Salado Food Forest Project

This is just a place to post progress on the food forest project in Salado, TX ... the property I'm currently moving my nursery to.

Today was spent unloading lemon rinds and spreading woodchips ...with a short grass harvesting session!

The pool is filling up with spent mushroom blocks (browns), lemon rinds (greens), leaves and grass.   Next week we will need to flip into a giant pile, wetting it as we go.   It will probably compost at 140 to 160 degrees for a couple weeks.   When it cools to 120, I flip again.  This will make about 1 pickup load full of potting soil

Spreading woodchips and leveling out a spot for my trailer are two other ongoing activities here at this Salado site.

The compost collection tank is full with over 4000 gallons of lemon rinds, used mushroom blocks, leaves, grass, and 65 gallons of chicken manure.   We will cover with a tarp and let condensation perculate thru for maybe a week.

Meanwhile, i used another 65 gallon bin of chicken coup scoopout material to start a no dig garden.  This bin of manure has more rocks and dirt anyway ...not preferable for my smooth compost

This is just pictures for BB "Put on a tarp"  ...after pics coming in 6 months!

Materials to be covered

The 1st "flippining" in Salado.  This pile should heat up to around 160 deg.

When it cools back down to 120 ...usually in about 3 weeks ...i will flip it again.  It should be ready to use a couple weeks after that.  Im anxious to see if everything goes the same as it did in Jarrell

...our idea of a new kitchen!

The compost was flipped on Thursday, Feb 27, by Mon, march3rd ...160deg

...and to show how much flipping helps with composting, we left a foot of material in the collection pool ...only in the 80's there.

Well, leaving some material behind also helps with not stabbing the pool with pitchfork

This pile should be ready as potting soil in 4 to 6 weeks.

Its a sad time.  The owners pulled the plug on the Salado project.   We have until June 6th to get our stuff off ...but hopefully they will give us a little more time as there is A LOT of material out there.  Its so weird how you just kinda get a vibe that something isn't going to work out.   I had already kinda put this project on the back burner.   It's a lot harder situation for my friend who was living there, but they have already found a new place to move their RV to.  

My friend is moving to an Equestrian operation in Florence, TX that is open to all the gardening and permaculture stuff we were trying to do in Salado.  i found someone willing to take me in on a nearby property in Florence, TX.   Sooo, going forward, this Salado food forest project is off for now (who knows who will buy that property ... maybe someone who can see the value of all the wood chips we stacked there).   Fertility will be rolling down that hill for years methinks

I'll be starting a new thread for the "Florence Food Forest Project" soon ...as long as the owner there is cool with me documenting that land here.   She already has a great start with chickens and lots of food bearing trees planted.   This lady got a large portion of the same wood chips we got in Salado!   That's my recommended 1st step for anyone in Central Texas ...get woodchips ...lots.   After a foot of chips lays on the ground for a year, you can plant anything.

So I guess this is basically the last post for Salado ... that 1st round of compost is finished now.  We are gonna just haul it out.   I def recommend folks who don't own the land to partner with people who don't have a note on the land.   The owners need to not be under any financial pressure.   At my skill level at least, it takes a few years to regenerate fertility enough to turn a profit on the land.

Ah - Sorry to hear you're not able to continue there James. Still we tie a knot and move on, hopefully leaving the land better than we found it and with lessons learnt.
Good luck with the new project!

I think one of the lessons here is to learn to build the food forests without all the "materials" of civilization.  I'm spending way too much time hauling stuff around.  That stuff has been great for jump-starting this adventure, but it looks like its time to figure out how to work with whatever is onsite already.   Some really nice treated lumber I'm looking at moving for the 3rd time now ... grrrr, it was only $100 for 3 truck loads, I couldn't resist.   Now there's a voice in the back of my head saying: "...see, you should only use all natural materials anyway!"