use wood salvaged from Angie's Great Grandparents' barn. Angie's Great Grandpa was a  very good farmer and I'm sure he would enjoy seeing his barn wood put to good use.

Saturday we got a load of horse manure from a local stable . Contact us if you need horse manure and we will  get you connected. 

We laid down the first few layers. First was cardboard. This is to keep the weeds from growing up into our lasagna. 

We need to alternate between "green" and "brown" materials as we layer the garden. First comes a few inches of our horse manure. 

We decided to cut some of the grass that was left from last year to use as a "brown" layer. The grass along our fence was nice and dry, and full of corn leaves from the field. I just cut down the  grass with either the weed eater or the tractor, and then we gathered it up and placed it on the garden. The biggest issue was the 30mph winds from the South! The kids were very good workers and we got the job done.

A bit of water helped keep the clippings from blowing away.

Next up was some compost that came from what used to be a pile of wood. 15+ years ago a storm came through and damaged a lot of trees on the property. The resulting wood pile sat basically undisturbed until our family moved in. We used the top of the pile for firewood, and found wonderful compost below.

Here is the site of the wood pile. Only a few pieces of solid wood remain. The rest is either gone, or crumbles in your hands.

That is where we called it a day. I can see how this is going to become a great way to garden, especially when we can build up our stockpile of materials. We plan on adding a few more layers and then we will be ready to plant!
-Kurt