We've often been asked, What does Stuff stand for in S'toons 'n Stuff?. The short answer is, It depends!.
We always grow wheat and sometimes barley.
Lloyd's current passion is Compost!
Lloyd became interested in composting when we moved to the farm in 1994. In the years since then, he has conducted many composting experiments with varying levels of success. Click on the Compost link here, or at the top of the page to see what Lloyd is currently composting.
We became interested in organic mulch for weed control soon after arriving on the farm. In the years since then, we have conducted many mulching experiments with varying levels of success. This is what we've tried so far:
Most of the mulching experiments have been conducted while landscaping our 5-acre (2-hectare) yard site, our vegetable garden and some in the Saskatoon Orchard.
My (Sue's) first Farm-Woman-In-Training lesson came when I gleefully covered the spaces between my first vegetable rows with wheat straw "blocks". I thought it was neat how "normal" square straw bales come apart in blocks about the same size as walkway blocks. I was naively unaware that not all the wheat seed is collected by the combine. In fact, there was enough wheat left in the straw bales so that I had a better crop of wheat in my veggie garden, than Lloyd did in his wheat fields that year :(
We destroyed approximately 2 rows of Saskatoon seedlings with two "Great Ideas".
"Let's loosen up our Manitoba Gumbo with some shredded straw." Shredded Wheat Straw plus Manitoba Gumbo plus water equals what pueblo buildings are made of!
When we were roto-tilling a new s'toon row, we spread a layer of wheat straw down and roto-tilled that into the row. Then it rained. Then we had an asphalt-like highway where we wanted to plant s'toon seedlings. Don't Do This!
"Let's mulch around the young s'toons to aid in weed control with shredded Christmas Trees." In January, with ambient temperatures of -20°C to -35°C, collect shredded trees from recycling centers. Mound the shreddings on the farm. When they finally thaw, spread them around the young saskatoon seedlings out to as close as we get with the equipment.
Shredded fir trees are far too acidic for young saskatoon seedlings. Trying to weed through pokey-sharp needles and wood-chips is very painful. Don't Do This!
The shredded Christmas tree mulch should be used for path maintenance or for under fir trees.
One area on the north side of a barn was particularly weedy and not condusive to growing much. We put down 2 or 3 layers of fabric mulch and dumped field stone on top of it to hold it down. The Canada Thistle plants just laughed at us and thanked us for the extra heating component the rock gave to the area and they just thrived.
I was reading up on how to prepare new beds for ornamental plants and flowers. I read that instead of doing intensive sod scraping, to just put down some layers of newspaper, (which we topped with shredded straw/newspaper mulch) and wait a year.
This has been one of our mulching success stories and we recommend the method to patient folk. You must wait the year before planting. Some Canada Thistle will pop through, but they expend so much energy getting through the layers that they are very easy to pop out.
We learned that a two-person team, wetting the newspaper before, and while, spreading it out works the best. Wet the paper and have one person hose down the paper as it is being spread out by the other. This keeps the paper from blowing away and thoroughly soaks the paper to encourage decomp. Working as a team keeps the frustration levels to a minimum.
Wait a year before planting in the bed. If you can't wait, everywhere you cut through the mulch to insert a plant will allow weed plants up as well. It has been my experience that pulling crab grass, dandelions and Canada Thistle is much much easier if they have to struggle to the surface a year later than if you just open up a growing hole for them.
Once the beds are established with plantings an annual or bi-annual application of compost in the spring and a layer of shredded straw mulch in the fall works very well for long-term weed control
To shred the straw, Lloyd runs straw bales through our chipper/shredder and we store the shredded straw in an old granary.
If you are starting out with an un-tamed plot of what used to be farm land or "meadow", a course of chemical weed control before beginning all of this can be very helpful. If you are just converting a "lawn" patch, the newspaper/straw is effective enough on it's own.
We tried running some newspapers through the chipper/shredder for mulch and it was marginally successful. The shredded paper on its own is too fluffy and tends to blow about when it dries out. However, some shredded paper mixed in with the shredded straw is just fine.
From November until April, "The Boys" keep busy building things out of metal. Shepherd hooks, bike racks, and picnic tables. Since 2006, the focus has been on compost and composting "toys". Until the price of steel comes down, no new hooks, bike racks or picnic tables are being constructed. We still have a few hooks left.
We make two different kinds of yard plant hooks, a double free-standing hook, and a half-wall hook in an array of colors. We have flat and metallic green, metallic purple, old brass, copper and metallic blue. (Hover your mouse over each photo to see a description)
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