Back to My Roots Part 2

To finish up my story, or lame excuse for not posting in a while, we moved into a new place to rent June 1st. Moving is so expensive as I'm sure all of you out there know. But harder when you have to do it within 6 months of the last move. Only good thing is the forced Spring cleaning that comes with it. And we are getting down to bare bones of collected stuff. 

Our new place is a smaller modular home on another 5 acres. I search for these places because of the stress-free environment living in such quiet solitude. The house itself sits in the middle of a sad, dying orange grove. Most of the dead trees were removed, the others left to fend for themselves. First thing I did, was go from tree to tree and trim off the sour root stock from the trunk, clean out the brush around them and trim back the dead branches. There are approximately 45-50 trees left on this property and after one month living here, with the Florida rainy season upon us daily, I see young, green fruit on the trees coming out in massive amounts. As soon, as finances permit, I will be buying the fertilizer needed to fertilize each tree. But, first things first. The new owner of the property does not want me to plow up the land. Not sure why, but she told me that I can put in small box gardens. So the next thing I did, was make four 8' by 8' box planters for my vegetables. I used roofing paper for the flooring of the planters to keep weeds out, and 2 x 6 x 8s for the sides making two boxes on top of each other or 12" thick. The width of the boards can vary and since they are expensive at your neighborhood hardware and lumber supply stores, I came across it cheap. I drove around and asked contractors who were replacing old decking on mobile homes in the area if I could have the old boards. 90% of lumber from old decking are rot and termite free and still in great shape, enough for siding on a barn or planters. 

Even though its late in the season for vegetables, I did manage to grow tomatoes, squash, collards which grow like there's no tomorrow, and cantalopes. I never used that topsy turpy thing for tomatoes so I can't recommend it. What I did use, was two old truck tires. I went down to a tire repair shop and just asked. Simple as that! They had two worn, but good truck tires and gave them to me. I set them up, filled with rich, black topsoil and planted, simple. My topsoil came from a landscape company who sells gravel, black topsoil and fill by the yard. Its cheaper than bags at the hardware or garden center. I found that a Ford F-150 or Chevy Silverado can carry a yard of dirt easily. Figure on one yard of dirt can fill a 10' by 10' planter 3" deep, so of course after 2 yards, I still had enough for the tires and more. So if you are wondering if your truck or a borrowed neighbor's truck can do it, it can. Barter with your neighbor by offering to wash it or fill the tank if you do borrow their truck. There's always a way. Barter works.

In future posts, I will explain more about planting, living simple and the big goldmine of bartering and living within your means. If you have any comments or suggestions, please add them to my posts. Useful suggestions will be added with name recognition and a link or web address to your site. Let's share our experiences.