One more - What's the best frugal green way to rot out a tree stump?

[fasttense]

13. Here's a link to the site of the man who wrote the bible on growing gourmet mushrooms.

http://www.fungi.com/shop/grow-mushrooms-on-logs-and-stumps.html

The site has a lot of info on growing mushrooms. If the stump gets too much sun just put a tarp over it for shade.
He recommends hardwoods for the most mushroom production but you can use a softer wood too, you just don't get as many mushrooms.

I have that same problem with my dogs. All our gardens and chickens are fenced off from them. Over a period of 2 years, all 3 of our old dogs passed away and I ended up with no dogs. I didn't realize how much they did to keep domesticated and wild animals away. Without them, I got skunks, cats, raccoons and hawks after my chickens; tons of rabbits and rodents in my gardens and deer roaming and trampling everything. Even had several coyotes come visit one of our further flung gardens in broad daylight. So, we got 3 more dogs. It's a trade off.