Compost @ MindSay

I am trying to be an organic gardener. It's partly an ethical good for the earth thing but there is this streak in me from the 1960's Whole Earth Catalog that says everyone should have basic survival skills that don't hurt the earth but allow us to thrive. With that philosophy in mind I took a glass on edible plants so I could forage safely.
I learned how to start a fire for warmth; I made sure I could preserve my own food - although I don't that much-  and I learned not to use pesticides and chemicals in my garden. I confess to using some pellets that make the earth more alkaline under my many camellias and rhododendrons. and I add something to the composter that speeds up the process of making dirt.

But I weed by hand. It's a comforting and soothing activity. I put on one of three pair of gardening trousers, knees pads, washable gardening clogs, long socks, rubber covered garden gloves and a broad brimmed straw hat with a chin strap so it doesn't fall off as I climb around in the under story of the yard which is becoming a naturalists dream. . I have my hand tools in a gardening bucket filled with nooks and pockets- I keep it right inside the door near the boot trays and cat leashes... and go out and pick at each clump of grass, dandelion  or chickweed that I can find.  It's funny about weeds because some of them I cultivate:  the wood violets and the storks bill alone because while they are weeds to others I love them and they fill in the spaces so well and have such wonderful flowers. and occasionally a tree blows in- that's how we got two of the vine maples along the studio's  southern wall.  sometime it's worth it to let a plant alone for a season as it might do something interesting and you'll like it.

It's the same thing that makes me mend clothing with interesting and perfectly placed little patches and it's a small way of making the universe right when things go awry. And heaven knows that happens a lot.

Leopold said it best, " A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."  And on that note I spent my day off yesterday doing pretty much the same  thing that I do in my working life.  Why? Because it is right.
On my visit to the Bat Cave the other day I noticed that there was begining to be a severe erosion problem on the trail leading to the cave.  I took it upon myself to do a little something about it and I have been playing around with an idea for low tech/low cost small scale ersion control tools and this was the perfect chance to put my idea to work.  The idea is to slow down the flow of water so that the soil suspended in it will drop and not be washed away.  To do this a small dam must be constructed to stop the water.   Here's how to do it.

First, take an old burlap bag and cut it into strips that are 10 inches wide.  Next sew the long edges together to make a burlap tube.  After that sew across one end of the tube and turn the whole thing inside out, so that you basically make a big burlap sock.


After you make the giant sock go down to the compost pile (or you could use bagged compost) and fill the sock with the compost.  Once it is full then sew up the open end.


After the compost filled tubes are made, place them across the area of erosion so that they will check the flow of water.  And drive large nails (like the kind you use for tree spiking) through the tubes and into the ground to hold the tubes in place.


After a few rains the areas behind the little compost dams will begin to fill in with soil.  Once there is a little dirt there, plant the filled in area with native grasses to hold the soil in place for the long term.  After awhile the burlap will decompose and the grass roots will hold the soil in place.

This is an easy project that cost me about 45 cents to make a half dozen erosion control tubes.  I figure that just about everyone knows of a spot where we are loosing our valuable top soil. Now you know how to fix the problem, all that is left is the going out and getting it done.

Of course after my little project I stayed to enjoy the bats.  Here is a picture of a Swainson's Hawk trying to catch a bat for dinner.