Mid-May in the GAV: David’s Compost Lesson

This is the second time Rebecca’s ex-husband David has volunteered to come over and teach whoever wants to learn, the intricacies of perfect compost, which, for him requires manure. That’s the first criterion, and we had to get it before he would come over. So we did. On Friday, after the Thursday dinner; before the CSA.

Here’s Dan, “pretending to be a union man” while Solan and Rebecca do the heavy work. The pick-up, by the way, was borrowed from Dandelion Village, across town.

Protected overnight, in case of rain.

Then, in the morning, Dan decided to be the manure bucket man.

They spent some time on the structure to hold the compost —

— and David spent a lot of time explaining, as well as building up the compost pile, which of course is layered.

David said if you use sticks, put them at the bottom; otherwise, layer manure or soil above any rotting food. (Yes! Finally, all the rotting stuff we’ve got had around here in buckets just waiting for this day!) They also layered some old leaves and lots of fresh greens (burdock grows aplenty around here).

Attaching the front board to keep the whole thing in.

It’s one humungous pile, and should decompose quickly. Stay tuned.

Mid-May in the GAV: First week, new CSA

We did a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in 2016, thanks mostly to Briana, who then moved to Valpairiso. We skipped 2017. Now we’re back at it, with new people, Solan and Alex. We were going to have offer five full memberships, but Rebecca decided that, if we want to eat from the garden too, then we’d better cap it at three. These include two half memberships, one full membership (a local co-op), and one half-membership that is again split in two. So five altogether, but of various sizes. We might be able to do more next year, as the demand is certainly there. At least four people tried to get in after we closed the group.

So  . . first week, a week earlier than expected, we began, with mostly greens, as you can imagine. Friday evening we pick the produce. Members can either come get it after 7 p.m. or wait until morning.

Green Acres Permaculture Village 2018 CSA!

We offered a CSA for the growing season in 2016. Then, due to the departure of Brianna, the main CSA leader, we did not offer a CSA for 2017. This year, we’re back, with Solan (Nathan) and Alex, both relatively new residents, in the lead. In 2016 we had enough food for 3 full shares and one half share. This year, we’re growing enough to offer 5 full shares! This notice just went up on our fb page. So if you want in, better let us know ASAP.