Candace Cea

Thank you for the tree ID. I was wondering. We in Central Texas do not have such large trees. Not even close. I agree your system there is amazing.

Just a comment. I could not find a natural fiber beanie anywhere for a long time and then started seeing them for high prices as part of a charity clothing line. Finally, just as I had decided to buy and consider it a donation, my daughter went to Iceland and found a simple beanie for me for Christmas (still waiting to see it). It cost the same. Handmade. Probably out of wool. My point is that there is a market out there. There needs to be attention paid to exposure in the market. The idea of having regional co-ops is a very good idea - like the organic dairy people have. I guess I should go on Etsy or someplace. I'd like to buy some more things but my old sources have changed or dried up. High quality, consistent sizing, good customer service. Buying from the producer is becoming more and more popular. This approach works so often it might work again!

My experiments showed horse manure from regular commercial hay with its herbicides deterred plant growth for about 2 years. You can compost it for that long and then use it. If you layer it, hay and manure, to make dirt it may sprout weeds sooner than that for some reason. However, I use fresh organic horse manure for an herbicide for some weeds (leafy spurge - pile FRESH manure around base and spray with agricultural vinegar). This is my # 1 area of investigation right now in the fields. You may be able to use commercial produced manure alone
for weed control.

Yeah, compost tea would be good. Amazingly we have never gotten around to making any!!! We have gotten the best hay using biodynamic preparations and the biodynamic pepper sprays do work for weeds (like homeopathics for the earth).

We grow organic coastal in the US SW. Replacing the nitrogen is not so difficult, though your soil is probably in a very bad way as the result of the use of chemical fertilizers. The major problem organic growers have is with weeds and that has discouraged many who want to switch. We have a spraying program worked out for our coastal bermuda which includes relatively heavy applications of corn gluten in the Winter and Spring and then hitting it with the fish based concoctions during the growing season (Summer and early Fall). Then in Fall there is the seaweed and light application of corn gluten. You can use poultry manures but we sell hay sometimes and have to use well composted litter for health safety. The # 1 best thing for our grass is compost but that's expensive for us with our acreage. I am using what I make and working my way out. Experimentation is key. I just discovered that in our rather warm Winters and Spring I can cover the coastal with fresh horse manure (no herbicides in it since we had enough for ourselves this year) and the coastal thrived and it deterred the weeds. Can't wait till next January!