Red Dirt Chronicles

Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.

Menu
  • Home
  • Posting Schedule
  • Comment Policy
  • Complete EPOTM List
    • Cities visited A – E
      • Adair, OK
      • Beggs, OK
      • Bethel Acres
      • Boley, OK
      • Cache, OK
      • Carney, OK
      • Cashion, OK
      • Cedar Valley, OK
      • Cimarron City, OK
      • Crescent, OK
      • Criner, OK
      • Cromwell, OK
      • Dibble, OK
      • Disney, OK
    • Cities visited F – J
      • Fay, OK
      • Grove, OK
      • Guthrie, OK
      • Holdenville, OK
      • IXL, OK
    • Cities visited K – O
      • Lexington, OK
      • Lima, OK
      • Little, OK
      • Little Axe, OK
      • Meeker, OK
      • Miami, OK
      • Mounds, OK
      • Navina, OK
      • New Lima OK
      • Owasso, OK
    • Cities visited P – T
      • Payne, OK
      • Peoria, OK
      • Picher, OK (A)
      • Pink, OK
      • Pryor Creek, OK
      • Putnam, OK
      • Quapaw, OK
      • Schoolton, OK
      • Spavinaw, OK
      • Sperry, OK
      • Strang, OK
      • Stillwater, OK
      • Tecumseh, OK
      • Tulsa, OK
    • Cities visited U – Z
      • Vici, OK
      • Wewoka, OK
      • Wyandotte, OK
      • Yukon, OK
  • RDC Store
  • About
  • Contact
Menu

Meanwhile, Back at The Ranch: Mother Nature Delivers What I NEEDle

Posted on June 27, 2011June 28, 2011 by Guests and Former Contributors

We are accustomed to doing without some conveniences out here in the country.   Oh, we have running water, but in the past when I’ve needed capers or a specific garden tool, we were miles away from getting what we needed when we needed it.  When we finally finished the bank project (A RE-purposeful Life), I wanted to make sure my new plants got the water they needed, and my husband suggested pine mulch to keep the ground moist.  Of course, there is not a nursery that sells pine mulch for miles, but I knew exactly where I could get it locally.

trees
Lots of trees waiting to make their yearly delivery of leaves and needles in the fall.

Our road is lined with a variety of trees.  Leaves, pine cones, and pine needles cover both sides of our street every spring, and I hesitantly rake them up while fearing what animal I might disrupt from its rest. This time I gathered a rake and the wheel barrow and headed up the road to gather a couple of loads of pine needles without fear.  I was on a mission.  Unfortunately, I underestimated the number of loads I would need for my project, but six wheel barrow loads later, I had a great layer of pine needles that would keep the water from evaporating.

Bank project
These pine needles are helping my new plants stay hydrated while they develop.

Mother Nature saved me again when I needed to prevent weeds from coming up in my garden.  Eight wheel barrows of pine needles were strategically placed between the vegetable rows and sprinkled with a popular product to sprinkle on top of the needles to stop new weeds from growing.

 

 

 

Garden
These pine needles along with a weed prevention aid will save me a lot of work in the garden this summer.

Whew!  Fourteen loads of pine needles.

I’m tired.

[julie]

 

Comments

comments

Category: Homestead and Garden
email usemail us

Categories

See my published books

Archives

RDC Recommends...

  • Abandoned OK
  • Exploring Oklahoma History
  • NonDoc
  • Oklahoma Women Bloggers
  • Uncovering Oklahoma

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
© 2023 Red Dirt Chronicles | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme