More Mulch/Compost

Every gardener knows he or she must feed the soil in order to have wonderful harvests. I have been lax in doing everything I need because I can't haul in the manure I need for my gardens. Our old pickup needs a transmission so I can't use it like a pickup and go pick up the free manure available to me. This has been very frustrating to me. The first year we were here Phils friend delivered large quantities of horse manure ..... but he moved away. I found lots of hay this year at a reasonable rate, some free so I was able to get more mulch down than I did last year.
I have been collecting rabbit manure from a young woman close to my office. She puts it in a closed bucket, I pick up a new load every couple of weeks. I noticed lots of bags of leaves beside her house so I asked her if I could have them. Of course she was happy to get rid of them. I found that with the seats down the recycling bags fit very well in my SUV. This last week I have gone out every day at lunch to find bags of leaves ....... I think I have brought home over 50 huge bags for the gardens. I think I got started on it way to late, the leaves are almost all raked up and hauled off to the landfill. Next year, I am going to get started on this in the early fall. What a great way to feed my garden for FREE!!!
Hopefully I can convince Phil to get the transmission on the truck replaced before next year so we can use it like a truck. I don't mind doing some work to get free manure. I will admit it was wonderful when Jeremy needed a place to dump manure and he brought out the trailer full and left it here. Sigh.
I realize that this land has become so important to me. I want to make it better. I want to feed the soil and help it become more fertile. It is a wonderful feeling to open a jar of soup on a cold day and know that everything in that delicious bowl was grown here. I will probably never be talented enough to grow most of what we consume, but I love what we are doing now!
My niece called me a few weeks ago to ask for advice on canning. It was so exciting to be enable her to get started on this journey. I got her hooked up with a pressure caner that my sister no longer needs .......... and she is on her way!