On a mild but sunny day this week, the barn got a proper fall clean-out, with three most fantastically helpful littles at my side. I didn't anticipate having their help all along the way, but they stuck to it all the while (with only a few fights over who got to use the broom and who got to use the shovel - whichever was in demand at the moment and then forgotten the next). While it was a messy and dusty job (saved by Harper retrieving handkerchiefs for us all to wear), I can't tell you how excited I was to do it. Not just because a tidy barn is a lovely thing (I'm certain the sheep appreciate it), but because of all that poop and hay going into my compost pile! Ah! Eight wheelbarrows full, just from the barn and surrounding area. And with that on top of the rest of what we've gathered, has me thinking that this might be the year that we are able to produce all of our own garden compost, rather than buying some in. It's a little thing in the grand scheme of homesteading, but a big thing for us. Yarn, love....and ultimately soil. Those sheep give us so much!
. . . . . . . .
Greetings! I'm Amanda Blake Soule - mother of five, author of four books on family creativity, editor & owner of Taproot Magazine. I live with my family in an old farmhouse in Western Maine where we raise animals, grow vegetables and make lots of things. I write about it all here on the blog. Thank you for visiting!
