To everyone who asked - no mail box here. There nearest delivery point is 10 km (6 miles) away (that line of mailboxes) so we will get a Post Office box in Havelock. Mail (including parcels) will be secure there until we get into town to collect it.
Meanwhile back on the ranch the sun has been shining and although it's a shame to waste it, I am struggling to find the motivation to start putting up spouting brackets. It's nice just sitting in the sun drinking coffee and wandering about contemplating the shape of the landscaping plans.
Veg garden has been mapped out and I've seen about a dozen bales of rotting haylage bulldozed into a pile beside the bridge approach by SH6 (20km from here). I did 'bold' one day and asked a farmer if it was his. Answer "no" but he did give me a name. I've done a little detective legwork and now have a description of the name's house but have yet to actually locate it.
I shall persist. Not many people value 12 cubic metres of rotten hay, so I trust it's not going anywhere anytime soon. If I'm successful in my plot it will become deep mulch on my no-dig veg beds.
No-dig is the objective because this soil has probably never been turned over even by an agricultural plough, so the soil structure is undisturbed. That is good for all sorts of things but particularly aeration, drainage, and soil microbes. It also means that I don't have to try and extract the mountain of rocks that lie just below the surface.
Here's what came out of removing valuable topsoil from just 4 or 5 metres of path (a metre wide, the path will be covered in pine bark or woodchips).
The topsoil was used to fill a dip in the proposed veg garden.
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| Wee dog using one of said rocks for a pillow. |
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| Wee dog moves around depending on where the activity is. Plenty of rocks to choose for pillows |
Wee dog has the right idea about making best use of the sunshine. Not sure about choice of pillow though.
ReplyDeleteHari Om
ReplyDeleteAw, Scully knows the best way to snoopervise! Meanwhile, nothing wrong with you taking a little coffee break (without clock) to meditate on the possibilities! YAM xx
Scully is just delighted to have human company. I wish you luck in your search for well-rotted hay and if you can find some well-rotted manure too, would that help?
ReplyDeleteTook me a bit before I realised that it was haylage!! Blogger wants us to write haulage!! That would be a valuable haul !! When I saw where CAT near Machynlleth grew their veges..on what had Ben just slate waste...one can grow anything anywhere... nearly!!
ReplyDeleteYou do have a good supervisor.. although I agree with Jaycee regarding the choice of pillow!!
Thanks I have corrected the spelling (again)
DeleteI think wee dog is very clever. A nice warm rock to rest your head while you bask in sunshine
ReplyDeleteThe Wee Dog has now stolen my heart! Scully, I love you, oh yes I do... yowsa on the rocks.. if they were here you could sell them, our garden shops sell a lot of rocks, some similar to these. On no on the mailbox.... not as bad as it could be, since we get most mail on the interenet
ReplyDeleteYou definitely need no dig. It looks like the land around here, endless rocks. Rotten hay. Is that silage? Whatever, sounds just what you need for your homestead.
ReplyDelete