Eric Hanson

That’s what you want!!

If you get plenty of nitrogen in the bales along with plenty of moisture, you’ll have a good set of decomposing bedding by the end of the season.

I had another thought for you—coffee grounds.  If you can get ahold of used coffee grounds and work them in and in between the bales, you have one of the best-perfect items to really start decomposition.  They have about the perfect balance of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and water.

And while this shouldn’t be a problem, just make certain you get a good supply of microbes.  If you have any doubt, just find the most fertile place on your property and dig up a few handfuls.  That should be sufficient to get microbes in place to do their jobs,


Sounds like you have a pretty solid plan.



Eric

Richard,

I would really soak those bales, but something you will likely find is that the bales can only get so wet.  One of the beauties of the bale system is that it is hard to overwater—the extra just runs out onto the ground.  

I like your thoughts about using manure as it is pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

William also has really good points about making a slurry to aid breakdown.  But even better is the use of Stropharia mushrooms.  If you decide to go with Stropharia, make no mistake, those bales will be not just decomposed but utterly destroyed (by appearance).  The resulting material will be superb gardening material,


So far I think you are off to a great start!




Eric

I have three tools, but they are hardly magic:

1)  flat bladed shovel

2)  hoe

3) 5-gallon bucket


I have gone out and either worked the doggie-doo with the shovel or used the hoe to scrape it on to the shovel.  I then dump it into the bucket and carry it away.


Its still fairly disgusting, but such are the fun experiences of having a dog--I miss having a dog.



Eric

Hi Richard,

The straw bales could be a very good option for you.  And yes, the heat is a real issue, but it is something you can overcome, especially if you can keep moisture on it.

For conditioning, although I used blood and bone meal, you might get better results by peeing on it.  And its cheaper too.  Urine is an excellent fertilizer, but it can be a bit hot.  If you can get the urine to start breaking down the straw, you can mitigate this problem.

That said, I would still work in some manure if you can do it.  My reasoning is that the bacteria from the manure will happily add to the microbe party taking place in the strawbale.  They will probably make it break down faster as well.  When I use the manure, I worked in in on the sides and especially in between the bales.  Basically I was trying to get microbial action going everywhere I could.

Regardless of how you get the nitrogen on the bales, they will break down--surprisingly quick.  I doubt that they could survive to work another season, though you could use them as a base on which to set new, fresh bales.  This would add yet more microbial activity to the new bales.

But for my purposes, I like just add this decomposed straw to the garden bed as a sort of mulch--and a very fertile one at that!



Good luck on your project, please let us know how it works out!



Eric

Hi John,

It was July--HOT!  And I might not have had the bale properly saturated.

But that's OK, it was a fun project anyways.  And when the season was done, all that composted straw was a good amendment to add to the garden.





Eric

Several years ago I tried my hand at strawbale gardening.  If I remember correctly, I used bloodmeal, a little bit of bonemeal and composted manure as sources of nitrogen to start the decomposition.  I also planted in little fertile holes filled with that same composted manure.  

The strawbales did indeed break down as long as I kept watering them which was easy enough to do--until we left for about a week.

When I came back, it was obvious that the plants were suffering from heat stress.  The bales did break down significantly and what did not break down that year simply became organic matter that I raked onto the soil of my garden beds.

Honestly, this is something that I would consider doing again.




Eric

Hi John,

I would wager that if you did homesteading as a "job" or got a paycheck for astronomy, then neither would be as rewarding.  Research demonstrates this.  People who volunteer for some activity (maybe for a local charity) are typically enthusiastic about their time committed to the effort.  But when some of them become actual paid staff members for doing essentially the same thing, they then look at the exact same activity as a chore and not as a fun activity.


Eric

Reading all of this makes me smile.

I remember reading from somewhere, quite some time ago a scholarly analysis about hobbies as to how they relate to our professional lives.  While I can't remember the exact term that was used, I will use my own term--Contrast Theory of Life Satisfaction.

The idea was that people tend to live two different lives--one at work, the other at home.

For instance, say a person worked at a job that was very dirty (mechanic, garbage collector, anything hands-on that then got either dirty or messy).  That person's home was likely to be very neat, tidy, organized and clean.  By contrast, the consummate office professional who always looked presentable, had a perfectly organized desk in a tidy office where he sat wearing a perfectly immaculate suit went home and did things to get messy.  My father worked for State Farm insurance as a computer programmer for his entire career.  For the longest time, there was one president of State Farm.  During the day, he did typical office and business type of things.  But on evenings and weekends, he got to give into his favorite hobby--fixing up old bulldozers!  What a bizarre contrast.  But what a great example of how home satisfaction is fulfilled by fundamentally different activities than work.

For myself, I deal with abstractions about Psychology and American History.  At home I like to tinker with home-built battery boxes, dig in gardens and play with tractors.

Hobbies will never be dead.  Hobbies help us be more than just a cog in a machine.  Hobbies help us express our creativity and imagination.  Hobbies give us mental breaks from the stresses of work and hobbies make our brains work in a way that gets them out of the ruts they typically get into while at work.

I know that while I love teaching, the last thing in the world I want to do at the end of the school day is to talk about school (unless it is a fun story!).  I don't want to look at different lesson plans or look up lesson activities.  I want to be done with that world and let my mind engage in another.  Good.  If my mind never left the classroom, I would hate what I do and I would never have the stories I have to make class fun.


Hobbies rule.


Eric

The daikon radish seed I ordered is a pack of 500 seeds.  I have three beds that are 6x16 feet.  

Does anyone know what the spacing should be for the radish--for the purposes of loosening clay soil, not for consumption?

Would 500 seeds be enough for the three beds?


Someone please check my math.


6x16=96sqft

96sqft X 3 beds = 288 sqft

Would spacing at 1 foot intervals be appropriate?  If so, then 500 sqft is plenty to cover the three beds.


BUT


If it needs to be denser, I need some kind of idea of how dense.  And if 1 radish/sqft is too much, what would be more appropriate?



Also, I am seeding Crimson Clover with the radish and I have a feeling that the clover will grow much taller than the radish



Thoughts anyone?  Feel free to poke holes in my plan or generally offer suggestions.



Thanks in advance,


Eric

And so far it looks like it will stay a dream for a while.

I think I have mentioned before that I need to move my garden beds as the current ones are located in a place where it is hard to get a fence to wrap around.  My new area is in my tall, grassy area and I designated three of six future beds in fall by laying down cardboard and laying some branches on top so as to smother the grass underneath.

Strong winds blew the branches and cardboard right off the ground and into the air!

And unfortunately, while I would like to have started the beds this spring, it looks like I am going to have a neck surgery soon--I am getting a disk replaced between C6 and C7 due to having broken my C6 when I was 15.  And this likely means that I will not be doing any heavy-exertion type of activities until late summer.

In the meantime I ordered some Crimson Clover (inoculated) and some daikon radish to prep the ground in advance.


I hope to get some pictures soon.



Eric