Funny, how most people don't realize the soil is a living thing and needs to be treated that way or it will die. I'm constantly adding things to mine, in hopes of improving it. Parts of my yard are just now beginning to grow grass after 17 years. The people before us did their best to destroy a good portion of the planet, before they left.
We hauled away several tons of broken glass, car parts, drive shafts, engine blocks, tires, tangled hog wire, old rusty tin, old appliances, you name it. No way one person had that much junk. I think it was a family endeavor, as the house had been foreclosed on and was on the market for 5 years before we found it. (I suspect drugs were involved). The house was literally buried in old appliances that they had staked against the outside walls in hopes no one would buy it. The previous owners had been burning their trash within 5' feet of the back door. It was terrible!
Too bad those were the days before scrap iron became so valuable. Back then, I had to pay $5.00 per appliance to be able to leave them at the dump. I had hundreds of dollars in dump fees. It took almost 10 years to clean it all up.
Since we moved here, we've planted grass seeds in the yard and in the pasture, built a 30' foot long foot bridge across the seasonal creek, built a summer kitchen for canning garden goods, turned the 5 acres adjoining our house into a campground for travelers on horseback or in wagons, made a quarter-acre certified organic garden, a berry patch, a bird sanctuary, a walking trail, and a 9 hole mini-golf course. Our property adjoins the old Trans America Trail, also known as the 'TAT'
Look it up, it's a route starting in Eastern Tennessee and makes its way all the way across America, through Mississippi, Arkansas including the Ozarks, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and finishes on the Oregon Coast. Our house is an eighth of a mile from 670 Road. 670 Road is a part of the TAT. Nearly every Autumn, people come riding past here on that trail. It could have been that way all along, but the people before us apparently couldn't see that potential?
(We are in Zone 7a.)
Foot bridge
The house, after we repainted and cleaned it up.
The garden, after we cleared the brush and hauled off all the junk cars, school bus parts, and old appliances.
Our flock of Critically Endangered species of Cotton Patch Geese, enjoying our winter cover crop.
The berry patch, where there used to be piles of old tin, scrap metal, and discarded barbed wire dozed into piles..
The creek by the foot bridge, after we cleaned it up.
Pawpaw trees where old appliances used to be. In the background is the fairway for the 9 hole, mini golf course.
Adding organic matter to the Certified Organic garden.
Apple tree where the old glass dump was.
Wilber and Soo-wee, enjoying the termites and grubs that we roll out while moving old debris about the place.
Tomato patch in our organic garden. Some of our better tomato specimens are compliments of Soowee, and Wilber's many activities in that area, if ya know what I mean.
Critically endangered geese helping me weed the garden.
Adding more organic matter to the garden.
3,500 pounds of chicken litter going into the garden during winter months.
Apple blossoms where the glass dump used to be.
Happy wildlife visiting daily.
The free range chicks, busy making more litter for the garden.
Building soil is a year 'round job.
