Homesteading- Never Turn Down Freebies, Go Get 'Em

My neighbor at the top of the drive told me that a tree service was coming to trim trees away from the power lines. He said they could take up to a year to do it so he decided to take out some trees himself so nobody would lose power because of the trees.

He couldn't  get all the trees branches off without a cherry picker which he didn't have. But this 70 year old man did the best he could do. The people like us living below him appreciate his efforts. He cut down six trees by himself! We all breathed a little easier while we waited for the tree service to finish the job.

Imagine our surprise not two months later when the tree service arrived. With their heavy duty machines, they were making short work of all the trees. They had a shredder happily munching up the debris. I drove up the driveway and talked to the guys. Sure I could have the shredded debris. How many truckloads did we want? I did a quick calculation. I answered three to six loads.

Now when these trucks shred the debris, they are grinding green manure (leaves) and brown manure (wood) at the same time so it's already all mixed up. The exact ratio may be off, but it sure beats having to do it all ourselves. Our old car park area by the barn is filled with four truck loads of wood and leaf shreds just waiting for the rain to let up for us to move it where we need it.

Talk about saving money! I had priced wood chips at the saw mill and it was $250 a truck load (about 2 tons). I got four (8 tons) for free just by talking to these guys. It's just a shame I spent $80 on hay for the orchard a month ago. But it's all good. The soil will be that much richer by the end of winter with another foot of composted material on top.

Way to go us! This was a major score. But yes, it's more work for us. We now have to spread it all. What I wouldn't give for a larger tractor and some heavy duty equipment to help do this. But it's all good. We aren't in any huge rush. We've got four months to do it in. The shredded material will just decompose in place until we get it all moved. Since it's all on compacted gravel covered by a thick layer of leaves, we shouldn't lose much. Just hose it all down after we finish, or better yet, let Mother Nature do it.

I just had to tell y'all about our good fortune.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Jo