Hi all! It is November now and time for us to begin taking down some of our fall/Halloween decorations. I decided it was time to move our straw bales out of the front yard since 2 out of 3 were beginning to grow grass. Eeeek! Not so cute when that happens. Our jack o'lanterns were sunken in and rotten and our scarecrow had a moldy butt. Time to go!
I decided that we could use the rotten pumpkins in the compost pile, so in they went. I got a twisted sort of glee tossing them in and watching them splatter. Probably good for relieving stress! Just keep your mouth closed to avoid yucky pumpkin gloop.
The 2 grassy straw bales presented a bit of a problem since the twine had rotted and split immediately upon use. So, unfortunately I had the task of picking them up in 2-3 large (wet, stinky) clumps. I toted them to the garden where I split them up into flakes (where they naturally divide into sections upon splitting apart) and tossed them in all around. These will (and already have begun to be) split up further by our curious, yard roaming flock of chickens. This will break down somewhat during winter and will be tilled into the soil in the spring. Hopefully helping to create a straw "mulch" that will slowly breakdown in the soil, keeping things moist and amending it little by little. *Fingers crossed*
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| Some straw in the garden before and after the chickens flattened it out. |
The bale of straw that was still wet, but not rotten was used in the chicken run. It was too wet to be used in the confinement of the coop, but I thought it would provide some entertainment, bedding, bugs, and grains for them. I split it up into flakes and tossed it sporadically throughout the run and left the rest up to the birds. Within no time their curiosity was piqued and they had it spread out beautifully.
One more chore marked off our winter prep to-do list. I'd love to hear how you reuse/recycle your fall/Halloween decorations! Good luck with your winter prep. I know we need the luck!
Thanks for reading!
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