Farm1 wrote:
I meant to mention this yesterday and forgot. Hay is indeed wonderful
stuff but that bale pictured in the cite you gave with the beautiful
black cat is straw and not hay. Straw is good for very little except
as bedding for animals. It has no real nutrient level so will rob
your soil of nitrogen in the rotting process if you plan on using it
as a mulch.

Thanks a lot for that - I hadn't thought about it at all. I suppose I
was thinking about hay indeed. It's now by our pond on the lotty where
we sat and ate yesterday (this is definitely not an usual october day
at all). I had plan to mulch indeed - the strawbs for a start and use
the rest on the paths, but not until next year. There's very little
point now. Also I thought to use them as a gigantic planting pot for
flowers next years. Wouldn't it be ok to mulch the strawbs with it
though?

Don't waste it since you have it but if you want to buy hay in future
don't get this stuff and if it was sold to you as being "hay" rather
than "straw" then don't buy it at the same place again because they
don't know thier product. Lucerne (also known as alfalfa) hay is the
creme de la creme of hays but it's (relatively) expensive, clover or
meadow hay is next down the line in quality

Meadow hay would be my favourite. I just love the smell. I've never
used it because I don't find the need for it, but it conjures up
childhood memories, and buying one bale would be a little silly I
think... and I can imagine the face of the farmer! I'm also bang on in
the city centre and find it a bit odd to use such a material when I can
use other things. But if I need to mulch, I'll make sure it's not with
hay!

We got around 20 bales this summer for a project in the city centre. I
didn't buy it, I had enough to do with the research and design of the
project and cooked for the people's kitchen we ran. The bales are from
last summer (a farmer friend of a chap in our group) and was sold to us
on the cheap, there was lots of lil' spider's in it and some bettles
too ... I'm surprised we didn't find a mouse. Our project was to show
the variety of things one can do with straw bales - cooking, one made a
hole in it and slowly stewed some veges in a pot. It was already cooked
..... I think it would have taken us 2 days, if not longer, to cook the
stew )) We made structures, talked about the process of staw bale
houses, planted some strawbs in one and flowers in the other and mocked
about in them until late in the evening. The scene was sureal and we've
had lots of fun. I spent lots of time with these folks, we striped and
swam in rivers, we've explored many gardens and cook and ate and slept
under the stars. We came as one with our feelings about the sensuality
of the valleys, and forests, and fields, we've worked hard on many
gardens under a very hot sun and the whole experience has been one of
my life bestest moments.

Though if there's a river I've dreamt to throw myself into, it's still
the Blackwood River ;o)