A Crafty Yarn

Living on a mountain creates challenges for a gardener.  For the most part I just roll with it and find an alternative way to do things or adjust my expectations.  However, part of our land is on the side of said mountain and losing that space for growing was NOT an option!  The land on the outside of the back fence drops steeply.  It was full of very tall growth, 8-12 feet high.   For several years now, I have been cutting the plants down and stacking them in what I hoped would eventually be a terraced area in which to garden.  This season I was determined to finish with the area.  I finally got everything terraced, piled the newest cuttings on top of the old, and covered the whole bunch with plastic sheeting so that it can break down over the next year.  

When I was determining where to put the chickens on our property it was important to me that they be in a place where they could get sun and shade.  It was also quite important that they be put in a place that allowed us to utilize our available space wisely.  The area that we eventually chose is a steep hill.  I haven't done the math to see how steep it is but I can tell you that it was steep enough to be a pretty big pain in the ass to mow!!  Not only was this part of the yard the perfect place to put the chickens, it was ideal because we would no longer have to mow there!  About a year into keeping chickens I was reading a blog post on Milkwood   that outlined their plan to use a steep chicken run as a gravity compost set up.  I knew immediately that this would work in our run.  I pulled several downed trees from the woods and put them crossways in the coop.  This photo is taken with me standing at the first row so that one is not s...

July is coming to an end and it's HOT here in Arkansas!!! The heat index has brought our temperatures to over 100 every day for the last 2 weeks! I've been doing most of the gardening/yard chores at night to escape the worst of the heat but even at night it's well in the 90s! The garden has been giving us a beautiful assortment of veggies everyday! I've been really concerned about the amount of trash we have every week and as we don't really have a place to have a compost pile...I turned a trash can into a composter and it's been wonderful!...It has already cut the amount of things we throw into the trash at least in half! Did You know that you can compost: Paper napkins/Paper Towels Freezer-burned food Pet fur Post-it notes Wood Hay Popcorn (unpopped, 'Old Maids,' too) Dryer lint Old spices Pine needles Leaves Matches (paper or wood) Hops Manure Pet cage cleanings Grass clippings Vegetable peelings Unpaid bills Hair clippings from the barber Sta...