Easy as Pie Chipper

The long-awaited time has come!  Last night, I got access to the seed catalog from NDSU that I’ll be using for some of my seeds for Mary’s Garden and the patio raised beds.  Looking through it and trying to decide what to plant and where reminded me of a little story Sr. Edwardine had shared when I was at our provincial house last week.
 
Sister Edwardine wanted some good manure fertilizer for their garden.  Someone brought them a load of cow pies that were as hard as rocks, and difficult to break up.  Creativity is not in short supply when it comes to Sr. Edwardine, and this time was no exception!  As she thought about how to work smarter - not harder - to break up those pies, she recalled they had a woodchipper that had been in storage for quite some time; she thought that maybe the cow pies would break up like wood chips.
 
So, they brought out the woodchipper and tried running some cow pies through it; it worked well, but all the pies were landing in one pile in the garden. The chips exit through a chute and are directed onto one spot on the ground.   So, Sister Edwardian had the idea to remove the board in front of the chipper that controlled the chute.  Lo and behold, the chute moved freely in any direction and, in no time flat, their garden was covered in cow pie chips!
 
As we lose a lot of snow and get excited for spring, it would be nice if we had such creative conveniences.  However, I don’t have any manure to worry about.  I’m going to start saving eggshells, banana peels, and coffee grounds again, though.

~ By Sister Christina with Cindy Flath

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