Free composted manure
Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 1:52 pm
I'm afraid this is my Monday rant. A few days ago there was an ad on FB marketplace for composted manure. It had a picture of a steaming pile of you know what, and the people advertising seemed to have a farm with a number of horses. The ad said something like "you can get as much as you want, we can load it up with the tractor." So, being always on the lookout for manure to amend our garden soil, even paid, the fact that this was only 18 minutes away from us was a big plus. I contacted the person and we agreed on Saturday. Hooked up the trailer and went with the boys and wife, because the children do enjoy even the littlest glimpse at a horse, so we figured why the manure gets loaded they can look on and this becomes a little trip for the family.
We arrived there, nice farm in Coldwater, quite a few horses, a donkey, some chicken, the children enjoyed seeing that. A young couple owning the place, the man was digging something when we arrived, with a compact Kubota that was quite struggling with that hoe, I have to say. About 30 feet away there was the pile of "composted manure." The guy proceeded to bring four bucket fulls and put them on my trailer, that was as much as the trailer could take. He asked me if it's for the garden and I said yes, we have a small veggie garden that could really use some soil improvement. He said this is good stuff, and it's from last year. I asked him why he's not spreading it on the field, as I know that most farmers around here don't get rid of their manure, but spread it on their fields. He said this is the manure from over the winter and won't be bothered to spread it. So I thought I'll bring a little present next time, like a nice bottle of wine or chocolates or something like that.
I haul it home, we happy that kids got a look at the horses, and got some manure for the garden. Well, then I started to shovel it onto a corner of the garden, to be spread at a later time. What they said was composted manure, ended up being unscreened fill, full of stones, one as large as 14x12 inches, and with what looked some fresh manure. Could it be what the guy was digging with his hoe? it was a lot of work to unload that off the trailer, as it's heavy soil and stones. And not really good for the garden.
I don't think I had much faith left in humanity, but whatever was left is in danger of disappearing. Why would people who are obviously winning in the lottery of life, with a nice farm, horses, newish looking tractors and trucks, resort to a scheme like this?
We arrived there, nice farm in Coldwater, quite a few horses, a donkey, some chicken, the children enjoyed seeing that. A young couple owning the place, the man was digging something when we arrived, with a compact Kubota that was quite struggling with that hoe, I have to say. About 30 feet away there was the pile of "composted manure." The guy proceeded to bring four bucket fulls and put them on my trailer, that was as much as the trailer could take. He asked me if it's for the garden and I said yes, we have a small veggie garden that could really use some soil improvement. He said this is good stuff, and it's from last year. I asked him why he's not spreading it on the field, as I know that most farmers around here don't get rid of their manure, but spread it on their fields. He said this is the manure from over the winter and won't be bothered to spread it. So I thought I'll bring a little present next time, like a nice bottle of wine or chocolates or something like that.
I haul it home, we happy that kids got a look at the horses, and got some manure for the garden. Well, then I started to shovel it onto a corner of the garden, to be spread at a later time. What they said was composted manure, ended up being unscreened fill, full of stones, one as large as 14x12 inches, and with what looked some fresh manure. Could it be what the guy was digging with his hoe? it was a lot of work to unload that off the trailer, as it's heavy soil and stones. And not really good for the garden.
I don't think I had much faith left in humanity, but whatever was left is in danger of disappearing. Why would people who are obviously winning in the lottery of life, with a nice farm, horses, newish looking tractors and trucks, resort to a scheme like this?