James Paris

My brother recently bought a Valais Blacknose sheep (Sean the sheep), and it follows him about like a pet dog! This is Sean wearing my bro's cap - which I think looks great on him So good in fact it is featured in this Azon book ... webpage
The Valais Blacknose is said to be "The cutest sheep in the World" and certainly Sean lives up to that title very well I think
Anyone else got their own Valais Blacknose story/pics they want to share?

Cardboard will certainly work under you growing area to suppress the weeds, but the area you walk around in? Maybe not so much. I tend to cover the whole area with woven weed fabric, then place raised beds around where I need them. Check out the pics. The heavy woven landscape fabric will last for years even in the walking area.
You can see what I mean in this post also https://planterspost.com/growing-tomatoes-in-pots/

Another great tip is to re-grow sprouting onions - you know the onions at the back of the shelf you forgot about and now are trying to grow again?
The general idea is that you peel away the layers of the sprouting onion until you can clearly define the bulbs forming under the skin. You then just seperate the bulbs - usually 2-3 bulbs per onion - and replant them!
I've just done a blog post on this method including an instructional video you may find interesting :)
https://planterspost.com/sprouted-onions-and-how-to-re-grow-them/

Hi,
   Yes indeed there is a substitute fort straw, in fact I don't use straw at all in my Hugelkultur beds! It really is all down to how you actually construct the bed. Beginning with the heavy timbers (of course) I continue to infill the bed with smaller twigs and then grass cuttings packed in to add nitrogen content, before finishing off with topsoil.
You can see the whole process here at https://planterspost.com/fall-gardening-ideas-hugelbed/  it includes a video of the whole process :)

The list of what should NOT go into compost is fairly large to be sure. Some things are just to obvious to mention - but I will do anyway :)
To state the obvious, only organic material should go into the compost heap. I say this because my sister for one, seems to think that plastic flower pots and labels will rot down with the compost!
OK so back to organic no-no's
Dog or cat poo and any poo from a carnivore should not go into compost.
Straw is ok in limited amounts to add 'brown content'
Dairy products
Eggs, meat & fish (except the egg shells which are ok)
Any baked food such as break, cakes etc
No cooked foods especially greasy foods.
Glossy mags or colored paper - brown or white plain paper only.
Pig manure (this has to be composted seperately as it can carry dangerous worms pathogens)

The reasons that various materials cannot be used in compost vary, but usually reveolve around the fact that they cannot rot at all, or they can rot but leave behind unwelcome pathogens or worms dangerous to humans.
There is also the fact that certain dairy products can attract vermin or even Bears to your compost heap.
For more info on composting and building a 3-bin composting area check out this post https://planterspost.com/pallet-composting/

Fantastic! Sounds like a great adventure you're setting out on. Have you heard of Hugelkultur gardening? This is a method that would suit you very well as it is a Raised Mound made from forest timbers, initially from the Black forest area of Germany where they had lots of forest but little growing area.
Autumn is a great time to set up a Hugelbed if you want it to be ready for planting vegetables in the Spring - and it looks like you will have plenty of wood and forest clearings to get it started!
You can read all about the Hugelkultur method (a type of raised bed gardening) on my blog where I also have a link to my book on how to build a Hugelkultur
All the best - looks like you are going to have a busy fall/winter :)

There are a few good books on Hugelkultur including my own! (on Amazon of course) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1679974963/
Also check out my blog page for more info on Hugelkultur Raised Bed gardening techniques  https://planterspost.com/fall-gardening-ideas-hugelkultur/