This project will always remain current; there can never be enough healthy topsoil.
With just one trailer load of imported local biomass every week, this adds up to 5 tons of material per year with which to enrich the overgrazed, eroded clay soils. These materials primarily include straw, wood chips, goat manure from a local organic farm, leaves and other compostable matter.
Cover crop growing in a mulched area with minimal watering 
Root vegetables busting through the clay 
5x8ft trailer packed solid with leaves covered hundreds of feet of a natural low-lying area
Mulching is our mantra. . .
The Wild West version of that statement might be, “Trespassers will be Composted”.
Fervent growth with minimal ground cover 
Dormant seeds bursting to life 
Where there are wood chips.. 
…there is life.
In an effort to reduce dust and to attempt to avoid unnecessarily disturbing every inch of ground, a decision was made to establish trails with wood chips. In addition to the connective placemaking potential inherent in the trails themselves, they allow for easier navigation through the site at night.
By the time the summer weather cooled and gave way to rain in mid-autumn, new vegetation sprouted up from the wood chips within a few days of spreading. It will be intriguing to see what latent life forms pop up as we continue to cover the bare ground with life-giving, water-harboring organic material.
One of the most direct ways we can regularly impact the land is by covering the bare clay. There are abundant resources in the local area, sometimes for purchase and sometimes in exchange for the labor of moving them from point A to point B. This is one of the ways that we’re using collected funds from our Patreon campaign. Bales of straw from the local farm supply and wood chips can be bought by the trailer load or brought in by dump truck. Leaves and branches, or manure from local farms are free but take a good deal of effort to transport. Overall, a diverse rotating selection of carbon-based biomass continues to be gathered and spread on the land in areas where life seems most likely to sprout forth. Let’s hope nature continues to amaze us..
