🏡 In and Around the Garden - October '23
Inside
🥗 Preparing and planting the fall salad garden.
🎡 The Fair
🐓 Sweet Smelling Chicken Manure
🤝Jujubes and Friends
Before we dive in, I want to let you all know that one way to support A Common Life and the work that Morgan and I are doing, is by sharing this newsletter with friends and family. Another way is by offering feedback and letting us know what you like and what you don’t like! To do so, email us at taylor@acommonlife.co or direct message us on Instagram @_acommonlife !
🥗 Our fall Salad Garden
Morgan and I missed the window on having a robust fall garden like we normally do. Cabbage, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and kale should have been started inside in late July, early August to get a head start before the first frosts rolled in. Potatoes and Peas should have been planted directly in the gardena round that time. I’m bummed about it because a fall garden is one of my favorites. But if I’m honest, my most favorite thing about a fall garden is the fresh salads that you can make from it. And salad greens are still in play for the fall. So with that in mind, Morgan and I are planting the whole garden in salad greens.
Here is what we did
Preparing the garden for planting
First, we had to clear the garden of all the remaining summer crops. We did this by cutting all of the crops at the base of the plant in order to disturb the soil as little as possible. These remaing roots will decompose, feed microbes, and leave channels for water and other bugs and worms.
Second, we pulled all mulch back and aerated the garden by using our broadfork and a smaller garden fork. To do this we forked the soil by jabbing the tool into it as deep as we could and then gently pulling back on the handle(s) to raise the soil. We then pushed the handles back up and lowered the soil back into place. Often, the soil remains raised a bit, and that’s not a problem. If it seems a little too raised, I will gently tamp it down with my foot. The point is the open up portions of the soil to allow oxygen deeper into the soil. This also helps with breaking up compacted soils and with water infiltration. We want our soils to be an environment that is oxygenated because that is the environment required for beneficial microbes that our plants depend on.
Third, we put down a nice layer of composted chicken manure from our chickens. This was a treat! For the garden and for me. I explain below in the “Chickens don’t have to be smelly” section.
Fourthly, We covered the garden back up with the mulched leaves and watered it down with a hose to add some weight and help it settle.
A week or so passed before we were able to plant our first salad greens.
Seeding the garden
To seed the garden we started by raking the mulch back. Mulch is a critical component for a gardener. Especially a no-till gardener. It’s important to remember that we should never plant into mulch. Always plant into the soil. I’d like to offer a clear explanation of why this is the case and why gardeners should never incorporate mulch into the soil, but for now, just trust that it is a bad idea. I’m sure, as much as I talk about mulch, I’ll find the right space to nerd out on mulch and soil for those who are left wanting while reading this.
After raking back the mulch, I used a garden weasel, or a garden rotary cultivator to loosen the top soil. This is about the extent of cultivating we will do in our garden. But it’s necesarry because we need loosened soil for our seed troughs.
After loosening the soil, I used our broadfork as a tool for making straight rows and troughs for our seeds. You can do this a multitude of ways. Sometimes, I use a 2x4 piece of lumber and sometimes I just take a long stick and make my rows. Whatever you have will likely work.
Once the rows are made, I spread the seeds throughout by hand. You will want a seed about every 1/2 centimeter or so. Obviously, doing this by hand you will not want to worry too much about getting it exactly right, but that average should help guide your spreading.
Then we covered the seeds and lightly watered them in. We ended up stepping on the finished rows out of necessity. We couldnt reach the middle rows without doing so. As long as its not excessive, it should be fine.
Now we wait. Thankfully the forecast is calling for some light showers in the days ahead. We will look to lightly water once a day on the dry days until the seeds sprout.
Here is a short video we made for instagram (Hence the portrait view!). It captures the steps above.
🎡 The Fair
I’m not sure if it’s the work Morgan and I are doing with A Common Life, or if its other personal work I’m doing… Or a combination of both and more, but I knew we needed to go to the fair when it was in town. I remember going as a kid and I want to give these memories to my kids as well. Normally, I’d prefer to avoid the crowds, and not spend the money. We have four kids and it requires a lot to make a trip to the fair happen. On top of that it’s hot. And you run the risk of standing in long lines with stressful moments that push you to your physical and emotional limits. And when this happens, my relational abilities diminish and all too often my kids get the brunt of this and internalize stories about themselves that aren’t true.
But we went to the fair. And I did my very best to not only physically show up, but emotionally show up and stay present - for my kids. There was funnel cakes that were eaten, rides ridden, escape artists heralded, conversations had, and people watched.
I believe it was a good experience for the whole family. I believe it was a success. And… I’m glad it won’t come around for at least another year. It’s a seasonal thing.
🐓 Sweet Smelling Chicken Manure
If you have chickens or think you will have chickens in the future, this message is for you: Chickens coops do NOT have to stink and do NOT have to be messy.
Let me explain. The way most chickens are raised and managed is the problem. It’s not the chickens. All animals poop. (If you don’t believe me, just read this book. Your kids will love it too.) The coop and chicken areas become smelly and messy whenever they are not properly bedded.
Manure, of all kinds, needs additional components to properly decompose without producing noxious smells. These additional “components” need to be materials that are typically a shade of brown in color. For example straw, chopped leaves, woodchips, sawdust, dried grass clippings etc. These materials can all be used as bedding and in this case as mulching material in the chickens run (or coop. whevever the chickens spend most of their time.) Each of the aformentioned materials have pros and cons, but for brevity’s sake, let me just recommend straw, chopped leaves, and/or woodchips.
The reason I am bringing this up again ( I wrote about our chickens and how we use a deep bedding system to avoid nasty smells and a messy run here) Is because I recently scooped out 25+ gallons of composted chicken manure from my chicken coop to put in the garden. This composted manure came straight from the coop that is roughly 9’ X 5’. After scooping it out, I was honestly shocked at how clean it was. Over the course the previous 5 months I had added 3-4 bales of straw, 40-60 gallons of fallen leaves collected the previous fall/winter, and a dozen or bags of cut grass straight from the mower. This bedding material, along with the manure, had decomposed and formed a sweet smelling, composted material that I gladly layered onto my garden.
Remember this: The key to raising chickens in a manner that isn’t smelly and isn’t overly messy, is to keep their run and coop deeply bedded with brown/woody materials like straw, woodchips, and chopped leaves. IF you do this, not only will it not be smelly, it will eventually decompose into a sweet smelling compost!
Couple of important points of clarification
The chickens were in the coop up until the day of when I scooped out the composted manure. So there was surely some fresh, uncomposted manure in their coop. This carries pathogens and like most fresh manure, doesn’t smell good. I didn’t notice any fresh manure (rarely ever did) and I didn’t smell any (never had). I believe the reason for this is because of the amount of bedding I use. It’s the only explanation I have.
Whenever I added new bedding and occasionally whenever I fed them, I would take a 3 pronged hoe and mix the bedding up with the soil. Basically stir it around a little bit and loosen up any compacted areas. This helps aerate the bedding/manure mixture with oxygen which is needed for the decomposition to take place. It can decompose without oxygen, but it can take too long and is a different process that has a tendency to produce bad smells.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I scooped the run out. I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. I’d be curious to get an analysis on what came out. As you can see in the pictures, its not completely broken down. But overall, it was broken down enough for me to feel comfortable layering it on to the garden.
I was expecting an extra step in this process. The extra step being in between the scooping and the putting in the garden. I thought I would need to allow the manure to age more outside the coop. The reason I felt comfortable putting it straight in the coop is because of it’s texture and smell. It was soft and friable and smelled like soil.
Last point: You never want to put fresh manure on or in your garden. Well, Actually I shouldn’t say never. There are reasons you may want to do that, but generally its a bad idea. (Also, some manures are more safe to put directly on than others, like rabbit manure. )The reasons for avoiding a direct application of manure to a garden bed is because the manure can be too “hot”. Sometimes literally, but mainly with it’s nutrient content. It can “burn” plants with an excess of nutrients, primarily nitrogen, and it can actually set your plants back. It’s better to always compost manure, or let it age covered outside for a few months before applying to your garden.
🤝 Jujubes and Friends
Ever heard of Jujubes? We visited some dear friends and they introduced us to these tasty little fruits known as jujubes or Chinese Dates. And boy, were they delicious!
Their taste was buttery with notes of maple and apple. We ate them late in the season as the fruits were beginning to over ripen. Early season fruits are said to taste more like apples.
This tree is easy to grow and requires minimal maintenance. An excellent orchard addition!
🎧 New Podcast Out! 🎧
In this episode Morgan and I talk about preserving basil, noisy children and limitations, Sunshine Tea, and more.
Listen in on Spotify | Apple | Google | BuzzSprout
I don’t think it was clear that the title of the book is “All Animals Poop.” If I had not read the book I wouldn’t have known and would have thought you forgot to include the book title. You might need to clarify this.
Love you, mama