Full Chapter Straw Bale Gardens Complete Breakthrough Method For Growing Vegetables Anywhere Earler and With No Weeding Joel Karsten PDF

Straw bale gardens complete
breakthrough method for growing

vegetables anywhere earler and with no
weeding Joel Karsten
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/straw-bale-gardens-complete-breakthrough-method-f
or-growing-vegetables-anywhere-earler-and-with-no-weeding-joel-karsten/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...
Vegetables Chickens Bees An Honest Guide to Growing

Your Own Food Anywhere Arthur
https://textbookfull.com/product/vegetables-chickens-bees-an-
honest-guide-to-growing-your-own-food-anywhere-arthur/
Complete Book of Vegetables in Australia : The

Definitive Sourcebook for Growing, Harvesting and
Cooking 1st Edition Matthew Biggs
https://textbookfull.com/product/complete-book-of-vegetables-in-
australia-the-definitive-sourcebook-for-growing-harvesting-and-
cooking-1st-edition-matthew-biggs/
Gardens Illustrated Pot of Style 40 Beautiful Planting

Ideas for Containers Gardens Illustrated
https://textbookfull.com/product/gardens-illustrated-pot-of-
style-40-beautiful-planting-ideas-for-containers-gardens-
illustrated/
Practical Organic Gardening The No Nonsense Guide to

Growing Naturally Mark Highland
https://textbookfull.com/product/practical-organic-gardening-the-
no-nonsense-guide-to-growing-naturally-mark-highland/
Growing Without Schooling The Complete Collection
Volume 3 John Holt
https://textbookfull.com/product/growing-without-schooling-the-
complete-collection-volume-3-john-holt/
Understanding Rook Endgames Karsten Müller
https://textbookfull.com/product/understanding-rook-endgames-
karsten-muller/
Growing Without Schooling Volume 1 GWS The Complete

Collection John Holt
https://textbookfull.com/product/growing-without-schooling-
volume-1-gws-the-complete-collection-john-holt/
Growing Without Schooling Volume 2 GWS The Complete

Collection John Holt
https://textbookfull.com/product/growing-without-schooling-
volume-2-gws-the-complete-collection-john-holt/
The Kew Gardener s Guide to Growing Herbs The Art and

Science to Grow Your Own Herbs 1st Edition Royal
Botanic Gardens Kew
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-kew-gardener-s-guide-to-
growing-herbs-the-art-and-science-to-grow-your-own-herbs-1st-
edition-royal-botanic-gardens-kew/
UPDATED EDITION
STRAW BALE
GARDENS
Complete
BREAKTHROUGH
METHOD FOR
GROWING
VEGETABLES
ANYWHERE, EARLIER
AND WITH NO WEEDING
307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 1 18/12/18 7:54 PM

Title: 307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition
Text Page: 1
© 2019 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc. ISBN: 978-0-7603-6523-6
Text © 2013, 2015, 2019 Joel Karsten
Digital edition published in 2019
First published in 2015 by Cool Springs Press an imprint eISBN: 978-0-7603-6524-3
of The Quarto Group, 100 Cummings Center Suite 265D,
Beverly, MA 01915 USA. This edition published in 2019. Library of Congress Control Number: 2018967598
T (978) 282-9590 F (978) 283-2742
www.QuartoKnows.com Acquiring Editor: Mark Johanson
Project Manager: Alyssa Bluhm
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be Art Director and Cover Design: Cindy Samargia Laun
reproduced in any form without written permission of Design and Layout: Pauline Molinari and Rebecca Pagel
the copyright owners. All images in this book have been
reproduced with the knowledge and prior consent of the Printed in China
artists concerned, and no responsibility is accepted by
producer, publisher, or printer for any infringement of STRAW BALE GARDENS® is a registered trademark of Joel
copyright or otherwise, arising from the contents of this Karsten, and references the specific method of gardening
publication. Every effort has been made to ensure that developed by Karsten, and products related to this specific
credits accurately comply with information supplied. method of gardening.
We apologize for any inaccuracies that may have occurred
and will resolve inaccurate or missing information in a
subsequent reprinting of the book.
Cool Springs Press titles are also available at discount

for retail, wholesale, promotional, and bulk purchase.
For details, contact the Special Sales Manager by
email at specialsales@quarto.com or by mail at
The Quarto Group, Attn: Special Sales Manager, 100
Cummings Center Suite 265D, Beverly, MA 01915 USA.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Text Page: 2
Dedication
This book is dedicated to all gardeners who have embraced
the STRAW BALE GARDENS® method around the world,
and especially for those who have shared the idea with others.
It is only because of your enthusiasm and success that
this little idea has had been able to take root and flourish.

n Title: 307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition
2 Text Page: 3
Contents INTRODUCTION 7
S B G S I N S M A L L , U R B A N , A N D U N U S U A L S PA C E S 28
ST R AW 34
P L A N N I N G YO U R ST R AW BA L E G A R D E N 40
O R G A N I C ST R AW BA L E G A R D E N S 76
B A L E VA R I AT I O N S A N D O P T I O N S 82
CONDITIONING THE BALES 96
PLANTING SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 108
G ROW I N G YO U R ST R AW BA L E G A R D E N 120
S B G S A N D WAT E R 132

Text Page: 4
136 HARVEST TIME
144 W H AT R E M A I N S I S G O L D
150 S T R AW B A L E S T R U C T U R E S
174 G ROW I N G M U S H RO O M S I N ST R AW
182 PLANT PROFILES
204 PHOTO CREDITS, RESOURCES
205 CONVERSIONS
206 INDEX
208 MEET THE AUTHOR

4 Text Page: 5
I

Text Page: 6
Introduction
WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG, “OLD” RELATIVES WILL TELL YOU that time
flies by quickly and only speeds up as you get older.You might look at them with a
crooked smirk, but then twenty-five years zoom by and you understand completely.
It seems like yesterday that I drove home to the farm where I was raised in southern
Minnesota to get straw bales and set up my first experimental Straw Bale Garden.
I remember buying fertilizers at the farmer’s elevator and trying to explain what I
was doing. The sales guy thought I was crazy. But here we are, a couple of decades
later. I just gave my first TEDx Talk, which has the potential to reach millions with
this idea, and I’m writing my fifth book on the Straw Bale Gardening method. Straw
Bale Gardening is relatively young, after all, and it is still an evolving technology.
One of the most gratifying outcomes of my venture into Straw Bale Garden-
ing has been watching the idea spread to corners of the world where hunger still
lingers and traditional growing practices are out of reach—places where people
own no land and no tools, have limited water, little knowledge, and no money to
invest in gardening. In many of these places, however, they have adapted my method
and use locally gathered organic material, available nitrogen sources, plant seeds
saved from previous crops, and water recycled from cooking, dishes, and bathing
to make the crops in their bales grow. Within sixty days, vegetables are harvested
and eaten. And little by little it is making a difference to increasing numbers of the
800 million people who wake up every day not knowing for certain how they will
feed themselves.
This new edition of my book has several exciting ideas I have been working
on that I hope you find interesting and innovative. The basic method of Straw Bale
Gardening hasn’t changed, but there are more innovations, some interesting new
crops (such as mushrooms), and a few ideas to make the process even easier. I’d like
to encourage you to try your own ideas and experiment, and let me know when
you find something that works. I’ve always been hungry to hear good ideas, and I’d
love to know if you’ve found a better way to do something.
I was not blessed in this life to become a father, so the Straw Bale Gardens
method has become like my child. I will forever love it and champion it, and I think
it will probably be the greatest legacy I leave behind someday. But it has grown
far bigger than me and the idea lives on its own now, making its way around the
world, establishing a following wherever it takes root and has a chance to flourish.
—Joel

6 Text Page: 7
The Straw Bale Gardening Story
Everyone has heard it said that “necessity is the mother of invention,”
and I must agree. It was just after graduating from college, and hours
after buying my first house, that I discovered my new home was sur-
rounded with construction fill. Instead of the fertile farmland I grew
up on, I found only clay, gravel, rocks, and old bricks that had been
graded, compacted, and frosted with an inch of “blackish” topsoil.
Anyone with even a rudimentary working knowledge of growing
plants could decipher the cards I’d been dealt. Planting anything in
this “soil” would require a backhoe, a couple of months with a pick
axe, and several truckloads of good quality compost to amend the
“concrete” into a state where it might actually produce something.
Rescuing this soil would be very expensive, so for a young, new
homeowner with college loans to pay, it wasn’t an option.
While I didn’t have much money, I did have a fresh bachelor of
science in horticulture degree from the University of Minnesota, as
well as some distinct memories of growing up on a small farm. There,
The author as a farm boy, working we always seemed to have a few broken bales of straw that would get
hard and dreaming up new ways of piled up along the side of the barn. After a few months of decom-
doing things.
posing, the biggest, greenest, healthiest thistles on the whole farm
would spring up from these bales. I wondered, even as a young boy,
why the healthiest looking weeds were always the ones growing out
of these old bales, but as a recent horticulture student I now knew.
In my exhaustive study of soils, composting, plant physiology, and all
things horticulture, I found that most mysteries, including why weeds
grow in bales, can be explained by science—microbial soil science, to
be exact. The old bales, I deduced, were composting inside, creating
brand new soil.This provided a phenomenal growing environment for
weeds. So why, then, couldn’t I use bales of straw to grow vegetables?
I decided to explore the question, and I’ll say it again: “necessity is
the mother of invention.” If I had been able to come up with $200 to
build raised beds instead, you might well be reading a mystery novel
right now, instead of this book called Straw Bale Gardens Complete.
The system I now like to call “SBG” wasn’t an instant success,
unless you consider 15 years of experimenting and perfecting a
method to be instant success. It’s not as simple as it might seem
to some onlookers and many would-be bale-gardeners who don’t
bother to learn the right method. “Well, you just buy a bale of straw
and dig out the inside and put in a little dirt and then drop in the
plants,” they conclude, “and shazam! You have a garden.” Not exactly.
I’ve seen what happens when it’s done this way, and it’s a disaster.
The plants starve to death and the dirt brings in the weed seeds and
disease we are trying to avoid.

Text Page: 8
DEAR MR. KARSTEN,
I had to write you this note to tell you about my dad’s Straw Bale Garden. My father
grew up on a farm and ended up living in the city and becoming a school teacher for
his forty-five-year career. His gardening in the city was limited to our abandoned sand-
box and a few flower pots and window boxes.
When he turned eighty-four two years ago, he was beginning to slow down with
health issues but still talked about his days on the farm. I’m sure you know where this
is going, but I convinced him that we should plant a Straw Bale Garden at his house,
and after reading your book he agreed.
We talked all summer about that garden, and he spent all his waking hours tending the
garden and reading your guidebook over and over. We talked on the phone every day,
and the conversations we once struggled to keep going were now endless discussions
about the garden. He’d tell me what was almost ready, what he harvested that day,
and what he gave to the neighbors. He was filled with new life from this garden every
day from April through October, and it brought him more joy than anything else in
years. It brought us closer as well, and it gave him so much pride. He loved to explain
to the neighbors and his friends just how the process works, and then brag about all
his plants and how big his tomatoes grew.
He passed this winter, and while we are all very sad about his death, I am comforted
that his last two years on earth were so filled with joy from your Straw Bale Gardening
system. I needed to tell you how much he appreciated it, and how much our entire
family enjoyed seeing him enjoy it.
Thank you for your book and for your brilliant idea. I am going to continue planting in
bales this year—he would want that.
Yours truly,
Bethany Kilroy

8 Text Page: 9
The truth is that my method isn’t really very complicated. The
simplicity of the method, and the foolproof techniques I’ve developed,
make vegetable gardening about as simple as following a recipe for
baking cookies.You can deviate a little bit here and there, but if you
want to be successful, make sure you adhere to the basics, or you’ll
end up with a garden that only disappoints.
Step One: Set Aside the Skepticism

The fact is, growing vegetables in straw bales is a very radical idea
to traditional gardeners and even folks who have tried other out-
of-the-ground strategies such as container gardening and raised bed
gardening. You naturally encounter some serious skepticism when
you tell these people that you’ve invented a method that: takes 75
percent less time; uses less water; involves less bending; requires less
pesticide and no weeding and, on top of that, can be done anywhere,
Because the straw bale generates heat even on a rooftop without using any soil at all. Then, add that it
as the straw decomposes, a Straw Bale
Garden can get a head start in planting
can be done on a shoestring budget, and you can’t blame them if it
and yield ripe tomatoes weeks before sounds too good to be true.
the other gardens in town. “That’s impossible…vegetables require nutrients…nutrients are
only available in the soil, so how can crops be as productive or as
nutritious if they are not grown in the soil?” is a typical objection
I hear. Once they listen to my explanation, read the book, or hear
my seminar, however, the skepticism subsides a bit. The real proof,
though, is in the pudding. They need to try it for themselves, and
this is where the real foundation of the Straw Bale Gardening move-
ment has been built.
Over the years I have told hundreds of audiences, “When you
first put bales of straw in your yard, you are going to get some very
funny looks!” But, I like to add, when you start a bale garden you
will immediately become a teacher, and after a year or two you’ll
transition into a preacher. You will have to answer questions, ex-
plain what you’re doing, and share how this Straw Bale Gardening
method actually works.
Because they’ve never done it, many first-time Straw Balers are
also skeptical. But if they follow the method they become convinced.
Not every single seed will sprout, and not every single plant will
thrive, but overall the garden will provide many great successes and
yield even greater satisfaction and enjoyment. Even those who have
never grown a single thing discover that they can have a wonderful
garden. It isn’t necessary to grow a huge garden to be successful;
I’ve seen many one-bale gardeners with smiles from cheek to cheek,
even bragging a bit about their accomplishments.
10

Text Page: 10
As more and more people have tried and succeeded with Straw
Bale Gardening, the movement has grow–rapidly. It’s basically word-
of-mouth advertising. Neighbors, friends, coworkers, and the ran-
dom people who happen to strike up a conversation in line next
to a successful Straw Bale Gardener are seeing and hearing that it
works and they decide to give it a try. Most find the simplicity to
be appealing, and the no-weeding benefit gets a lot of attention,
too. So does that fact that you can plant three or four weeks earlier
in a bale than in the ground. But whatever reason draws the most
interest, I’ve found that it’s not my evangelizing or even a book that
has sold tens of thousands on the idea; it is simply those who have
done it and are true “Bale-ievers” (my affectionate name for Straw
Bale Gardening believers).
The SBG Phenomenon

Since the first edition of Straw Bale Gardens hit the shelves, there
has been a whirlwind of excitement and frenzy for me, and a bit of
an earthquake within the gardening establishment. A New York Times
garden writer, Michael Tortorello, read my book and came by my
house one day to learn more about my method and about me. His
resulting article was published on March 20, 2013, on a full page
in the New York Times. Fortunately he gave rave reviews, calling my
method “revolutionary.” He also interviewed other gardeners who
had tried my SBG method, and they all concurred that they loved
it. I had no idea at the time what it meant to have a full page “book
review” in the New York Times.
The morning when the NYT article was published I was sitting
in my kitchen sipping on my coffee when my phone rang. To my
surprise, it was a lovely woman with a very Spanish accent calling from
Madrid, Spain. She was astonished that I would answer my phone,
and explained that she had just read the NYT article and visited my
website. There, she found my phone number and decided she was so
excited to try this method that she would call and try to ask a few
more questions. I answered her questions and we had a lovely chat,
and then she concluded by once again telling me how amazed she
was that I would actually answer her phone call. I told her, “I would Home and garden shows, flower
have simply let my secretary answer the call, except…I don’t have shows, healthy living shows…you
a secretary,” and we had a good laugh together and she signed off. name it and I have probably given a
presentation at one or more locations
That call was just a sign of what was to come. In the weeks that around the country. I love to see
followed, the NYT article was reprinted in dozens of newspapers people get excited about growing a
garden. The reactions I get are often as
around the world, generating inquiries from international gardening if I’ve just turned on a light bulb in the
magazines and many foreign newspapers. The media attention grew minds of many in the audience.
11
307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 11 19/12/18 9:17 AM

Text Page: 11
like a tidal wave, with an Associated Press article that was reprinted
in hundreds of newspapers. Soon after, a Reuters newswire article
hit the press, and requests for interviews from radio, print, bloggers,
podcasters, websites, and magazines came in hourly and consumed
my entire daily schedule. I was booked to speak at home and garden
shows around the country, getting the largest audiences in many cases.
More people were interested in Straw Bale Gardening than the big
name television personalities who were supposed to be the main
attractions. I was asked by the organizers of the Epcot International
Flower and Garden Festival to come to speak at Disney’s amazing
Epcot Center for three days during their annual show. It was such a
wonderful experience, with so much interest there that they actually
Straw Bale Garden Education Day at sold all the copies of my book they had ordered after just my first
the Minnesota State Fair has become a presentation, and I had five more to give.
popular event every spring. If you’re in
the area join us for a fun day of Straw It was not long before SBG truly went international. In the fall
Bale Garden discussion, and pick up of 2013 I was lucky enough to attend the International Gardens Fes-
some bales fresh from the farm, if there
are any left when you get there!
tival at Chaumont, in the Loire Valley, France. There, several friends
and fans of the Straw Bale Gardening method had constructed a
display garden that demonstrated the SBG way to grow vegetables.
It wasn’t a simple garden layout like most vegetable gardens. It was
an elaborate, artful creation with raised elevations, pathways, and a
host of thriving crops. Their garden design was selected from among
thousands of submissions made by landscape designers and artists
from all over the world. Even more impressive, when we met the
exhibition director she told us that in the 21 years they had been
holding the exhibition, she “could not recall a garden which had
generated more interest than the Straw Bale Garden.”
It has been amazing and gratifying to see how the French have
embraced the technique, as have many other Europeans, including
Germans, the Dutch, the Spanish, the Danish, and even the Estonians.
The book has now been translated into these and other foreign
languages. Then, in September 2014, Straw Bale Gardens (I guess I
should say Le jardinage sur bottes de paille) received the P.J. Redouté
award, which is the highest achievement for horticulture books in
France. I have many people to thank for the support they’ve offered
to help make Straw Bale Gardens so successful all over the world.
Created by Pierre Marie Tricaud,
Laurence Tricaud, Emmanuel Taillard,
and Pascale Marq, who were the four There’s No Place Like Home
principal builders of the 2013 Straw Bale Although the concept has been embraced internationally, there is no
Garden installation at the International
Gardens Festival at Chaumont in the denying that Straw Bale Gardening has reached its highest penetra-
Loire Valley of France. It was spectacular tion in my local community around the Minneapolis and Saint Paul,
and created worldwide buzz with over
400,000 international visitors over a six-
Minnesota, metro areas. I have held an event each spring called “Straw
month period. Bale Garden Education Day” at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds, and
12

Text Page: 12
SBG INSTRUCTORS
Since my first book was published, the invitations for me to speak and give seminars about Straw Bale
Gardening have reached an almost unmanageable level. But because I hate to turn down anyone who is
interested, I came up with a solution. Why not offer other Straw Bale Gardeners who have experience and
a solid understanding of the method the opportunity to go out and speak to local groups? If someone has
the desire and ability to stand up in front of a group of eager learners, why not make it possible for them to
teach others how to be successful at Straw Bale Gardening? Now we have launched a directory on our web-
site with the names of Straw Bale Gardening instructors who are willing to come to local events in towns all
over the world and speak about Straw Bale Gardening. These instructors can be easily located by the dots on
our map or by zip code; just visit StrawBaleGardens.com and click on “Instructors.” The instructors get some
support from us to help them give an informative, professional quality presentation, and they often get paid
to share their excitement with other garden clubs or civic groups in their part of the world.
it has been very well attended with

Has a soil-testing lab ever suggested that your gardening outfit
thousands of new gardeners coming
to learn about the technique and should be a hazmat suit? Do you have a weed problem (and
load their trucks and trailers with not that kind of weed problem)? One last question: Are you
bales of straw. Because I am local, I
ready to learn about a transformative garden technology that
have spoken to hundreds of garden
clubs, groups, libraries, and local could change your life—for less than $100?
garden shows, and it’s created a bit —Michael Tortorello, New York Times
of an unforeseen repercussion: with
so many gardeners looking for straw
bales, the local farmers can’t easily
keep up with the demand for bales, so
the prices have gone up. It is a bit of
a problem, but you’ll discover later in
this book that I have a few solutions
for this, too.
The rapid growth for Straw Bale
Gardening hasn’t slowed, and will
surely continue to explode as word
spreads about the method. The overall
gardening movement toward more lo-
cal and homegrown food production
As popular as Straw Bale Gardening has
is also a phenomenon that continues to grow. I encourage everyone become all over the world, its epicenter
to grow something; it is good for the soul. No one has ever spent is still in my home state of Minnesota.
A common Minnesota trailer is seen
a more productive and satisfying day than one spent working in here hauling its limit of bales from the
their garden. Minnesota State Fairgrounds.
13

2 Text Page: 13
Cross-Section of a Straw Bale Garden (5-Bale)
2×6" × 20' Cucumber

Steel fence posts
Pumpkin
10"
10"
10"
10"
10"
Single wire
Marigold
10"
Double wire
10" Lettuce
Soaker 8"
hose
22"
Basil
Onions
Pumpkin vines with fruits Potato
14

Text Page: 14
Tomato
Pole beans
Marigold
Cabbage
Purple
basil
Carrots
Landscape fabric or other ground cover material
15

4 Text Page: 15
Straw Bale Gardening vs. Traditional Gardening
AT T R I B U T E S T R AW B A L E T R A D I T I O N A L C O N TA I N E R /
GARDEN SOIL GARDEN RAISED BED
GARDEN
WITH MIX
NOT SOIL
75% less labor X - X (first year only)
Raised height, easy planting X - X
No weeding X - X (first year only)
Very low input/start-up cost X X -
Extends the growing season X - -
Higher germination on seeds x - -
Predictable performance X - X (first year only)
Impossible to overwater X - -
Holds moisture well X - -
Creates new media yearly X - -
Easy to move location X - -
Automated water daily is okay X - X
No crop rotation needed X - -
Can plant top and sides X - -
Creates loads of A+ compost X - -
Prevents disease issues X - -
Prevents insect issues X - -
Prevents rabbits/deer issues X - -
Can be located anywhere X - -
Prevents early season frost X - -
No heavy work, tilling X - -
No tools other than hand trowel X - -
Warmed root zone at planting/seeding X - -
Eliminates soil-borne disease X - X (first year only)
16

Text Page: 16
Straw Bale Gardening in Four Steps
1. Place bales 2. Plant

on any surface seedlings and
(driveways, seeds directly
rooftops, in the bales.
anywhere). Seeds require a
Treat bales with bed of potting
high-nitrogen soil to hold
fertilizer (organic moisture atop
or conventional) the bale until
to accelerate germination.
decomposition Heat generated
of straw inside by decomposing
bale. Water straw allows
heavily for 12 you to plant two
to 18 days. to four weeks
earlier than if
you are planting
in the ground.
Continue
watering.
3. Water, watch, 4. Harvest. After

and wait. No the season, bales
weeding. have turned into
beautiful, clean
compost for use
in your other
gardens. Next
spring, repeat
the process
with fresh bales.
Underground
vegetables such
as potatoes
may be planted
in second-year
bales in some
cases.
17

6 Text Page: 17
STRAW BALE GARDENING SUCCESSES
Isn’t technology wonderful? Just a few years ago, Straw Bale Gardens
were rare and photos of them even rarer. Now, largely through the
internet and social media, I have been able to spread the word about
Straw Bale Gardens to tens of thousands of curious people, and
many of them have adopted the method. I know because they send
pictures. If you have ever been on my website or my Facebook page,
you’ve seen them. The first couple of years the photos weren’t that
great—pretty low quality and not really suitable for reproducing in a
book. But over the last couple of years advancing digital camera and
even cellphone camera technology has ramped up the photo quality
a lot. I’ll bet I’ve received over 1,000 excellent pictures that people
have sent me of their own Straw Bale Gardens. On the following
pages are a few of the ones I found most interesting and inspirational.
Mary maintains a very tidy looking garden filled with a wide variety of vegetables. She has always been one to try something new,
but Straw Bale Gardening is something she plans to keep doing. Many of her neighbors are in “observation mode” this summer; next
year she may inspire a whole new crop of SBGs in the neighborhood.
18

Text Page: 18
Even a tight location in a side-yard where space is limited befits a Straw Bale Garden setup. This garden is quickly producing a bounty
of produce that will continue throughout the season in this protected location.
Have you ever seen such beautiful cabbage? John has become a big proponent of Straw Bale Gardening and said he gets one or two
people stopping by every day with questions about his garden. He has become an expert in his second full year of using the SBG
method and is happy to pass along what he knows to those who are interested.
19

8 Text Page: 19
Not only does this Straw Bale Garden produce well; it also looks lovely and compliments the ornamental gardens that already existed
nearby. Shallow tree roots do not affect the bales. In this garden they are within just a few feet of the trees, whereas a traditional
garden in this location could be impossible with all the invasive roots.
20

Text Page: 20
This elaborate Straw Bale Garden was included in a famous garden festival in France’s Loire Valley in 2013. It helped launch Straw
Bale Gardens internationally.
Above: A great example of a small garden in an urban

location. Tomatoes are a “must grow” for many gardeners,
and absolutely nothing grows better in a Straw Bale Garden
than they do. This garden has many varieties of heirlooms in
production; I think we should swing back in a month or so with
a pail, or some bacon and lettuce!
Left: The Swiss Alps may be a beautiful location for skiing,

but vegetable gardening is a real challenge. A Straw Bale
Garden solved the challenge for this enthusiastic grower.
21

0 Text Page: 21
This 54-bale Straw Bale Garden in Ohio proved to be a A town Straw Bale Garden in Copenhagen, Denmark creates
perfect solution for growing vegetables in high-clay soil. a shared and sustainable vegetable growing resource for
Take note of the PVC-pipe irrigation lines that rain water everyone on a site that was otherwise too contaminated for
down onto the bales without the need to move and navigate planting.
around hoses.
This neat and tidy SBG grouping in

France demonstrates that a Straw Bale
Garden can have some rustic appeal
even before the plants have grown
up. This particular garden is located
outside of an assisted living facility
and the residents enjoy the great fresh
vegetables it produces.
22

Text Page: 22
Above: Low country land is usually
unfarmable, but this SBG in the
Netherlands relies on the height of
the bales to protect the plants when
waters rise.
Left: Preparation is important for every

garden, but after the bales are laid
out and the trellis is built, most of the
difficult work is done for the season.
The results of your preparation will
amaze you and impress those around
you. Not a weed to be found anywhere
in this garden!
23

2 Text Page: 23
Above: Mushrooms in a Straw Bale Garden? You bet. The straw
makes a perfect medium for inoculation with edible mushroom
spores. See pages 174 to 181 for a thorough description of how
you can use straw to grow your own mushrooms.
Right: Trellis wires pulled from post to post, with a PVC pipe
between the post tops, make a perfect setup for a variety of
climbing plants or vines, or simply to hold vegetable plants
laden with fruits upright and vertical.
Mixing plantings of flowers and vegetables in a garden can keep everyone interested. Flowers also keep the bees interested in your
garden, helping to pollinate other veggies that might need help.
24

Text Page: 24
One of the biggest objections about Straw Bale Gardens is that folks are worried they will look messy in their yards. This SBG
demonstrates that it is entirely possible to inflict some order on your bales and create a yard element that actually adds to the
landscape surrounding your house.
Tomatoes love to grow in straw. You’ll still need to use cages or trellises to support them, but because you can plant earlier due to the
heat generated by bale conditioning you will likely have the first ripe tomatoes in your community. You can approach it as bragging
rights or enjoy the produce quietly, all by yourself.
25

4 Text Page: 25
Using a double layer of bales can create
two distinct planting “shelves” and make
it much easier to plant and harvest
without needing to bend over much
at all.
A Straw Bale Garden makes a great foundation for building a garden. Create an overhead garden by connecting your bales with cattle
fencing or anything else you want to use, and then train your climbing vegetables up the trellis structure.
26

Text Page: 26
This Straw Bale Garden in North Hollywood, California, is a testament to the enthusiasm many gardeners have for this method.
Even a front yard can make a beautiful and productive garden with just a couple dozen bales of straw.
Summer bulbs such as these dahlias are

doing well in this bale at midseason and
are being used as cut flowers for indoor
display. The big advantage is that the
bulbs are easily harvested and divided at
the end of the season by simply opening
the bale up, and no digging is required.
27

6 Text Page: 27
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
three years, and that he was a native of Basle, in Switzerland. In the
course of his examination it was discovered that he had arrived the
same day from Hamburg, and that he was full of some very
suspicious projects. His story caused him to be suspected, and a
report was promptly drawn up for transmission to Paris. Cassel was
destined before very long to become the capital of the new kingdom
of Westphalia, created for Jerome Bonaparte, and the police
supervision of émigrés was exercised as strictly there as in every
other part of France. While waiting for orders a search was made in
the lodging-house whence the prisoner had come. Nothing much
was found in his scanty luggage; some papers, one of which was “a
plan and a description of the battle of Austerlitz,” and besides this
two or three apparently mysterious notes. One of them contained the
words: “Must see Louis—without Louis nothing can be done.”
Everything was minutely collected together, and some days later
Bourcard was sent off for a compulsory visit to Paris.
He was put in the Temple, and, although it was easy to see from
his talk and his strange behaviour that he was a madman, subject to
fits of violence, Fouché could not make up his mind to let him go.
The examination of his record and the papers which were found in
his possession had suddenly given the Minister an ingenious idea.
Who could this Louis be who was obviously connected with
Bourcard? Certainly a Royalist spy, since the man of Basle had just
come from Hamburg, the headquarters of these people. And the
Record Office of the Ministry contained many notes referring to a
“well-known agent of England and of Austria,” Baron Louis
d’Auerweck of Steilengels, who was known to be living on the banks
of the Rhine. There was no room for doubt: this person “had
assumed the name of Louis in the various missions which he had
undertaken.” Was not this the man who was denoted by Bourcard’s
note?
Fouché was fascinated by this solution, and, anxious to have it
verified, he seized upon the unhoped-for opportunity which had
presented itself. And that was why an order was sent from Paris on
July 17, 1807, to immediately effect the arrest of the “little Baron.” It
would, however, have been impolitic and almost impossible to make
use of the same violent measures which had been employed in the
Duc d’ Enghien’s case. Besides, Massias, the French Chargé
d’Affaires at the Grand Duke of Baden’s court at Carlsruhe, when he
received Fouché’s letter, considered it necessary, in order to carry
out his chiefs commands, to obtain the Grand Duke’s permission and
assistance before moving in the matter.
“But,” he wrote to Fouché, “my seven years’ experience
had firmly convinced me that, if I ask for this person’s arrest
by the ordinary process of an official letter, he will be warned
and will manage to make his escape, so I think I should set off
the same day for Baden, where the Baron de Gemmingen,
the Cabinet Minister, is now staying with his Royal Highness,
for I have on several occasions received proofs of his kindly
disposition towards me.”
Massias was not mistaken; his application to the Sovereign of
Baden met with immediate and complete success. For the latter, who
knew none of the details of the case—not even that d’Auerweck was
his own subject—and did not want to offend the Emperor, listened to
his representatives petition, and the same day issued orders, from
his palace of La Favorite in the outskirts of Baden, to M. Molitor, the
Grand Ducal Commissary, to act in concert with Massias, and with
the help of the police of Baden to arrest Baron d’Auerweck. For
Massias had pointed out that if the order were sent in the first place
to the bailiff of Offenburg, “where d’Auerweck must have formed
many friendships,” there were a thousand reasons for fearing that
the latter would receive warning, “for he is a vigilant man and is on
his guard.” At Elgersweier no one had the slightest inkling of the
impending danger. The “little Baron” had just returned from one of
those expeditions which the police were watching so carefully, and
had gone in to see his wife, who had lately given birth to her fourth
child. For d’Auerweck had settled down a short time before in his
new home, and was perfectly content to enjoy the peaceful
existence, which allowed him to move about and finish his Historical
Notes on Hugues Capet, and his Dissertation upon the
Secularization of Germany under French Methods.
So it can be imagined what a crushing blow was dealt him when
Commissary Molitor and his assistants appeared at Elgersweier
unexpectedly on the evening of July 23, 1807. We can picture the
“little Baron’s” agitation, his distorted face, as he went himself to
admit the police officers; his wife’s despair; the house rummaged
from cellar to garret; the cries of the children woken up by the
hubbub; Madame de Gelb’s indignation; and then the setting forth, in
the midst of the police, of the unhappy head of the family, in spite of
his useless protestations, and the broken-hearted family,
overwhelmed by stupefaction, in their ravished home.
The prisoner soon recovered his presence of mind, and at
Offenburg, where he was taken, he set to work to prepare his
defence to the best of his ability, and he soon drew up a justificatory
document, which was designed to confound his accusers. At the
same time—luckily for d’Auerweck—the Grand Duke found out that it
was one of his subjects who was concerned, and he withdrew the
authority for arrest which he had given, and issued orders to keep
the Baron and his papers for his disposal. The preliminary
examination of these documents plainly demonstrated the flimsy
nature of the charge, and that there was no justification for the
outrage which had been committed.
The day after the fateful event, Madame de Gelb went to La
Favorite, and, throwing herself at her Sovereign’s feet, implored him
to protect her son-in-law. She described the falsity of the charges
brought against him, the distress of the mother and of the four
children. The Grand Duke could not but be touched by this petition,
although he was anxious not to displease M. Fouché.
“I am transported with delight,” Massias said to Councillor
Gemmingen, “at having so successfully executed the
commands of the Minister of Police, for they were not easy of
accomplishment;” and he added, in order to appease the
Grand Duke’s fears and regrets, “This affair seems to have
taken a turn, which is very fortunate for the prisoner; and I
have already advised his Excellency the Minister about it. You
can assure his Royal Highness that I will do my very best to
finish off the case in a way that shall be agreeable to both
Governments.”
But such a result seemed very unlikely, for it would have required
very strong compulsion to make Fouché renounce his plan, more
especially now that the arrest was an accomplished fact. It seemed
absolutely necessary to him to extradite d’Auerweck and to fetch him
to Paris; and he had already, by August 5, warned the Prefect of the
department of Mont Tonnerre and Moncey, the Inspector-General of
Police, to be in readiness “to take charge of and to escort Lord
d’Auerweck.”
It was just at this time that Commissary Popp, whose assistance
had not been utilized as much as he hoped it would be, began to be
worried by the silence which was observed as far as he was
concerned, and he entreated his Minister not to allow the Baron to
slip out of his hands.
“It was very distasteful to have to make this arrest,” he said,
“and it was only effected because it was necessary; and you
can guess how carefully, under these circumstances, we have
examined his papers, which it was of supreme importance to
lay our hands upon.”
However, these papers, which Popp so confidently reckoned
would expose the Baron’s intrigues, were found to consist only of
purely private correspondence, altogether wanting in political
interest; besides the historical works undertaken by d’Auerweck, the
search of his house had only brought to light some insignificant
letters, amongst which were “a bundle of love letters which
d’Auerweck had exchanged with a young émigrée now settled in
London. It appears that this entanglement did not meet with the
approval of the young lady’s uncle, the girl having lost her parents
when she was fifteen years of age.”
The Grand Duke, having heard these particulars, was all the more
unwilling to hand over his unfortunate subject to Fouché and his
myrmidons. He was convinced “of his perfect innocence.” Therefore
the Baron de Dalberg, his Ambassador in Paris, was charged “to
urge His Excellency, Minister Fouché, most forcibly to cease from
troubling these persons, who were very sincerely to be pitied.” But
he only encountered the most obstinate resistance. Fouché had
received the plea of exculpation, which d’Auerweck had drawn up
two days after his arrest, but he decided it was insufficient, “because
it only touched lightly on many of the principal details of his intrigues,
and it did not refer at all to his doings before 1800,” and in the
margin of the sheet he recorded his sentiments in a kind of cross-
examination.
“With whom had he had dealings since his second journey
to Paris? Where did he lodge? To whom in London had he
written? Did he not hide himself in a house in the Rue Basse-
du-Rempart?
“What commission had he been charged with at Rastadt?
Had he not made this extraordinary remark to some one
before he left Hamburg: ‘I am going to Rastadt; you will soon
hear of a great event, in which I shall have had a hand’”?
And Fouché went on to allude to the Baron’s hurried flight at the
time when the French troops were drawing near.
“Why did you fly at the time of the commencement of
hostilities? You are not a Frenchman? If you had not intrigued
against France, or even if you had ceased to intrigue, why did
you leave your wife because our troops were about to arrive,
since you were a German and settled in Germany on the
territory of a Prince, who is on good terms with this same
France? But we have reason to believe that you were still
carrying on your intrigues. We have reason to think that you
came secretly to Paris five or six months ago. You were seen
in the Rue de Richelieu. Further, we have reason to think that,
stationed as you were on our frontier, you were perilously
inclined by your long experience as a spy to continue to spy
on us, and that you did not confine yourself to a
correspondence with our enemies, but actually controlled men
of the class of those whom you directed at Rastadt according
to your own acknowledgment.”
Such were the complaints formulated by the Minister, and they
were sufficient, it must be admitted, to convince him of the
importance of his capture. Even if the Baron’s past life since 1800
could be voluntarily ignored—although this past life could not fail to
arouse a host of just suspicions—there still remained his complicity
in the drama of Rastadt, and also the coincidence—though not a
very convincing one—of Bourcard’s arrest with the Baron’s presence
on the banks of the Rhine. So Fouché, in his reply to Baron de
Dalberg, who had begged him to comply with his requests, wished to
show that he had made up his mind.
“You understand, monsieur, from what has passed,” he
wrote on August 29, “that Baron d’Auerweck cannot be set
free, and that it is necessary to convey him to Paris in order to
give his explanation of the fresh and singular information
which has been received about him. Your Excellency may rest
assured that his examination will be conducted with perfect
impartiality, such as he may desire, and that he will obtain the
fullest justice, if he can clear himself.”
The unfortunate Baron had now been kicking his heels for more
than a month in the jail at Offenburg, where he was kept under
observation day and night by a sentinel. The heat was intense, and
d’Auerweck, suffering as he was from an internal complaint, which
made his detention all the harder to bear, cursed his bad luck. He
reproached his Sovereign in picturesque language with having
allowed him to be imprisoned without any proof of crime upon
“knavish accusations,” him—
“a citizen, a man of valour, whose honour no man doubts;
whose fair dealing every one confides in; who is not ashamed
to show his love of religion, and whose life is by no means a
useless one; who has sufficient brains to have principles, and
sufficient heart to sacrifice himself for his principles when they
demand it; whose head and heart are in harmony; who has
taken no part in political events except according to his oath
and his duty; who, in short, has for the past five years lived as
a peasant in a little house, which he had built himself, there
tending his garden and rearing his children.”
The Grand Duke, touched by the truth of these reproaches, did his
best to avoid granting Fouché’s demand. He believed he had hit
upon an expedient when he proposed to the Minister to send the
prisoner only as far as Strasburg, where the French Justiciary could
examine him comfortably. But Fouché showed himself
unmanageable, so fifteen days later the Grand Duke, tired of the
struggle, and with the excuse of “the ties of friendship and the
peculiar harmony which existed with the French Court,” at last
consented to the extradition of Baron D’Auerweck, although—
“His Highness considered that he had the right to expect to
be spared the unpleasantness of having to hand over to a
foreign jurisdiction one of his subjects, against whom there
did not exist any properly established suspicions, and whose
papers furnished no proof against him.”
Once again the wrathful spectre of Napoleon, ready to crush the
man who opposed his will, had succeeded in triumphing over
everything which could be hoped for from justice and good laws.
On September 22 Commissary Molitor took d’Auerweck out of the
prison of Offenburg and brought him to Strasburg to hand him over
to the French police. In order to preserve precedent and to save his
face, the Grand Duke had ordered his councillor to announce that—
“although His Royal Highness, in his particular
condescension, had allowed his subject Auerweck to be
extradited so as to facilitate the information and accusations
which were brought against him this was done in full
confidence that he would be treated as considerately as
possible, and that he would not be subjected to any
unpleasant or harsh treatment in consideration of the peculiar
circumstances of his case.”
But what M. Fouché’s instructions were was well known, and no
one had any misconception on the subject, least of all the Grand
Duke. The pitiful letter which Madame d’Auerweck sent to him next
day, and in which she appealed to his kind heart and his pity, must
certainly have aroused some feeling of remorse.
After a stay of forty-eight hours in Strasburg, d’Auerweck started
on his journey on September 25. In the post-chaise which carried
him were a junior officer and a policeman, charged with his care.
After crossing the Vosges, they travelled by way of Nancy and
Chalons, and reached Epernay on the 28th; in a few hours they
would arrive in Paris. Taking advantage of a short halt in the inn, the
Baron hurriedly scribbled the following note, which was intended to
reassure his family:—
“I have arrived here, my good and tender friend, as well in
health as I could hope to be, and much less tired than I
feared. I write these few words to you to calm your mind, and
to beg you again to take care of yourself. To-morrow, by eight
o’clock in the morning, we shall be in Paris, whence, as I
hope, I shall be able to write to you. I embrace you, and beg
you to kiss Charles, Louis, Armand, and your mother for me.
“May God guard you.
“Epernai, 28th September.”
The post-chaise entered Paris in the morning of the 29th, and
passed along the quays till it stopped in front of the general office of
the Minister of Police, where the prisoner had to be delivered. Where
would they take him? For certain to the Temple tower, where at this
time political prisoners were kept. And there it was that d’Auerweck
was conducted and locked up. The order in the gaol-book directed
that he should be placed in solitary confinement until further notice. It
was now the Baron’s turn to enter the gloomy dungeon, which he
had so often, twelve years before, gazed at curiously from afar. It
was his fate, like his “big friend” Cormier, to closely inspect this
building, the name of which evoked such reminiscences of mystery.
Six days were allowed him in which to prepare, without
disturbance, his reply to the questions which were to be put to him.
On October 5, 1807, a commissary, sent by the Minister of Police,
came to see him and to hear what he had to say. A curious thing was
that the same proceeding which was employed with Cormier at the
time of his imprisonment was renewed for d’Auerweck’s benefit; no
reference whatever was made to the whole period antecedent to
1800. Whatever might have been d’Auerweck’s conduct during the
Revolution and under the Directoire, what his actions were, in what
direction he went and came, who were his friends, all these points
were held of no importance by his Excellency M. Fouché, and by
Desmarets, who was on special duty in connection with the case.
What they were most concerned with was to find out the object of
d’Auerweck’s frequent absences during the last few years, and to
extort a confession from him of his participation in the murder of the
plenipotentiaries of Rastadt. They came to the point without any
concealment, but d’Auerweck was on his guard. He flatly denied that
he had paid a visit to Paris in the months of April and May, as was
alleged.
“I did not travel at all in France, and I have not been in Paris
since the year when the Directoire was installed. I can furnish
the clearest proofs of this fact. I was warned two years ago
that the French police were watching me, and that they
accused me of a number of intrigues, the greater part of
which I had nothing whatever to do with, for I declare most
solemnly that since the July or September of 1799 I have
taken no part in any matter against France. I challenge the
world to allege a single proceeding of mine, or a single line,
against the interests of the French Government. The person
who warned me that the French were watching me was the
late Abbe Desmares, who lived in Offenburg; the warning was
conveyed in an anonymous letter, to which he never owned
up, but which I am convinced came from him.”
As regards his sudden flight from Baden at the time of the
approach of the French armies, the Baron explained that it was due
to his desire to appease the fears of his mother-in-law, Madame de
Gelb. Besides, they had only to question the authorities of
Rothenburg, of Ulm, and of Nuremberg, and to obtain from them the
counterfoils of his passports, in order to find an absolute confirmation
of his statements. Then there was the question of his connection
with Bourcard. What could the accused reply to that? Was it not at
Ulm itself that he had met “Monsieur Bourcard, the father, who was
an official from the Canton of Basle?” D’Auerweck’s answer was
ready:—
“I have not spent more than twenty-four hours in Ulm. I had
my dinner and supper there. The Austrian army had not at
that time been forced back upon the town, which was being
fortified. I only saw three officers at the table d’hôte, two of
them Croatians and one German captain. I had no kind of
business with any one. The man called Bourcard, a Swiss
official, is quite unknown to me.”
All his denials were very precise—and they were easily to be
verified by the means he had suggested—so that there was now
very little left of the terrible evidence which weighed so heavily upon
the “little Baron,” or of “the crime of conspiracy against the security of
the State,” with which he was charged. The slight clue, indicated by
Bourcard’s arrest, but damaged by the papers seized at Elgersweier,
was completely destroyed when the latter was declared to be
mentally afflicted. In short, the tragic adventure which had overtaken
d’Auerweck seemed to have been the result of the most vexatious
misunderstanding; at least, that is what his cross-examiner
expressed to him when he left him.
“You can now consider your case to be finished, and you
can see how it is possible to find one’s self compromised by
unfortunate coincidences, without any one being to blame.”
Encouraged by this assurance, the Baron suffered patiently in
spite of the passing of much time. He knew that he was not forgotten
at the Grand Duke’s Court. Dalberg, the Ambassador, had already
managed to convey to him some money, with which to defray the
first expense of his visit to the Temple, and yonder, at Elgersweier,
Madame d’Auerweck was in receipt of assistance from Carlsruhe;
for, as a matter of fact, the mother, grandmother, and children,
robbed as they were of the head of the family, had been suddenly
plunged into the most terrible state of want.
The poor woman, in spite of her condition, desired only one thing:
to obtain a passport so as to be able to get to Paris. With this object
she overwhelmed the Ambassador of Baden with letters, in which
she also implored him to help to set her husband free.
“I know that he is innocent, your Excellency,” she
continually wrote to him, “and if your Excellency wants any
more proofs of my husband’s peaceful habits, I will rout out all
the available evidence to prove it. My husband can only
benefit by the search ... and I am sure that your Excellency
has pity for my terrible plight and that of my poor little
children.”
Dalberg ended by getting annoyed with these letters.
“I receive frequent epistles from Madame d’Auerweck,” he
wrote to Carlsruhe; “but this wifely impatience is waste of
time, because I can do nothing as long as the presence of the
prisoner is necessary for the conduct of the case.”
In the mean time, the Baron, by way of killing time, drew up a
second justificatory memorandum, which must doubtless have
staggered Desmarets. In it he exposed all the hiatus in his cross-
examination, and the absence of any proof against him. Why was it
that he was not set at liberty, now that the falsity of the accusations
brought against him had been so completely demonstrated? For he
had just heard that the Minister of Police had received a very
detailed report, which proved his residence, in succession, in the
Grand Duchy of Baden from 1798 to 1800, in Offenburg from 1802 to
1803, and in Schutterwald up to September, 1806; it mentioned his
journey to Rothenburg and to Nuremberg in 1805, and declared that
—
“wherever the said d’Auerweck had lived, he had always
conducted himself peacefully and with decency, and had
never meddled in politics; that, on the contrary, he had always
been occupied with building, agriculture, botany, and rural
economy, which had been partly proved by many of the
papers found upon him at the time of his arrest.”
So M. Desmarets and his master were in possession of an
unquestionable justification of the Baron’s protests. It was, indeed,
inconceivable that they would continue to keep him in confinement,
and, what is worse, without putting any fresh questions to him.
However, early in the month of March, 1808—and d’Auerweck had
now been nearly seven months in the Temple—Baron de Dalberg
was informed that Fouché’s intervention was not enough by itself,
and that a pardon for the prisoner had been submitted to the
Emperor, who was about to leave Paris for a campaign in Spain, but
he had refused to sign it. The situation became serious. Dalberg fully
recognized the difficulty which he would experience in delivering the
unfortunate Baron from prison; for he was looked upon as “an
English Agent,” and, as such, infinitely more an object of suspicion
than if he had been an emissary of any other Power. The hatred of
England was then at its height, and Napoleon’s sentiment was that
an English spy deserved to be taken care of, and, indeed, well taken
care of. D’Auerweck could not deny that he had at one time been in
the service of the hated nation; for all that, he laid claim to being a
subject of Baden.
The weeks rolled by, and d’Auerweck began to despair. He had,
perhaps, a momentary glimmer of hope that his deliverance was at
hand, when he became aware of an unexpected confusion and
tumult in the Temple. What had happened? Was Paris once more
agitated by a change of Government? Had the Emperor met with
defeat? Alas! It was nothing of the kind. But Napoleon had ordered
the Temple tower to be demolished, and the seventeen prisoners
who were kept there had to be carted off to another lodging. They
were taken to Vincennes, and d’Auerweck’s faint hope was blighted.
He was more miserable than ever, and, as soon as he had settled
down in his new quarters, despatched a vehement protest to
Desmarets.
“What is the reason, in the name of God, that I find myself
dragged from one place to another six months after the arrival
of written statements which ought to have proved my
innocence? If my character had again been blackened by
spite, at least give me the opportunity of fixing the lie. I cannot
think that any one in this world has ever been placed in a
more unhappy case than I. My eyesight is impaired, my health
ruined, and my wits are worn out. I can only think of my
unfortunate children, ruined and deprived of every necessity,
and this in the case of a man who is absolutely innocent of all
wrong-doing.”
It never once occurred to him that his rigorous imprisonment might
be due to some indiscretion connected with his past and with his
conduct in 1795, or with the part which he had taken in the “Temple
affair.” Why should these old times, which were wrapped in a mist of
obscurity, be remembered? And, besides, there was no reason for
suspecting anything of the kind.
Neither the Grand Duke nor his Ambassador in Paris relaxed in
any degree their efforts to help the Baron, and a voluminous
correspondence was carried on between Paris and the Court at
Baden about him during the following years; but, to all Dalberg’s
demands, Fouché replied that no one denied Baron d’Auerweck’s
“perfect loyalty;” the matter depended on the Emperor’s will, and he
refused to pass any final order. In order to soften Madame
d’Auerweck’s affliction—for she never left them alone—supplies
were regularly sent to the prisoner at Vincennes, and he was
assured that his family were not being neglected or in want.
“My detention is the outcome of a lengthy series of
slanderous informations,” the Baron declared over and over
again, “which has been woven and pieced together, more or
less cleverly, but the falseness of which has already been
demonstrated to those who have been bribed to utter it.”
He was then informed that yet another accusation had been added
to the former charges against him: an accusation of having published
in the Moniteur, in 1799, certain letters dated from Naples, which
were insulting to the First Consul: Now, the Journal Politique de
l’Europe had at once, in the name of d’Auerweck, given the lie direct
to these statements. But what had he to say for himself?
“You know perfectly well, monsieur, that for the last two
years, less ten or twelve days, I have only heard the voice of
the Government through the medium of the bolts which have
been shot in my face.”
In this way three years slipped by, in the course of which Madame
d’Auerweck (who, by the way, does not appear to have led a very
virtuous life in her husband’s absence) never stopped pestering the
Ambassador of Baden in Paris with her entreaties; de Ferrette, who,
on his arrival in France, had succeeded Baron de Dalberg, took up
the unfortunate Baron’s case, and determined to bring it to a
conclusion. So as to increase the authority of his demands, he
managed to interest the Minister of the King of Bavaria on
d’Auerweck’s behalf, and the two combined to present a very urgent
memorandum, in the summer of 1810, to the Minister of Police. This
was not Fouché, for he had been degraded for the second time, and
his post was occupied by Savary, the Duc de Rovigo. The two
Ministers made their application to the latter.
“Yesterday, at this unpleasant ball,” Ferrette wrote on July
2, “I importuned the Duke of Rovigo to let Lord Auerweck out
from Vincennes; this was just before the Emperor arrived. He
said to me: ‘His case is not unpardonable, but you may rest
assured that we are not keeping him locked up like this
without very good reasons. You must wait.’”
At last, on October 16, Savary presented to Napoleon the
anxiously-looked-for report, which advised the prisoner’s discharge.
To every one’s astonishment, the Emperor only made the following
observation: Better keep him until universal peace is declared. There
was nothing to be done but to submit to this merciless imprisonment,
and to accept the explanation which was given, viz. that d’Auerweck
was “a bold intriguer, who was to be found everywhere: sometimes
in the interests of Austria, sometimes in England’s.”
Afterwards, as though to find an excuse for this prolonged
detention, the Baron was brought in contact with one of those
persons who are known as Moutons; his line of action was to get on
friendly terms with the prisoner, and to try to get him to talk, the
result of these conversations being handed on to the police. A man
called Rivoire was chosen for this purpose. He was formerly a naval
officer, but had been arrested and imprisoned for conspiracy; he
escaped, but was caught and put in prison for the fourth or fifth time.
The “Chevalier de Rivoire” was at the end of his resources, and
hoped to obtain a remission of his sentence by spying on his
companions in misfortune. It was impressed on him that he must
specially pump Baron d’Auerweck on the subject of the Rastadt
assassination. The two reports, which he sent to Desmarets during
the year 1811, give a rather amusing account of the success of his
enterprise: a success, of course, skilfully exaggerated.
“D’Auerweck is very suspicious when one begins to put
questions to him, so I adopted the ruse of contradicting him
and of only grudgingly giving in to him. Then, after having
started him in the right direction, if I resign myself to listening
patiently, he obligingly begins to overwhelm me with
confidences, both false and true, and with all the rubbish
which his conceit and his insatiate garrulity inspire in him....
He boasted of having rendered the most important services to
the English, both on the Continent and in their own country,
where he had exposed and baffled many plots, and had been
the cause of the arrest and punishment of many French
agents.... When we began to talk about the Rastadt affair, he
at first repeated the story which had been manufactured in
order to divert suspicion from the real culprits.
“Rivoire: ‘Only children will believe such a fairy tale.’
“D’Auerweck (laughing): ‘That’s true; but we must always
tell it, and by dint of many repetitions they will begin to believe
it. The matter concerns other people’s interests. I only left
Austria when I saw that its Government was fatally weak; so
much so that it has to be treated like a spoilt child that does
not want to take its medicine. Besides myself, there are not
more than two people who are acquainted with the correct
details of this affair.’
“Seeing that he had said too much, he then, like a fool,
began to retract, saying, ‘Besides, I was attached to a certain
Prince’s Minister, who was not there with reason, and I was
perfectly neutral in all that happened.’”
Rivoire concluded by saying, “D’Auerweck was the leader, or one
of the leaders, in this crime, which was committed at the instigation
of the English Government; and he forthwith went off to give his
report; and he was at this time in London, travelling viâ France.”
These fresh accusations, however flimsy their foundation, were
not neglected, and succeeded in so increasing the gravity of the
Baron’s case that his durance was prolonged indefinitely. At the
same time they served to maintain the harshness of his
imprisonment. Using the Ambassador of Baden in Paris as the go-
between, d’Auerweck, who declared himself to be seriously ill, had
begged that he might for the time being be sent to a private hospital,
where he could be attended to. But they questioned whether his
illness was only a pretext, and that he was plotting some plan of
escape. Accordingly the Minister of Police refused his request.
“The reasons for the detention of this prisoner,” the Duke of
Rovigo declared to his colleague of Foreign Affairs, “do not
admit of his being transferred to a private hospital. But I have
just given the adequate order that the doctor, whose business
it is to attend the invalids in the prison of Vincennes, should
visit this prisoner as often as his state of health may require
it.”
On May 31, 1812, d’Auerweck was told that no instructions as to
his fate had been given, so, bearing his troubles patiently, he sent a
fresh request, couched in the following humorous style, to
Desmarets:—
“The regular annual announcement that I am still to be kept
in the dungeon of Vincennes was made to me yesterday; will
you at least have the condescension to pass an order that it
may not be in this celler, in which I have lived for three and a
half months.”
Two more years passed before the tribulations of d’Auerweck were
completed. But in 1814, when the now victorious Allied Armies drew
close to Paris, it was decided to send the inmates of the prison of
Vincennes to Saumur. How d’Auerweck must have prayed for his
countrymen’s speedy arrival, and that this second change of
residence might be the prelude to his deliverance!
He had not been two months at Saumur when he heard a rumour
that the Allies had entered Paris on March 31. He was not forgotten
in his dungeon, for three days later the Grand Duke urgently
demanded that his subject might be given back to him, “one of the
many victims of the reign which has just come to an end;” and the
next day the Minister replied that the order to set the Baron at liberty
had been issued three days ago. April 16 was a day never to be
forgotten by d’Auerweck and his companions. They were overcome
with emotion, as can be guessed from the following lines, written by
Baron de Kolli, the most extraordinary adventurer of the Imperial
epoch. This person had been confined for four years at Vincennes
on account of an attempt to deliver King Ferdinand VII. from
Valençay, and at Vincennes he no doubt met our Hungarian. The two
of them could exchange their impressions as captives by the good
pleasure of the Emperor, both imprisoned without trial, and
condemned to an endless captivity, thanks to regular lettres-de-
cachet dug up for this occasion only.
“I will try, though in vain, to describe this scene, which will
be for ever engraven upon my heart,” Kolli relates. “In the
intoxication of happiness and in tears, each one throws
himself upon any one he meets, and clasps him in his arms;
there are forty persons, all strangers to each other, and in a
second they are united by the bonds of the most tender
friendship. As we emerge from our tombs, the townsmen
press around us, and, undismayed by the sight of our
miserable state, drag us to the bosoms of their families. In a
single day we pass from want to opulence.”
Those who witnessed d’Auerweck’s return to Elgersweier,
prematurely aged as he was by these seven years of misfortune,
could hardly recognize in him the talkative and active man of former
days. They all had a vivid recollection of that night in the month of
July, 1807, when trouble hurled itself upon this family.
However, in spite of confinement and the want of fresh air, the
Barons health was not as severely injured as one might have
imagined. He lived on in his village for fourteen years, and
delightedly took up again the old tasks of an agriculturist, a botanist,
and a husbandman.... In his leisure hours he related episodes of his
strange past to his family and his neighbours, and, when bragging
got the upper hand of him, he recalled the happy time when he had
been raised by Fortune to the post of “Ambassador to his Majesty
the King of Great Britain!”
He left Elgersweier in 1828 to return to Offenburg, where he had
formerly resided, and there he died two years later, on June 8, 1830.
Three of his children survived him. Charles, the eldest, had a
distinguished military career; as general in the army of Baden, he
was governor of the fortified town of Germersheim. Adelaide
d’Auerweck lived to be a very old woman, as she only died in 1881,
at Munich. Finally, Armand d’Auerweck left four children, one of
whom, Ferdinand, emigrated to America, where he is still living.
The descendants of the “little Baron” cherish the memory of this
life, so rich in incidents, so extravagant, and so surprising; but the
part which he played in the Temple adventure at the time of the great
Revolution would have been for ever hidden had not an unforeseen
chance served to connect him with one of the threads of this
astonishing intrigue, which attracted so much curious attention.
CHAPTER VIII
AFTER THE STORM
We have seen that in spite of the announcement of the Dauphin’s

death, and of all that the Chevalier de Frotté had written to her on
the subject, Lady Atkyns still held persistently to her conviction that
the real proof of the matter had yet to be discovered, and remained
still determined to solve the mystery. If, as she continued to believe,
the young King had been spirited away, it might still be possible to
find him.
But there were new difficulties in the way. Money, for one thing,
was lacking now, and she knew only too well how necessary money
was. Now, too, she was alone. To whom was she to apply for
assistance? Of all her old associates, Peltier alone was accessible,
and he was absorbed in his work, as journalist and man of letters.
Why, she asked herself, should she not seek the help of a member
of the Royal Family of France? The Comte d’Artois, who had taken
in his turn the titles of Monsieur and of Comte de Provence, since his
brother’s proclamation as King, was living in England. Why not apply
to him? The ingenuous lady did not think of the very weighty reasons
why such an appeal must be in vain. Convinced that the Dauphin still
lived, she imagined that she could convert the Comte to her way of
thinking, and induce him to join her in her search after the truth.
Encouraged by the attitude taken up by the British Government
towards her project of inquiring minutely into the matter on the
Continent, Lady Atkyns decided before leaving England to approach
the Comte, hoping to secure not merely his approval, but also some
material assistance. Had she not sacrificed a large portion of her
own worldly goods for the benefit of his family? Thus reasoning, she
did not conceive the possibility of a refusal. But Monsieur could not
regard as anything short of fantastic the supposition upon which her
project was based—the supposition that his nephew still survived. To
present this hypothesis either to him or to his brother the King was to
put one’s self out of court at once.
We can imagine how her application was received. She chose as
her intermediary with the Prince the Baron de Suzannet, who had
facilitated the purchase of the ships and equipages which were
procured in readiness for the rescue of the Queen and the Dauphin.
Having the entrée to the Court, and being one of the most notable
of the émigrés in London, he consented to submit his friend’s
request to Monsieur. Did he foresee the issue? Apparently not. Here
is what he writes to her on August 19, 1797:—
“After the decision M[onsieur] has come to, my dear lady,
not to give his countenance to your affair until it has been
taken up by others, and after speaking to him so often on the
subject, I cannot carry the matter any further, and could not
ask him for money. But I see no reason why you should not
yourself write to him more or less what you have told me, viz.
that you were about to return to France with the consent of
the Government, that you ought to be provided with the same
amount for returning as you have been for going, but that fifty
louis is very scant provision for that—especially considering
that you have had to hide yourself away here so long—and
that you are afraid you will not have sufficient to enable you to
remain long enough in Paris to get together all the particulars
required by the Government, and to pay the messenger for
bringing them here; and you might point out that you have
acted throughout entirely in the interests of the Royal Family,
that you do not regret the £1000[76] which your attachment
has cost you, or regret them only because you no longer have
the money to devote to the cause; and that if M[onsieur] for
his part could give you £50, it would free you from anxiety as
to ways and means....
“I shall tell M[onsieur] that I am aware you have written to
him, and that I shall convey his answer to you. He has been
taking medicine to-day and can see no one. To-morrow he is

Full Chapter Straw Bale Gardens Complete Breakthrough Method For Growing Vegetables Anywhere Earler and With No Weeding Joel Karsten PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Full Chapter Straw Bale Gardens Complete Breakthrough Method For Growing Vegetables Anywhere Earler and With No Weeding Joel Karsten PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Straw bale gardens complete

breakthrough method for growing

Vegetables Chickens Bees An Honest Guide to Growing

Complete Book of Vegetables in Australia : The

Gardens Illustrated Pot of Style 40 Beautiful Planting

Practical Organic Gardening The No Nonsense Guide to

Understanding Rook Endgames Karsten Müller

Growing Without Schooling Volume 1 GWS The Complete

Growing Without Schooling Volume 2 GWS The Complete

The Kew Gardener s Guide to Growing Herbs The Art and

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 1 18/12/18 7:54 PM

Cool Springs Press titles are also available at discount

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 2 16/12/18 5:33 PM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 3 16/12/18 5:33 PM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 4 16/12/18 5:33 PM

182 PLANT PROFILES

204 PHOTO CREDITS, RESOURCES

208 MEET THE AUTHOR

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 5 16/12/18 5:33 PM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 6 16/12/18 5:33 PM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 7 16/12/18 5:33 PM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 8 16/12/18 5:33 PM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 9 16/12/18 5:33 PM

Step One: Set Aside the Skepticism

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 10 16/12/18 5:33 PM

The SBG Phenomenon

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 11 19/12/18 9:17 AM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 12 16/12/18 5:33 PM

it has been very well attended with

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 13 16/12/18 5:33 PM

2×6" × 20' Cucumber

Pumpkin vines with fruits Potato

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 14 16/12/18 5:33 PM

Landscape fabric or other ground cover material

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 15 16/12/18 5:33 PM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 16 16/12/18 5:33 PM

1. Place bales 2. Plant

3. Water, watch, 4. Harvest. After

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 17 19/12/18 9:18 AM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 18 16/12/18 5:33 PM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 19 16/12/18 5:33 PM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 20 16/12/18 5:33 PM

Above: A great example of a small garden in an urban

Left: The Swiss Alps may be a beautiful location for skiing,

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 21 16/12/18 5:34 PM

This neat and tidy SBG grouping in

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 22 19/12/18 9:17 AM

Left: Preparation is important for every

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 23 19/12/18 9:17 AM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 24 16/12/18 5:34 PM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 25 16/12/18 5:34 PM

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 26 16/12/18 5:34 PM

Summer bulbs such as these dahlias are

307353 - Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition_001-208.indd 27 19/12/18 9:15 AM

We have seen that in spite of the announcement of the Dauphin’s

You might also like