Rural Living

[Don Alaska]

We let the animals stay loose in the pole building much of the time. No bedding. Everyday we picked horse apples etc and took it to the garden. Once a year, we turned it over. It wasn't too hot for our garden needs. We did not use the chicken manure. That we put on a pile. Will look into your nice and cool! Thanks
My little farm is my heaven although I don't keep big animals here any more. I leased out the pasture and they planted it to hay. They are neighbors and don't cause any problems. The sheep pasture is mowed by my sheep. The pond is kind of worthless but I still like it...

The only problem I have with horse manure is weeds. If it isn't properly composted, I have weeds galore. Cow, goat and sheep, having a more efficient digestive system (and rabbit for some reason) don't have the weed issues for me. In the old days, they used horse manure to heat greenhouse beds by putting it into a drawer beneath the beds. I cannot imagine how those greenhouses must have smelled, but when the manure cooled down, it was moved from the drawers into the beds and the drawers were refilled with fresh poop. I agree that any poultry needs to be composted to allow it to cool down.

 

[Mary Stetler]

The only problem I have with horse manure is weeds. If it isn't properly composted, I have weeds galore. Cow, goat and sheep, having a more efficient digestive system (and rabbit for some reason) don't have the weed issues for me. In the old days, they used horse manure to heat greenhouse beds by putting it into a drawer beneath the beds. I cannot imagine how those greenhouses must have smelled, but when the manure cooled down, it was moved from the drawers into the beds and the drawers were refilled with fresh poop. I agree that any poultry needs to be composted to allow it to cool down.

We covered it with plastic and killed the weeds before planting. The dirt is a lot easier to turn over than it was to start with. Most of the weeds left are edible. It is the grasses that I hate.
I actually like the smell of horse manure.

 

[Don Alaska]

We covered it with plastic and killed the weeds before planting. The dirt is a lot easier to turn over than it was to start with. Most of the weeds left are edible. It is the grasses that I hate.
I actually like the smell of horse manure.

Aaah Fresh country air! The stuff in greenhouses can be hot, though and confined.

 

[Marie Mallory]

Our manure is used in a composter, just a big container with a top.

 

[Faye Fox]

I always piled all manure whether with feathers, straw. or wasted alfalfa hay, in a pile, near the garden. and added any other organic matter to it. In the fall, I would plow trenches in my garden and grain plot, and fill them with that compost and push up soil over them. It was prime by spring and tilled up very nicely. I added wood ashes also during the fall, and it had a nice PH and grew veggies and grain as well as the climate allowed.