At Conserv2, our black currant planting in a prairie restoration, we are preparing beds for a new planting. After marking the beds and running the rototiller over them last fall, this spring is time to apply fertilizer. Once the plants are in and the weed barrier down, building the soil is a much slower so now is the time to prepare the beds for years to come. What to use? Manure. With the Larry Wilkinson organic dairy farm a few miles away, sourcing the manure is easy. For this application we will apply about 10 tons of manure to the new planting beds. That's a lot to shovel. Fortunately, Sam Yoder, our friend, helper, and adviser from the nearby Amish community, has a solution. Watch how we moved tons of manure to the beds and not onto the prairie where it would encourage weeds. Each load is about 2,000 lbs and it worked so slick. 20,000 lbs of fertilizer before planting will make a lot of dazzling black currant preserves over the years!