Thank God for Small Favors and Wet Leaves

On Saturday, a couple of young acquaintances came over for lunch and a walk-through of my backyard. Our mission? To come up with a five year permaculture plan for the space.

I'll even get Base Maps for each stage! One translucent page after another, all falling in on each other and creating a layered plan encompassing all five years.

At the end of the five years, I want to have plenty of organic gardening common sense, and a thriving eco food forest and homestead.

Let the planning begin!

In our short two hour meeting, my visiting Young Friends (hereafter referred to as YF or YFs), and I toured my property (which I should remind you is rented), and poured over catalogs of flowering and fruiting trees and shrubs. I am in awe of all the cool thing that can grow in Zone 8 (Willamette Valley in Oregon.) We're talking: aronia, pineapple guava, seaberries, thornless blackberries (!), figs, grapes, kiwis, peaches, and asian pears. Our list was longer, but apparently Google hates me and I can't get into the Google Doc that Young Friends created for me AND be on Blogger at the same time. So we're pulling from memory here, Folks.

Late Fall, before it gets all frosty, is the time of the year for planting said trees and shrubs, but with limited income right now, I may have to suffice with drooling over catalogs and entering it into my five-year plan, for later.

It's also the time for the City of Eugene's Leaf Retrieval and Delivery Program. Hooray! Free compost! Here's what happens: two weeks out of the year (one week in November, and one in December), the City comes by with ginormous suction hoses and picks up all the leaves that people rake into the gutter. Actually, they prefer if you don't leave them in the gutter. More like side of the road leaf retrieval. They want you to leave a space for storm water draining and not to block the bike lanes.

During that same week, you can sign up on the City's website for a load of leaves to be dropped off. So not only do I have the leaves from my yard, but I'm getting a whole truckload of them delivered in a couple of weeks. 'Tis the season to mulch your garden with wet leaves from your neighbors! By Springtime, I shall be merrily follicking in leaf mulch compost.

And it's free.

Thank God for small favors and wet leaves.

Even though we didn't have time to come up with a delineated plan of action (checklists are best for me), I think I have enough to go on. I'll need help for part of it, but more in the form of moral support. I do know how to make a chicken run gate; I just don't want to do it by myself.

Since I didn't get a checklist from my Young Friends, I'm going to make one myself, because frankly, I don't feel comfortable without my lists to tell me what to do.

1. Get leaves delivered from City.

2. Smother garden area and flower beds with leaves (including leaves raked from my own trees.)

3. Get a few straw bales for gardening (just found some YouTube videos on Straw Bale Gardening and it sounds easy and cool.)

4. Make a list of trees and shrubs to put in next Fall.

5. Start looking for a rain barrel for water catchment system.

6. Design gates for the garden and chicken run and install. (Must be dog proof.)

7. Re-do garden fencing. (Must also be dog proof.)

If you come over and help me, I'll make you a hearty, home-cooked meal.