Snowfall at Dun Hagan

We're starting to see some semi-regular rain now. It's still not what we normally get, but it's a sight more than what we've been getting so I'm happy with it.

One of the reasons I'm happy to see it is that I can finally get all of the bags of shredded paper off my back porch and in the hen yard where they belong! I haven't been spreading any because with everything being so dry it would simply end up blowing all over the place making a big mess. If it gets rained on once in a while it'll mostly stay put as I want it. There's about twenty bags of paper out there now looking brilliant against the dull background.

I like the shredded paper because it's a major "brown" in that it's a big carbon source with virtually no nitrogen in it so it can soak up a good deal of the nitrogen in the copious manure the chickens put down. Along about the end of August or beginning of September I'll rake it all up to spread on the incipient fall garden much as I did last winter for the spring garden that is bearing now.

Initially I had some concerns about toxins in either the paper or printer toner, but after spending a few hours reading MSDS sheets for the toner and reading up on the paper I decided it would be OK. The toner is mostly comprised of carbon black and some polyester resins, none of which seemed to be a reason for concern. There's a major poultry outfit in Australia that's doing what I'm doing with their shredded office paper.

The paper I forked out of the hen house for the spring garden pretty well disappeared completely in about two to three weeks after I tilled it and the manure in then watered it a time or two. I still haven't fertilized the garden yet and it's all new ground never before planted so it's just the paper/manure that's powering it.

I like the sustainability of this. The paper is a waste by-product that would eventually end up at a recycler and the hens are going to produce manure no matter what so if I wanted to conserve it as much as I can I'd have to come up with the browns from somewhere to mix it with. That's 12-15 wheelbarrow loads of litter that I didn't have to rake up and helps to replenish the nutrients that are lost out of the cycle. A win-win situation so far as I can see it.

I'll be loading the dryer this weekend with a couple more batches of squash to dry for the winter. We'll be eating the first okra as well now that I've cut enough. Naturally I forgot to put my gloves on before cutting the pods and it ate me up as it always does. I may even pay the exorbitant price the market wants for wild caught Florida shrimp to make some gumbo this weekend.

.....Alan.