With the addition of Tao the horse to our farm we are going to have a lot of this... um, resource. A LOT. I could just toss it to the side or find a way to discard it, but instead I'd like to put it to work. Perhaps someday I'll become overwhelmed and will have to find another way, but for now I'll be adding this to the orchard garden to help build soil life.
Tao with ONE OF MANY loads of manure.
Resources wheeled up to the orchard garden.
Wasted veggies collected for the chickens.
Load delivered to garden!
...and DUMPED.
Manure spread out evenly on garden.
Leaves (a gift from a friend) taken into garden.
Oops! One bag was shredded paper.
Leaves spread out over garden.
ONE HAPPY HELPER!
This garden will enjoy all the nutrients and resources in the manure and leaves. It will sit for about 3 months before the next planting. This time should give the soil life plenty of time to move up and start converting those layers into beautiful compost.
Those are some awesome helpers there! Use the resources you have available is a great solution.
It's so much more fun with the kids and grandkids are there to help ;)
Check out vermicomposting with horse manure! The red wigglers explode in population in the stuff! Free chicken food! Also look into black soldier flys they eat manure and convert it into high protien chicken and fish food!
I love horse manure! As horses are less efficient at digestion than say a cow it can introduce weed seed into the garden. I like to ether run it through a methane digester or simply put it in the compost. All routes the the garden are great as your soil just keeps getting better as those microbes need to eat. My adage, Feed the soil not the plant. love your post keep at it.
Hahaha very good project, the error of the paper bag was strange, as you did not notice the consistency of the bag, you won a follower.
I want to see how this project progresses;)
Haha yeah. Here's the video from back earlier in 2017 where we built this simple garden structure.
Horse manure is by far the best garden ammendment. We have goats and pigs and chickens, so loads of manure, but i always thought horse manure is pure magic. Cant wait to see how the garden grows!!!
I'm sure the shredded paper was a surprise! I use shredded paper in my compost bins when I have too much liquid in there, so I make sure to save it up! Why waste it!
I don't have any horse manure but man I sure put a lot of leaves on the garden this off-season. I think building your soil will serve you very well. Good luck.