Our abundant bean stalk

The reason we decided to get cows initially, was to use their beautiful manure. However, Tom found that he was not using the manure, because it was too hard to get it from the paddocks. So he started bringing the cows into the cow yard (an enclosed space) every night, so he could harvest the manure. 

He had to set the yard up to cater for the cows at night. Then he found that because the yard had a dirt floor, he would pick up a lot of rocks and dirt whenever he harvested the manure in the morning. So he set out to concrete the cow yard, which he finished late last year. The manure harvesting process has taken us a few years, however now we have an abundance of cow manure. As an added bonus, the geese decided they would like to sleep with the cows as well, so we have goose manure to harvest every morning too!

He noticed a similar problem with the chickens (at around the same time) and decided he had to concrete the chicken pens as well, and then put a thick layer of sawdust on top, so that he could harvest their manure and have it mixed with sawdust, ready for composting. So now we combine chicken manure, cow manure, cut grass from the property and weeds to create a wonderful compost. The benefits of this compost we noticed today…

Our Bean harvest today; two big bowls full, enough for 5 big meals!

In the past few years we have had problems growing beans. Every year we tried again, and every year we failed. We would have a few beans here and there, but nothing to write home about. Today I harvested this enormous abundance off our bean vine, and there are still more beans coming on! Very exciting, all the hard work going into concreting the cow yard and chook pens has manifested itself in food abundance! The cyclic system is paying off!