Alfalfa

The word “alfalfa” is an Arabic word, meaning, “the best fodder.” Fodder is “food for livestock, obtained by cutting and drying any of various grasses, such as alfalfa.”
I usually use five bales a year, which weigh a little over 100 lbs. each. Once they’re delivered to my house, I have to find a tree trimmer who’ll run the bales through a chipper-shredder, otherwise used for shredding tree branches. It’s fast. The shredded alfalfa is then put in large black trash bags, usually 3 bags per bale, and I use it throughout the year. I spread a couple inches over a bed and dig it into the soil, and I use it for mulch when my seedlings are a few inches high. This year the Feed and Grain store manager suggested that since I was going to use it in my garden, why not buy Alfalfa Meal instead of alfalfa bales? My wife bought 20 bags of 50 lbs. each, a total of 1,000 lbs., for less than it would have cost to buy and shred 500 lbs. of alfalfa. That was a perfect birthday present.