In article , "Snag"
wrote:
Chicken houses abound around here ... not so many cattle operations , but
there are a couple of horses-for-hire places . Might be a good pace to start
, if someone else hasn't already got a deal with the owners . My only
problem with composting is a shortage of green stuff to add to the pile . We
don't have a "lawn" , just the wild grasses/weeds that were already here ,
and which I cut occasionally with the weedeater . I can get all the brown
stuff I want , got about 12,000 trees that drop leaves every year ... maybe
make a deal with a lawn service or something for green

Cows' and chickens' output is usually spoken for or used by the farmer
(or the chickens' is available, but at a price. Still, does not hurt to
ask.) Horse is the one most commonly available for free, since most
horse people are not farmers. Horse people who are farmers will use the
manure themselves.

"Compost color" can be deceptive. When I refer to brown manure, I simply
mean the actual color. From a "compost" perspective it's green material
(high nitrogen), though it's often mixed with enough "brown" (high
carbon) bedding that it can be composted as-is. Chicken, if you get it,
is usually in need of a LOT of additional brown material and a year or
so of aging/composting before use - it's very high nitrogen, as anyone
who's cleaned a chicken coop knows - ammonia city.

As for leaves, make piles, don't sweat the green/brown content, don't
worry about turning them, and 3 years later you have leaf mold, a very
desirable substance. You might also consider burying wood (dropped
limbs, brush, etc) under your beds (hugleculture is the trendy German
term.)

Your "wild grasses and weeds 'lawn'" could get some alfalfa, wheat, rye,
oats, buckwheat etc. added to it and serve as (more of) a source of
local green material. Or you can simply rake what it does grow when you
cut it, and use for mulch or compost.

If your garden is a "hole in the trees" you might also benefit from
cutting a bigger hole - it will give you more room to grow green stuff,
but more importantly (depending on the size, shape and aspect of your
current hole) it might give your garden more sun, which can be a
limiting aspect of "hole in the trees" gardens. If that does not apply,
then you should ignore it, but it can be a large factor if there is
shade for any appreciable period during the growing season (though I
gather that some mid-day shade can actually be a good thing in the south
- not something I have any direct experience with - local knowledge
rules.)

--
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