Hay works much better- I tried both. The biggest part is "cooking" the bales. You have to fertilize/water them heavily for two weeks (when they start feeling hot inside when you stick a hand in, you know it's working). Best garden I ever had. Even better, if you build boxes around the bales, they'll continue composting after your garden and you just place next year's bales on top. Within 2-3 years, the boxes are full of rich compost that you can just add a little soil to and continue gardening without new bales. Just mix in yard waste, coffee beans, etc to add nutrients.
For those preppers that pressure can, here's how to do BACON (you read me right).
Buy a large roll of unwaxed butcher paper (Sam's, Costco, online…). Cut 12" wide pieces from the roll. Requires 2 per jar of bacon.
Use as thick a cut of bacon as you can find- it shrivels/shrinks. You'll end up with bacon crumbs if you don't.
Lay out a piece of paper. Place (approximately) 12 pieces of raw bacon with their edges just barely touching vertically on the paper. Lay the 2nd piece of paper on top, covering all the bacon.
Fold in half lengthwise then roll the wrapped bacon into a tube (like making a jellyroll).
Slide it inside a sterilized quart jar (might need a little encouragement) with the folded end up and pressure can for 90 minutes at the correct weight for your elevation. There will be maybe and inch or two of juices at the bottom of the can when finished.
It's fully cooked after the pressure canning, but it's not crispy so when you go to use it, fry it up- only takes about 10-15 minutes to get nice crispy bacon. Follow normal safety precautions when you use one- check for popped lid, bad odor, etc. as signs the pressure canning was flawed.
It can safely store for 2-3 years.