Day one
I’m not holding my breath for all that purported “American Greatness” to start showing up any time soon. I’m beginning my Victory Garden today. We can stretch our food dollars, save money on supplies, and help the planet heal with our gardening practices. This post details a few ways to do just so.
When I see piles of sticks and leaves all bagged up with plastic and ready for the trash heap, I instinctively do a head bump. I confess to sending a lot of tree matter away before I learned about Permaculture.
The leaves and branches hold nutrients used by the tree that shed them. Each bag carries a portion of it away.
Once nutrients are banished, the soil can’t remain healthy. Some form of fertilizer must be applied. It will either be made from chemicals or, if organic, taken from some other property. Chemicals kill off what life is left, and the nefarious garden pests have free reign. Large-scale monoculture practices are wreaking havoc on our planet, and individually, we are contributing to the destruction one lawn at a time.
We don’t have to.
One Solution
Hoard this material for the bounty that it is. Your land can self-nourish exactly the way the forest does.
A few years back we had several trees that were dying and had become dangerous. I found a tree service that could create mulch from the trees they took down. All the smaller limbs were mulched, and we used it for years. Larger limbs were chopped into firewood. The tree service was set to carry the largest pieces away. I requested they instead be stacked in the backyard near my garden plots. They looked at me kinda funny but did as I asked. The chunks have sat for five years, seemingly still and lifeless. But things were definitely going on under the surface.
Here’s a little garden helper I found in a section of bark. I’m not sure of his identity, but my guess is some kind of larva. I carefully put it back to get this fellow back on the clock. The pill bugs are also doing their part, and the earthworms are getting in the act as well.
Maybe I don’t have the tidiest backyard on the block, but that’s ok. I have a functional, healthy backyard. I’ve got some wilded areas so bugs and small creatures can thrive, and I have several piles of small limbs decomposing. That is beautiful to me.
Library of Congress
With the current administration’s shortsighted environmental actions and promised tariff solutions, Richard and I have concerns about what lay ahead. Back in the days of World War I and World War II, citizens pulled together when times got tough. We must follow their example. We can each contribute something while we battle to bring our country back to sanity.
This morning I woke thinking of Spring, and headed to my garden shop. So much dirt has already rained down from the trunk chunks. When I pull back a piece of bark and find even more, it feels like I’ve struck gold.
For more information, check out these related topics:
- Cardboard Love
- The Annual Dandelion Rant
- Woods Dirt
- Eggshells and Coffee Grounds and Banana Peels
- How Does Your Garden Grow
Banner flag photo by Donovan Reeves on Unsplash