Jenn Hill

There's a coffee shop in Portland that recently started paying their employees an extra $30 per paycheck for them to use to help someone less fortunate. It's such a nice idea.

This is such an exciting, inspiring idea!

Yes, I did specify that I didn't want cedar or laurel but it didn't occur to me that there would be eucalyptus until it was here.

We received a load through chipdrop today. I'm not sure I'd use the service again. The truck dropped the chips so they covered half of the sidewalk. Also half the load was eucalyptus leaves and branches which are allelopathic and toxic to animals. Now we have a mountain of half unusable mulch in our driveway.

We received a truckload of free woody mulch. About a third of the pile is shredded eucalyptus leaves and branches which smells very strong. I was planning to use this for paths and some as bed mulch for the winter. I have read that it can be toxic to cats and chickens both of which will be walking on the paths. Now I'm not sure what to do. Should I compost the eucalyptus or should I try to find someone to take it off my hands? There was also a lot of pine and needles. Is this going to be safe to use even just for paths?

Just curious if there are any types of mushrooms / fungi that are harmful to the soil or garden. I'm seeing many different types of mushrooms in my yard. Is there anything to watch out for?

Ok, the leaves are fuzzy but there is no milkiness
I can clear away some of the soil tomorrow and take a picture. Is there anything I should look for?
Thanks!

This started growing in my garden in a shaded spot next to a spirea. Any idea what it is? It looks lettuce like.

Hello,
I'm new to both permaculture and Permies.com.
I am hoping to get some advice on a hugelkultur bed layout. My yard had a trench at the base of a small (2 1/2 - 3' high) but steep hillside. We filled the trench with cardboard and then logs and branches, but now we are wondering if we should have moved the hugelkultur away from the hillside to allow for either a swale or access to the other side. We would be able to access the bed from the top and we did leave about 10" between the pile and the hill. I would rather not move the 12-15' of wood and branches if possible but would also like this bed to be as functional as can be for as long as possible. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks! Jenn