The 'Poop Scoopin Boogie'

Earlier this year .. we stumbled upon a garden 'gold mine' ...

Yep, it was poop scoopin' boogie time .. at the local livestock yards!

And we dug in! Welll, 'we' didn't ourselves - but the cute lil pooper-scooper
did - fer us! Got a good load (almost TOO good fer the tires) .. and brought it home.

Tried to talk the feller operating her .. into jes putting the lil poop-scooper into our trailer on top of the pile.
But he said, his boss prolly wouldn't like 'at too much ... (hey, it don't hurt a body to ask!) .. heehee ..

Had somewhat of a scare coming down the mountain from Compton tho'. With all the weight
of our black gold, pushing us downhill .. the brakes sortee decided to take the day off!
Good thing we had a standard transmission in ye faithful Ford diesel - for gearing her down
was about the only thing we could count on, to keep us somewhat 'slowed' ...
Dang sure couldn't afford to risk burnin' up the brakes on the tow vehicle, no doubt! For then we'da
surely been 'up the (proverbial) creek without a paddle'! And would certainly add more reason to
actually doing the poop-scootin' boogie, no doubt!

Care to guess at what just happened to decide to function during the very last leg? Yep .. And not a moment
too soon! Yep, the brakes came off their 'break' .. jes as we'd started down our steep driveway! .. Whew!!

Twasn't no shovelin' fer us tho' to get the trailer unloaded. Fortunately, the Great Pumpkin (Kubota tractor) helps
pay fer herself .. and well! Using the GP .. we were able to reach into the trailer with her front bucket and scoop
this heuh black gold out .. and pack and dump it .. then, get it all spread in the garden.

Nope .. haint took no look at the trailer brakes yet either! hmph ..
We's some brave hillbillies !!) .. heehee ..

In due time, yep, in due time.

.. Poop Scootin Boogie .. Pic #1 ..




This message was edited Oct 9, 2004 7:24 AM

.. Poop Scootin Boogie .. Pic #2 ..

.. Poop Scootin Boogie .. Pic #3 ..

Last of .. the Poop Scootin Boogie .. Pic #4 ..

Fixin' to leave the stock yards .. with our riches!!

I think you need brakes on your trailer. Or at least next time don't load it so heavy. Much safer that way. Black gold is heavy stuff! Your garden will grow in self defense. Only a gardener would be so happy with such a load of s.....tuff! What did you think I was gonna say?

I'm jealous!

Magpye, you put me in mind of a trip to the Egg Farm when I was a young newlywed back in Indiana... almost 40 years ago. The egg farm had 30,000 chickens, and there was never a lack of product for interested gardeners. We borrowed my dad's pickup and headed up the steep hill to the farm. Once there, they directed us to park the truck bed under a long pipe.

I don't know what we expected... little piles with those white dollups on the top?... ah, no. Someone turned on a switch, and after some rumbling, the poop started flowing out the end of the pipe like lava. Each plop sent splatter for 4 feet. (We had left one of the cab doors open on my dad's pickup).

In no time, the truck had a full load, and by the time we could get word to the fellow at the switch... we REALLY had a full load...a quite odiferous load, I might add. Needless to say, we drove quite slowly to avoid spillage, but we were not prepared for the trip down the hill, when a quick glance through the back window showed a wall of brown goo climbing up the glass.

We were not very popular with the traffic on the road, but luckily we were only about 2 miles from home. When we got there, my husband parked the truck at the end of the garden. He got out and instructed me to climb in behind the wheel. He told me to put the truck in gear, and when he hollered put the pedal to the metal. As he dropped the tailgate, he signaled me to go for it... and I did. Of course, we had to spend several hours cleaning up my dad's pickup.

LOL, enjoyed your stories, Weezingreens & Magpye!

Wellll, sure glad you folks enjoyed (our) poop haulin' & scootin' tales .. from the both of us! .. hee hee

Weezin .. thars only one thing I can say .. (rather .. 'sang', a couply more stanza fer ye!). .. LOL ..
Visit > http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/449802/

- Mags

Great stories ladies :-D


Sh....... moor

you done good LOL, looks like me when I load up the mulch, wishing it was poop poo in stead, i'm gonna have to go down to our stock yard and see if they'll do that for me, never thought of that.

kathy

A few years back, a garden buddy and I went over to a neighbor's goat barn to get some billy doo. We were told the goat barn hadn't been cleaned in several years, just new straw layed down. We let the pigmy goats out of the shed, then stuck a pitch fork into the straw. The urea smell that ensured chased us both out of the barn. We stood there hacking and gasping, then both looked at one another, and in unison said, 'Good Sh (doo)! You've got to be a gardener to appreciate that.

Poop Hauler here...

I had been going to a local stable and digging my own aged horse manure into five gallon buckets, then dragging them through the barn onto the back of DH's pick up. I was hard work!! I figured that with as much area as I needed to cover, I would never get done, so I looked for someone who could load it into hubby's truck and even though the drive was further out, it was so worth it to get it loaded directly into the back of the bed. I personally shovelled out two truck loads of manure last Sunday and just backed the truck of to the beds where I needed them. I made my husband take pictures of me standing in the back of the truck shoveling poop. I want proof... just like I have proof of laying pallets of sod in the rain so it wouldn't burn up.

Now here's the funny part, I had already shared this story on another thread, and Georgiaredclay had read it. He also knew that I was 5 11' and we were going to meet at a hosta growers farm. When we met yesterday he said he was so pleasantly surprised to see that I wasn't a "lumber jack type" as that is what he was expecting. Not wanting to disapoint him, I let him feel my biceps and see all the work I've been doing! I'm quite a hard working tall feminine gardener!!

Susan McCoy

Many years ago we lived on a suburbian lot. Our neighbor had a vegie garden and it was the best in the neighborhood, until I started gardening right next to it on a piece of land that had never had a garden on it. I learned about gardening from a lady up the road who grew everything organically, which was a real oddity in the days of "better living through chemistry". I collected leaves in the fall and spread them on my garden, then rototilled until most of them were under the soil. He wondered what I was doing and came to ask, then suggested an easier way, just spread some chemical fertilizer and save all this work. Then I found a source of chicken manure and got a load of it on a Friday afternoon. Over the weekend I was too busy to unload it, and by Monday it was smelling quite pungant! He came over and asked what was so smelly. Chicken manure for my garden. When did I plan to unload it? Today. The wind was blowing from our place to his and I hadn't noticed how ripe the load in my pickup had become. Sorry. So I unloaded it but it got dark before I could run the tiller, so then the phone rang. Apparently the air had been better when the load was in my truck. I assured him it would all be underground when he got home from work. The next summer my plants were bigger, greener and more productive than his had ever been. They grew in self defense! On frosty mornings my garden had enough bio activity to be frost free when his was white. He never abandoned the chemical approach even though my garden continued to outproduce his year after year.

Mary, thanks so much for sharing that. I feel so much better about all this hard work I'm putting in here!!

Susan

Yep, the stuff .. from any varmint .. is/can be some kindly potent !!! And, much more so in/at some stages, than others!

When this fellers' scooper dug deep into this stuff .. it was some kind of hefty RANK, no doubt ... Wooo, Yeowsers .. !!

The one problem that we had with this stuff from the stockyards .. was the amount of urea/ammonia in it!
We had to get what we needed into the soil .. and get it tilled and mixed so quickly .. in order to assure that it was well dilluted-? long before we were ready to start any sowing seed or planting! It took it a good LONG while too! The excessively strong urea odor was jes horrific around here, for several weeks !!

Lawdy have mercy, I think the worse tho' .. is the chicken poop !!! Whewweeesers! .. We'd gotten a load of that stuff a couple of years ago .. and it was in one massive pile.

And there's been a few things that have changed tremendously, for me .. in just the last couple of years. See, stuff like this, used to not bother or affect me .. in the least !! Matter of fact, years ago .. I was the designated pen/yard cleaner .. when my hubby had rabbit dogs. Back then .. 'he' was the one that couldn't take the smell of doo .. let alone, the sight of it !! .. hee hee .. He'd re-gurge, at the mere thought of it!! And I used to crack up laughing at him .. and, no matter how hard I'd try to restrain it - I jes couldn't help myself, no matter what ... hee hee

Now, dadgummit .. the tables are completely turned! When I hear any of these grandbabies 'gag' jes a bit .. my body starts into some kind of strange garbled mode .. that I'm gonna gag and re-gurge for them, instead!! . It's truly the dangest thing!! Yep, I reckon it's 'pay-back' time ... heehee

But .. there is nothing any finer to get into our gardens .. and benefit our plants!!
Here lately ... I've been referring to such - as 'Au-jus-gardening' !! .. hee hee

Thanks for sharing your tales about your experiences and benefits also. Keep 'em comin' .. for that matter!

- Magpye

Isn't this just the right place to get the straight POOP! Reminds me to go talk to my horse farm neighbor and see if he has some aged horse apples he want to share. My back garden could use the fertilizer not to mention the undigested vegetable matter from that good stuff. Hard to make nongardeners understand the love of good manure. I get a kick out of the folks who build new houses out in the middle of farm country and then complain about the barn odors, and the wild life. What did they expect? Smells a lot better than exhaust fumes to me!

It's funny you should talk about the smell... I really don't think horse manure it all that bad. I was standing all in it while shoveling and it wasn't gross at all.. Now chicken poo... That's another story. Chicken farming is huge in North Ga. Take a drive on a day when your down wind and OH MY GOSH! It's enough to make you speed to get away from it. And goodness forbid if someone's burning feathers!! AGGHHH!!

Susan McCoy

This has been one of the most entertaining threads yet!!! Keep it up, there are lots of us out here just reading and laughing without "poop" stories to share!!

Now that you mention chicken manure, LOL, we used to visit my aunt's farm and and she had a nice big flock of laying hens....Unfortunately to get to the back 40 where we played, we had to cross the chicken yard, not fenced, they just wandered around whereever they liked.....and, being barefoot, always managed to step in the poo, which was well mixed with feathers, and we ended up looking like we had Hobbit feet, only with feathers instead of fur. Never could figure out why she made us go wash off our feet before we came in the house. We had so much fun....little vandals, we used to go grab the barbwire fence just to get the quick shock (explains a lot about my brain, no?) chase the cows, catch grass snakes down by the creek, steal canned peaches or pickled crab apples out of the cellar for a snack....and they let us live! Kids today are missing that kind of fun, I say stick 'em all out on a farm at least for one summer.

Eeeeee ooooo .. Meezers!! .. LOL ..

And oh my goodness ... I wholeheartedly agree with your comment about, and suggestion .. Ref: " Kids today are missing that kind of fun, I say stick 'em all out on a farm at least for one summer. "

We lived on the outskirts of town while growing up. I realized later, that it was no big ol peice of property either - just a very small 'lot' near the airport. But, our lot bordered an unkept woody lot, that no one lived on. So, we pretty much had the run of the place! hee .. Of course, when you're jes a wee lil bloke, and (an extrememly small 2 bedroom wood frame house) on a quarter-acre lot with land adjoining like that - it jes may as well be the unexplored wild west!! Annie Oakley and Dale Evans, re-lived and re-played .. all of million times!! hee

Our yard chickens were of course, the 'bad guys'!! Found it too doggoned hard to chase the truly imaginary bad guys. Besides, my brother would always up and change things on me ... Where 'I' saw the bad guy behind a particular tree and killed him dead - a brother would always holler at me "uh-uh" .. he moved behind that 'other' tree! .. hee hee ..

We always had dogs and cats a plenny too. Seemed that over by the airport was 'the place' to go and dump any and all unwanteds .. Of course, us kids delighted in such 'new' vermin. But, if any of 'em got after the chickens .. well, daddy'd put a remedy to that problem quickly! ... Daddy even got to firing at folks, when he managed to catch 'em red-handed', droppin' off their vermin. He was a mechanic and gunsmith by trade ... so we never wanted for transportation and artillery!! .. hee hee .. However the transportation had much to be desired. The sheriff came to visit one year to have a lil talk with Daddy about his shootin' at folks ... but somehow or another, the sheriff left and daddy had another gun repair to make! Never figgered that one, till much later .. hee hee

I remember getting my fanny whopped many a time, for chasing and trying to shoot the chickens with homemade bows and arrows and scrap lumber guns .. on 'true' stick ponies !! And runnin' barefoot thru that mess, was not funny ... but it was a part of life as we knew it! But, heck hafl the time we were having to keep the chickens run out off the porches and out of the house too, for that matter. The only breezes we'd get thru the house, was to open the doors. The screen doors never held up either - with 5 or 6 kids running amuck and haywire constantly, better than a dozen dogs and cats all the time, things jes didn't hold up long round home.

Twern't too many store-bought toys while I was growing up - so we made due. Our spurges came around Christmas time, when much older brothers would come visit, bearing a few baby dolls for us gals, and pop guns for the boys! That .. and visiting the American Legion Hall, where us kids got to see Santa and get a big ol box of yummy goodies and a mess of wonderful toys for christmas! This, is where the equivalent of Life Savers, came in a 'book' type container! And also, where cavaties became a household word for us folks!! And Dentists was a word we never heard .. hee

However, the baby dolls usually went by the wayside, for me: The sis next to me would just as soon have all the baby dolls in the world, of course - but, give this lil gal, them guns!!! Those wooden creations were jes fine and dandy, 'in a pinch' .. but jes didn't have that hammer ya could just reach and pull back, and go 'pow' with, ya know! ... Never could get the brothers to trade 'willingly' tho' - so I'd have to sortee 'borree' their guns! Then, that'd be a whole nother hornet nest I'd tear into! Hee ...

Oh my, all the memories that play through our minds ...

Guess that's enough of this ramblin' on for now ... Besides, there's no tellin how many typos are in this lil 'chapter' .. my vision jes haint duck-squat this mornin'. Need to go on and fetch my new eyeglasses and see it that helps a bit ...

- Magpye

My Dad's garden was always productive. I recall he hoed in coffee grounds, egg shells, etc. I'm sure he must have mixed in some of the aged Chicky poo, as well. We had a chicken coop and a pen full of chickens when I was a kid. I remember my mother killing chickens. I was a young girl, but I still remember her placing their heads on the chopping block and executing them with her small hatchet.

These days, I'm hard pressed to kill anything (slugs excepted), but in those days, I don't recall being traumatized at all by my hatchet wielding mother and the squawking chickens. Down would come the hatchet, the head would fall, the opportunistic barn cat would snatch it up, the headless chicken would start running across the yard, followed by the second opportunistic barn cat...that was entertainment in those days.

My husband wants to get some chickens. At first, I was skeptical. I know who would have to take care of them... besides, he wants them as meat, and I'd probably name them all. I've begun to warm to the idea, however, .... I'm in it for the 'Chicky Poo'.

Get the chickins!!! There's all different kinds and some look so fun! I'd love to have chickens, but I think there might be an ordinance about it where I live so I won't be getting any soon. I'd love to expose my sons to them and getting their own fresh eggs.

Susan McCoy

Susan, some places have no problem with hens, they just won't allow roosters. Others limit the number of hens you can have. Check your local ordanances, you might be surprised. Also, many places that won't allow chickens say nothing about a few rabbits in hutches in the back yard. Bunny poo is really good, too.

Hi Mary.. your right! You never know. I've heard that some bunnies can be very mean so I would have to look into my breeds.. But this wouldn't be happening soon since I've already got so much planned.

However, I'm making another trip to the horse farm tomorrow and gonna get me two loads of horsey poo!!! YEAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!! Lots of exercise for me tomorrow!

The farmer giving me the stuff has the older stuff in the corner and newer towards where he can access it. I was concerned about it not being as aged, but he told me that if I just let it sit for 6 weeks on top of the bed and then till it in, I should be fine planting my bulbs. Do you agree? Also, my .10 cent darwin tulips I ordered from Parks clearance (500 of them!!)... they have a note that says don't plant in manure!! UUGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!! I have no choice. Do you think they will make it or am I wasting my time and money?
Thanks

Susan McCoy

500 tulilps, Susan? Wow!! If they say not to plant in manure, I wouldn't. The manure would probably burn them up.

You would get lots of green the first year with few flowers and the bulbs would not develop and would eventually disapear. Jessamine

Good point, Jessamine... all that nitrogen would encourage leaf growth, not bulb.

Well darn, you'll have to send them to me. Seriously tho, you just have to make a new bed (good excuse, huh?) for them and remember to plant them with bone meal which helps with development of good root systems and flowering.

We believe a lil bit of, that .. still 'hot' stock yard poop .. is what sorta put a bit of dander and delay .. in our Roma Snap Bean harvest this year (in that particular lil area of the garden) ...

It was in an area that the the tractor couldn't quite be maneuvered into, very well at all .. to disc the stuff in with the soil and leaves, etc. Along with the tiller only cuts just 'so' deep .. So, some of the (apparently, 'too' fresh) stockyard 'immature' gold - didn't get ample turnover and a good thorough mixing in, with the ground/soil there.

What I'd read about the Romas .. is, they are fast growing and prolific producers. But, what we witnessed .. totally contradicted everything. There was a whole lot (super-excessive) amount of vine growth ... but, finally .. after several good rains .. that we can only figure .. served, to 'rinse and dilute' the ground - seems, is when they finally began to make blossoms. I had just about readied myself to 'write' them off fer a spell .. but, in the end .. I still feel like we didn't get anywhere near what there should've been. Gonna try them (the Roma) one more time, tho' .. next year.

I'm really gaining a lot of knowledge and assistance from you guys' experiences. Am truly appreciating the info about the bulbs too! ... Only in the last couple of years, have I ever been interested in planting any bulbs. But, still taking wee baby steps in expanding my toying with them ... hee

- Magpye

Magpye, I love to get spring flowers, so I plant lots of bulbs every fall. Since I've been using bulb booster or bonemeal under the plantings, my bulbs have been multiplying rather than dwindling. If we have a very wet winter, we often lose bulbs, so I never buy very expensive ones... I just want that lovely splash of color in the spring.

Went and got two more truck loads of manure today. Hmmm, even if I put the bulbs in with bulb food and fertilizer ya think they will not flower? They are Darwin Hybrids, so they are supposed to return in my zone.. Most do not. I do have an area I have not ammended yet, but I really had planned on putting them in the horse manure ammended beds. It will all be tilled in with clay, and some natures helper.

Susan McCoy

Hi Susan, I am afraid that you would have a very poor display. Tulips are just not going to work in soil ammended that way. I hadn't even thought to look at your zone. I would hesitate putting tulips in at all in your zone unless I had an extra fridge with a LOT of room to stratify them. Hope you have good luck and get some freezing temps for at least 6 weeks this winter. Jessamine

Susan that is one thing I have bad luck with. I wish you luck but they are a lot of work with very little return for me.

'Stratify' tulip bulbs ? .. ? .. ?

Good grief-i-kins .. I reckon it's back to the books again - fer me !!!

- Magpye

Oh gee whiz.. Newbie gardener learns her lesson. Well, I know that some folks do have Darwin Hybrids around here and they do come back for them. I have a place where I can plant them that has not been ammended with manure. I guess I will spread as much natures helper and (should I use mushroom compost at all?) till in before planting. I've heard that I can go deeper with tulips 18" so that I can plant other things on top?

I just had an idea... I have loads of terra cotta pots and I could fill them all up with soil and leave them out overwinter in the back yard. They will stay colder in pots than in the ground since they will not be insulated. During bloom time, I can pull them to the front and place them where I want them? What do you think gardening friends?

Susan McCoy

Stratify definition for Magpye= Move yer goodies out uh the bottum bin in that ther fridge and eat em all good. Then ya wanna put them bulb things in there and let em pretend theys in colder weather and theys be happy to put on a grand show for yer people come spring time! :)

:)

Susan McCoy

Now, miss McCoy .. ya woodint be a tryin' to make lite of mah tawkin', na'woodje ?
.. LOL ..

hee hee .. and ya jes mite be, fer all I node - but it jes haint gone bodder the lykes a'me .. not narey nun at'all ! Asides, hee hee .. I do thank ahm a seein' a couply o'them thar smilee thangs rite thar on da backside of yorn ritin' up'ar!!

I jes haff ya to node - that its a plum mitey flatterin' ta me .. that yuud even be a tryin to
tawk back at me like'at too!! .. hee hee

I's gotta tell ya tho' .. 1 o'yorn werds up'ar .. is spill'd rong - its ' thayz' !!
.. (hee hee hee) ..

... (please know that I'm only funnin' backatcha susan!) ...
However .. should there be any (real) underlyin makin' lite of me - - Believe me - - I'mma missin' it completely by a good half mile or better! It'd be going 'vvvvrroooooom' right on over my head, for sure!
.. LOL .. LOL ..

Even more so ... know, that I DO very much appreciate .. the xplaination about the 'stratification' too! I'm about as lost as can be, when it comes to incorporating 'bulbs' into my garden beds - as much as I can easily decipher the realms of rocket science! (xcuse me: 'sye-inse') .. hee

BTW ... There's not an 'oh-oh' been made .. YET !

((lil hugs)) ta you folks !!

- Magpye

Hi everybody. Susan, I'm in zone 8 and tulips work for me. Sometimes I fridge them first and sometimes I don't. I probably don't have the show some of the colder zones have but I've been happy with them.
Terrie

'Howdy' right back atcha trunnels !! ..

Love those stunning and most boo-tiful yard pics of your > 'to die for' TONS of gorgeous flowers and foliage, that you've been posting.

I've been 'lurkin' over there (amongst a small slew of others) .. and, takin' a lil look-peek every now and again .. but (ashamedly) just haven't taken the time to post yet. I catch myself just needing to simply say, 'WOWSERS' .. but it jes seems I'd be a bit 'out of character' to do so! (you know; w/jes one word!?!) hee hee hee
Truly a spectacularly beautiful yard trun.

- Magpye