Not Quite GAMCOD

I was pretty excited to try this here in SE Wisconsin (zone 5b) until I saw that manure had to come from the property. I'm not allowed to have animals here so that's not an option for me, but I have found several sources for free manure nearby.

So I decided I'm going to try something similar to GAMCOD but I'll do it how I'm able.

My motivation is that, after losing my job, my husband has decided that my job is to grow as much of our food as possible. This is something I've always wanted to do but struggled because my health makes it hard to work and garden.

I've never put a huge effort into gardening because my husband seems to prefer processed junk and I can't grow Coors Light. But then it occurred to me that I can at least grow MY food. And if he wants to change his eating habits, he can eat too. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I have a small garden on the east side of the house where we grow tomatoes and peppers. I am hoping to build some new beds on the west side in what I currently refer to as "the jungle."

There's quite a few trees, so it may be tricky. But there's also a lot of down trees that I plan to use to frame the garden beds. Or maybe I'll try a hugelkultur. Or maybe I'll do both.

It may not be something I can submit for the movie, but I can cover it on my blog and create videos for the YouTube channel I'm hoping to start this year. 🙂

Attached are some pictures of my jungle.

You could just forego manure.

I could, but I don't know if I'll be able to build a garden bed without adding it. I could plant right into the ground, but with all the wild stuff growing there I don't know how practical that would be.

If I get a warmer day soon I'll go down and see what I can reasonably do.

Also, I'll need something to cover the dead trees if I do a hugelkulture.

Kathleen, what a challenge! I'm in a similar situation (my work has dwindled since the start of the year and I have also taken on more intense food production). We can do it!!
I have a friend outside Madison who has a lot of native nut trees around his house, I wonder what kind of trees you have there? They might be a good resource. He also has plums and elderberries that give great yields.
As for manure, consider rabbits (if you're interested) and comfrey. A pair of rabbits produced serious amounts of manure for me in my tiny urban setting (their replacement, an abandoned pet nobod wanted, poops practically nothing.... I need to replace her and get back to serious stock rabbits). And comfrey makes a never-ending supply of fertilizer, and if you can keep it and divide it, you can divide the plants and have as many as you want.
I look forward to seeing what you do!! Happy spring to you.

Tereza Okava wrote:Kathleen, what a challenge! I'm in a similar situation (my work has dwindled since the start of the year and I have also taken on more intense food production). We can do it!!
I have a friend outside Madison who has a lot of native nut trees around his house, I wonder what kind of trees you have there? They might be a good resource. He also has plums and elderberries that give great yields.
As for manure, consider rabbits (if you're interested) and comfrey. A pair of rabbits produced serious amounts of manure for me in my tiny urban setting (their replacement, an abandoned pet nobod wanted, poops practically nothing.... I need to replace her and get back to serious stock rabbits). And comfrey makes a never-ending supply of fertilizer, and if you can keep it and divide it, you can divide the plants and have as many as you want.
I look forward to seeing what you do!! Happy spring to you.

Most of the trees here are oak and some useless trees that I hope to take down (like box elder). But I have tons of wild berries - blackberries, gooseberries, and mulberries. I think I also have a couple of choke cherries. Maybe I'll make some wine, but I plan to freeze a lot of berries and make jelly/jam. I'd be thrilled if I had plums!

I would like to get rabbits but unless they are free with cages it's not an option right now. It's funny because he wants me to produce food but he doesn't want to to spend any money. I get it, but I don't know that I can do what he's expecting without any money.

I'm lucky I bought a bunch of seeds on sale last year. So we'll see how it goes! 🙂