It’s decided. The first thing we’re growing on our newly acquired lot is SOIL! We reasoned that we can’t be self-sustaining while being dependent on soil inputs from retailers to grow our nourishment. It’s also more difficult (and expensive) than I think it should be to source organic soil. Trusting the purity of these acquired inputs is even more difficult.

We’ve been obsessively collecting fallen leaves around the land.

Shout-out to Uncle Willie who has been religiously collecting and hauling leaves from his yard for us.

We designated a spot for him to pile his leaf bags (instead of leaving them at his curb for trash pickup) which has created this ever-growing mound. Every week, I pierce lots of ventilation holes into the new bags. The contents will eventually break down and be added to our soil mix. This leaf mold will act as a soil conditioner, reduce erosion, improve drainage, and help keep weeds at bay.

Uncle Bill gave us a ride in his truck to load up on more organic straw bales. (We love our Honda Civic, but I’m working to manifest our pickup truck for farm life.)

We used some of the bales to contain our first (of many) soil garden raised bed and piled it high with leaves and yard debris. Now, we wait for nature to do its thang and turn this pile of “waste” into a rich, life-giving organic input for our farm. What a blessing.