Fast Forward Time Machine!!!!

Welcome back, oh faithful reader!  It's been over 3 years since I posted, but I think I'm back.  Seems like only yesterday I dreamed of having a trailer.  Oh yeah.  It was.  At least now, I have a driveway and backyard.  The trailer dream is closer than ever.  Try finding a place to park that thing while you're renting in Queens!

Anywho, I have moved to North Carolina and am loving it.  We're broke, and in transition, but I can see that we are a step closer to our dreams.  Most of them are contingent on me getting a pickup truck again, but that's in the works.  Hubby and I have been working on landscaping our barren backyard.  You have to see it to believe it.  Big trees, no grass.  Red clay, on a slope.  Builder's fill in everywhere and tree roots as far as the eye can see.  How can we fix it?  What can we do?

 (Curtains open...steps onto soapbox.)

STOP RAKING THE DAMNED LEAVES!!!!!

Ok.  I said it.  Well, yelled it.  It's crazy to me how people have come so far from what is common sense.  Also, how they like to make more work for themselves.   When the air turns clear and brisk, and the wind has pushed out the heavy, sticky bug-infested air, bags of leaves appear mysteriously at the roadside.  They get carted off to the municipal yard waste facilities, where you can buy it back as compost for $23/cu yard.   Did I mention there's a fee to deposit it, too, if your vehicle is larger than a car?  Yes.    If you have a pick-up truck less than 10 ft. long, you only have to pay $8.50.  You pay to drop it off, and then to pick it up.   Genius.

Suffice to say, I will NOT be carting my leaves out.  Phase one of operation backyard overhaul includes raking leaves into beds that will remain undisturbed and build humus-rich soil that is typically found under large woodland trees.  Excess leaves will be raked to the left side of the yard to start building up the soil to fill in the ditch that has formed there, most likely due to water runoff since it's on the low end of the slope.  There is no topsoil in my yard.  Between the roots and builder's fill, it's near impossible to dig a hole.  No-till principles have become my best friend.

The funny thing is, since I did this, we see more birds in our yard than on either neighbor's yard.  That's how I know I'm on the right track.  One day we saw over 40 robins in our yard, hopping through the leaves after a light snow.  We also have frequent cardinals, a few types of woodpeckers, an owl resides nearby, and some rabbits in the brush just beyond our fence.  This is the reason we moved here:  to be part of a larger community of not just people, but plants and animals, too.  Looking forward to a beautiful yard filled with life :D