Reduce, Re-use, Recycle with Chop and Drop Mulch (with video)
Nature has a zero waste rule and sticks to it.
Any and every bit of organic matter, living or dead, is reduced, recycled, repurposed or reused.
In fact, nature's so busy walking the talk, there's no meme about it, no T shirt, no coffee mug. Nature just gets it done.
I was prompted to think about this pretty remarkable process when I read a post by a fella talking about cleaning up "trash trees" on his land. Now, I get it. On cleared land, nature also likes to reclaim, tossing out seeds and branches to take root. She sends in the pioneers, usually scrubby, skinny spindly short lived trees that grow quickly enough to outrace competition to the sunlight. Wild pioneers usually don't produce anything people like to eat or even wood good for anything but fenceposts. And left alone, they will take over pretty rapidly, depending on your climate.
But let's pause for a minute before calling them "trash."
Those scrubby good-for-nothing (consumable) trees make nesting and shelter places for birds and other animals that eat peskier insects. I've often seen termite-gobbling anteaters, silken hummingbird nests, and chattering toucans in pioneers shrubs and trees. And when you need a good source of mulch, fire kindling, or wood to make biochar, there's your source.
Free and easy to reduce, recycle, repurpose, reuse.
Watch and Subscribe to learn more.
At Sueño de Vida we work in a meaningful way to heal land ravaged by deforestation. How meaningful? According to a recent UN Foresight Brief on climate change,
--It is of the utmost importance to stop deforestation and to increase reforestation efforts around the world. Agricultural practices should focus on soil building, year-round soil cover with plants and the use of agroforestry methods.
That is exactly what we do here at SdV. You can help by helping us do what we do every day: plant forests that nurture soil, people, and community.
Click HERE to donate directly to our reforestation fund OR make a monthly pledge on our Patreon.
Thank you.
_____________________________________________________
Kristen Krash is the director and co-founder of Sueño de Vida, a regenerative agroforestry farm, education center, nature reserve in Ecuador’s Chocó Andino Cloudforest. Prior to moving, Kristen was known for her guerrilla gardens — productive green spaces she created in any available space. Now an urban transplant in the South American rain forest, she has adapted her urban gardening and sustainability skills to large-scale reforestation of degraded land. She takes a practical and accessible approach to helping others achieve more balance and self-sufficiency in their lives.
Kristen’s articles and interviews have been featured on popular sustainability platforms like Abundant Edge and The Mud Home, and in the Rainforest Regeneration Curriculum at the Ecological Restoration Camps.