Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: play area surface

[Kay Argyle (argyle]

One thing to be said for wood chips -- if you call around, you may find
somebody who is happy to give them to you free, to be spared landfill
charges or saved a long drive to their usual dump site.  Try tree care
companies or city agencies.

Because they aren't screened like the ones you buy, they're a mix of sizes,
with an occasional piece of branch, and sometimes leaves, but you can't beat
the price.  We were told "Call us when you don't want any more," and for a
while we were using a truckload a week (with the snow from Thanksgiving
weekend still on the ground, this month's deliveries are just sitting).

You do have to put down a new layer about every other year.  On the other
hand, chips are a renewable resource, the earthworms they feed will bless
you with decompaction and increased water infiltration, and if you ever move
the play structure, you'll have rich soil to plant in instead of rocks.

Kay
Wasatch Commons
Salt Lake City, Utah
argyle [at] mines.utah.edu
*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*

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