The s**t machine

(Don't look at me. I didn't name it!)

That first summer, we filled 2 dumpsters - one large, one small - with garbage out of the top of the barn. I suspect that barn hadn't been used for its intended purpose in a very long time and had been a dumping ground for years.

Then we turned out sights towards the lower part of the barn - lots more garbage and lots of composted cow manure mixed in with rusty nails and a mish-mash of debris. Unusuable - or so we assumed.

Martin was appalled to learn that we intended to dump all that gorgeous manure that our garden so desperately needed. And so he conceived of, designed, built, used, and modified what he referred to matter-of-factly as a shit machine. I call it a soil tumbler or a soil sifter. Call it what you will.

As he worked with it in the barn, he added to it: a handle to turn it more easily, larger chicken wire to sift better, sharp metal pieces inside to break up the clumps, wheels and a rope for mobility.

We still use it for sifting maure, but we also use it to clear out rows in the garden. It gets out rocks and weeds like nobody's business, and leaves beautiful, loose soil behind. Takes 3-4 hours to go through a row, and we're hoping to sift the entire garden with it next year. We'll see how it goes!