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Improving the Soil

Last year was a little frustrating! I planted seeds and nothing happened...only weeds. I did some reading on soil and its composition. Yep, I noticed some of the weeds talked about in the books I was reading. Big news! You can tell what kind of soil you have by looking at your weeds. You can even tell what nutrients are in your soil by the weeds. So this fall, we've been in the process of amending the soil. We added some mature compost on top of some close-growing weeds we had mowed down. We've added composted goat manure on top of that. We've put out grass clippings and will top that off with leaves. The plan is to not till in the spring but to leave the beds as they are and plant into the grass and leaves. Here's hoping for lots of earthworms, great soil, beneficial insects, and healthy plants!

It's a lot easier to get this done this year. As of Dec. 30, I have a full-time partner in our venture. Dwight has retired from his paying job and is busy at work shoveling stuff for the garden. There's a nice rhythm to life that we have not had before. Looking forward to the days ahead!