Why don't you Google soil erosion control? Maybe you can find a quick-fix in some of the suggestions to add to the ones you get here. There are low-growing no-mow grasses that are available for erosion control, too. I am sure such mixes must be available locally for most people. I also thought of a really neat cinderblock use I saw on an internet site a couple of years ago. The cinderblock was buried in a terrace-pattern with the holes up and grass was planted in the holes. It contained the soil and roots so the grass didn't spread and also provided graduated levels for water run-off. I suppose you could think of them as very small raised bed terraces descending from a higher-level raised bed to your paths. Anyway, good luck!

My favorite mulch is whatever I can get for free. Second best, whatever I can get really, really cheap. I collect leaves that I use to mulch the potato beds. Today I made my first harvest of grass clippings. (Mowed the overgrown lawn for the first time and bagged a huge pile of clippings.) Free nitrogen! I try to get the tree company to drop off a truckload or two of wood chips which I'll use to mulch the paths and around some plants. I'll bag up shavings from the manufacturing plant where I work, avoiding any pressure treated. I use those in paths, in the chicken coop and in compost. I usually get bales of spoiled hay and use that for mulch. I subscribe to the Ruth Stout philosophy that says if some seed from the hay sprouts, so what? Throw more hay on it and it becomes more mulch. I'll compost the chicken bedding and use that for mulch or dig it into the top couple inches of soil. You can also use newspaper and cardboard. Wayne

One way to tell if the carpet is wool or synthetic is to burn a few fibers. If it burns cleanly, it's likely wool, if it forms an ooze and smells bad, it's synthetic of some kind and won't decompose well. It could probably make an effective walkway still. Norm

The small square bales of hay are usually used to feed a few horses in barns or stalls . The small bales are easier to fit into feed racks . Cows are fed the giant round bales when the pastures are brown and dry . The round bales are moved using tractors from storage to an open field . Thanks to recent rains , the cows are able to graze on green pastures so most cattle ranchers are not putting out hay . Try Tractor Supply or other feed stores . Also contact your local Farm Bureau and see if they know of a hay supplier . Any horse farm or stable or trainer might have spent hay . Just keep asking and asking and eventually you will find a free supply . And yes , Tropical Soda Apples are a terrible weed . I fight them every day .