Introduction

Introduction: Mapping Out a Plan for the Rest of My Life and Enjoying the Journey

My Golden Years are an extension of the life I have lived up to retirement which began on December 1, 2011. I have organized this blog to include the top ten relevant topics shown below in the right side column in General Topics. Just click on one and you will see all that I have written on that topic. Click on the Most Current tab for chronological order of all entries.

I have addressed each topic in no particular order other than what is currently on my mind on the day I am posting. I started each topic by describing where I was when I began this blog and then exploring the possibilities of progression and any goals that I would like to meet. After that, I write about the path to reach that goal as it happens. Sometimes I just write about what is happening now.

I welcome any comments and questions either on this blog or email as I travel these paths and hope to share my growth with interested persons who may find some common elements in their own path to the rest of their life. I hope to use my skills as an appraiser for nearly 30 years to continue to observe different perspectives on a subject and reconcile into a conclusion that is of value to me. Please join me whenever you like. Email notice of new posts is no longer available so just bookmark the address.

The Blog Archive tool is helpful to find posts by year. Of most importance to me is the confidence developed in my intuitive skills over the years and it is that part of my character I am trusting to define value in my life. I believe change can be good and I can be enriched by believing in my true self using my intuition. The analytical part of my life no longer has a financial grip and I can let go of what absolutely made sense at the time in favor of what feels right now. I have done a lot of work since this blog began in 2011 and I hope you will join me as I explore this approach in My Golden Years.


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Saturday, March 22, 2014

Bunny Berries for a Bountiful Garden


Springtime Bunnies and Flowers!


We discovered the best fertilizer for our gardens when we had a 50 acre hobby farm between 1979-1986 near Flemington, Missouri.   Our farm had a milk cow, chickens, bee hives, and rabbits for livestock.  Mostly we had rabbits…lots of rabbits!  And with rabbits came lots of rabbit manure for the garden.  We had a bountiful garden then and still do today as we continue to use this wonderful natural, organic fertilizer.  When we moved into town, we brought a pickup load with us!

Because rabbit manure is a "cold" manure, it can be added directly to the soil before or after planting unlike "hot" fertilizers such as cow or chicken manure which would burn the plants unless it was composted for several months before application.  The rabbit's digestive system does most of the work so it's droppings are broke down more readily into the minerals needed immediately by the plants.  I think RABBIT... I think PRODUCTION!

Finding a source for rabbit manure can be a challenge since we no longer raise them ourselves.  One year we found a source on Craig's List!  We have had a good source the past few years and hope they continue raising rabbits.  Since these bunny berries are only available in limited supply, finding a source and keeping it to yourself is like finding a good morel mushroom area.  If you told others about it, it likely won't be there for you because too many people would deplete the source.

We buy it by the pickup load and that holds about three loader scopes which we paid $35/scope.  We have three gardens that get the bulk of it and that's about two wheel barrow loads per garden with some left over for various other landscape areas.


 This photo shows our three gardens on the first full day of Spring after a pickup load of rabbit manure had been worked in six days before planting radishes, lettuce, spinach, leeks, beets, and cilantro.   The greenery in the photo is last Fall's late planting of spinach which just had time to emerge a few leaves and then winter's cold came.  It is amazing that they stopped growing and went dormant and are now growing again!  It was an unusually harsh winter and this super-food stayed alive!  Could it have been because of last year's super rabbit manure?



There's something very magical about rabbits…just follow the White Rabbit to Wonderland!  You might just pick up a few things along the way that will make you grow.

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