Starting From Scratch

For the last couple of years, I've been excited about the Food Not Lawns movement. And sometimes, when I get excited, I get a little impulsive. Sometimes. In my enthusiasm to our lawn turned into a food forest, I've made some poor decisions that have ended up making more work for us. First mistake, not watering the lawn. We decided it was wasteful to water, and then that meant we had to mow it. We thought we were saving water and had more free time not having to mow. However, when the grass died, that meant the bindweed could take over. It's known by a couple names: morning glory because of the lovely little white flowers that bloom every morning; and bindweed, because it chokes other plants out. I admit, I was lulled into complacency by those flowers.

Which brings me to my second mistake. We rototilled our garden plot in an effort to get rid of the bindweed. Insidous thing about bindweed, it stores carbohydrates and protein in the roots, so it can sprout from a fragment. So by tilling it, we just spread it out more. There are a couple more things that make our yard difficult to garden in that have nothing to do with me. This area used to be a river bed, so the soil is very rocky. Also, we have a grouping of trees on the south east corner of the yard that we call The Island; it blocks a fair bit of sunlight. Well, I should say had a grouping of trees. We became amateur lumberjacks today, and The Island is gone!

So, enough moping, now we have a plan! Kinda, sorta. Well, a good general idea. We're going to use the Douglas fir trees we cut down today to create a hurgle burkle. That's not the real name; it's really called hugelkultur I'm just terrible at pronouncing words I've never heard before. We're also going to start watering the lawn again, and to that end, we got the IBC rainwater collectors hooked up to the pump, and the in-ground sprinkler system running. To tackle the rocks, Kelly is looking at renting a bobcat with a sifting bucket. Because it's very efficient. Not because he wants to play with some heavy equipment, so just get that thought out of your head. And so begins the journey of turning our lawn into a food forest.