I've taken the lasagna method and adapted it to my own use. I piled up layers of materials on top of some pretty heavy clay. I put it all right on top of the grass and weeds that were there. I started back in July when I found out that our landfill gives out the previous fall's leaf mulch for free. I piled it as deep as I could with as many loads as I could until I couldn't move anymore. Over the summer and fall, it's sat there. I've planted a few things here and there throughout the fall. What I have noticed is that I have a lot more earthworms and pill bugs. I have also found that I can dig in the soil below my layers a lot easier than I could this past spring. Whenever I plant something, I makes sure to dig the hole down into the original soil, mix in and replace with some of the organic material, and even add a little garden soil from a bag. It might not be the perfect method, but my plants seem happy and that makes me happy. Sure, I have weeds. I have some issues with too much moisture in shadier areas, and the beds that I actually tilled and mixed in the organic stuff seems much happier, but it's also in a different part of the yard. I can't say for sure it is the method or the original dirt. I'm doing what works for me. My plants let me know when they need something. Hopefully, I can get into a cycle that allows ME to know before they tell me. My only concern from here on is how to keep everything working.

mamimo I had that problem the first year and mailed seedlings all over the usa for folks. Some went from the east coast to the west coast. Had over 36 different types and a good 600 sprouts. Winter sowing was so much fun and shocking to say the least. Right now repotting up my seedlings to give them some extra room and to give some away again this year. I pawned off tons that year to friends and had a box of seedlings where every I went. If I only winter sowed one type of seed it would be tomatos. For the reason to get varietys cant be found in my area. ML

I'm late to the game, but wanted to share an idea we're doing this year. We're starting some local, neighborhood-run produce markets. They're technically grey-market - someone will turn a garage or shed into a produce stand. Anyone can drop produce by, and they list inventory on a whiteboard. Payments are handled through Venmo, so shoppers pay growers directly through a mobile app. It's a grassroots thing meant for neighborhoods, but I think if you had a handful of these going in town, a professional growers could drop off a steady supply of produce to each one. The folks who host it get to keep any produce unsold after a couple of days, so there are definite benefits for them. We wrote down the business model, if anyone wants to steal it :) http://www.hackyourhometown.com/the-grassroots-produce-stand-that-runs-itself/

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/apr/06/brazil.food A handful of the world's largest food companies and commodity traders, including McDonald's in the UK, are driving illegal and rapid destruction of the Amazon rainforest, according to a six-year investigation of the Brazilian soya bean industry. The report, published today, follows a 7,000km chain that starts with the clearing of virgin forest by farmers and leads directly to Chicken McNuggets being sold in British and European fast food restaurants. It also alleges that much of the soya animal feed arriving in the UK from Brazil is a product of "forest crime" and that McDonald's and British supermarkets have turned a blind eye to the destruction of the forest. According to Greenpeace, public and indigenous land is being seized by farmers using bulldozers and even slave labour. Last year more than 25,000 sq kilometres (10,000 sq miles) of Amazon forest were felled, largely for soya farming. http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/cattle-pastures-in-deforested-amazon-now-the-size-of-iceland.html The largest rainforest in the world is being chopped down almost entirely for a single purpose: beef. That's right, one of the biggest, most beautifully diverse ecosystems on the planet is being traded in—for hamburgers. According to a report from Mongabay, a full 80 percent of the land cleared by Amazon deforestation from 1996-2006 has been used to create cattle pastures. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/may/31/cattle-trade-brazil-greenpeace-amazon-deforestation A report today from Greenpeace details a three-year investigation into these cattle farms and the global trade in their products, many of which end up on sale in Britain and Europe. Meat from the cattle is canned, packaged and processed into convenience foods. Hides become leather for shoes and trainers. Fat stripped from the carcasses is rendered and used to make toothpaste, face creams and soap. Gelatin squeezed from bones, intestines and ligaments thickens yoghurt and makes chewy sweets. Greenpeace says it has lifted the lid on this trade to expose the "laundering" of cattle raised on illegally deforested land. Food for thought How much of the Amazon rainforest has been lost and how quickly? Since the 1970s, when satellite mapping of the region became available, around a fifth of the rainforest has been destroyed, an area the size of California. Greenpeace US estimates that, between 2007 and 2008, another 3m acres (1.2m hectares) of the Brazilian Amazon have been destroyed. The reason why I have never EVER eaten ANY McDonalds product. Question: WOULD ANY HUMAN BEING DO THIS, DESTROYING THE PLANET HIS/HER CHILDREN AND GRAND CHILDREN WILL INHERIT? KNOWING THAT BY DESTROYING THE LAST LUNG OF PLANET EARTH WILL CREATE SUCH DESTRUCTION? Ephesians 6:12 - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBIA0lqfcN4&ebc=ANyPxKr2tTabALOgWatjVt_STm6f7ydG3TTj98MLB5452Hb760vlWNqgPQWnHUOJfqXvWIxXBrF6821ffItAemwD3KidX8AnLw