G'day,
I've been wanting to write a post for about a month now. I'll fit as much as I can in the time I've got with internet.
On the 17th of October we moved on to Carl's new bit of land (yeah, the one in the photos). Before this time, I was still WWOOFing at the Southern Permaculture Institute, as well as visiting a few other permaculture inspired properties in Victoria (see the photos along the side). Once we moved on, we set up camp and cooking facilties (although the first thing I did when I got out the car was casting my fishing rod into the dam, but to no avail).
The first job that needed to be done was digging a trench, with an excavator, to set up irrigation from the higher dam (via a 2 inch poly-pipe) to our base in the hay shed (right next to the lower dam in the top photo of this blog). Sorry, just before this, the same excavator ripped all the dry cow shit and blackberry bushes out of the hay shed (giving us a huge pile of fertile decomposed manure for gardening). And I should mention that Carl hired a very experienced permy, bushman, and fucking gentleman called Dave, who we both met at the PRI up in NSW to come down for a couple of weeks, to basically pull us out the shit (as chefs so eloquently put), and guru us through times of confusion and frustration. I would like to say that since then, Dave has taught me a bloody lot. His work ethic, simplicity, humility, and apparent ability to naturally balance lateral on logical thinking has been a sincere source of inspiration for me.
After the trench from the top dam was dug, a trench was dug for a header tank, in order to gravity fed the rainwater we would harvest from the main tank next to the shed (which both arrived a couple of weeks ago). Getting running water to the house was the first of hopefully many successful rivers crossed. The next earthwork was connecting a swale* to the lower dam. Because of this connection the swale instantly filled, and a has stayed full of water (though it needs finishing on the farside).
The next day, a concrete slab was laid by the 3 of us (Carl, Dave and myself, but mainly Dave, cos he knew what he was doing... poor guy, he's 15 bloody years older than me) to cover 1 third of the hayshed floor (the rest was filled with gravel, as concrete is expensive and, as I have now realized, bloody hard work). A sliding door was fitted (we have an awesome second hand scrap yard about 20 minutes away) at the back of the shed, any holes in the shed have been patched up with tin, any leaks in the roof sealed (though there is still one leak that we haven't figured out yet) a tin wall has been placed between the concrete slab and the gravel inside the shed, in the hope of enclosing off a comfortable living area.
With the excavator, Dave has also made a mound around the shed to divert rainwater, coming down the hill, into the dam (Carl has turned this mound into a herb garden and Medetirranean tree grove). Shortly after this he used it to rip up a compacted, rocky area, designated to for a veggie garden and food forest.
After this, Dave built a rocket stove (please google) for hot water via a wood oven made of clay and bricks (to me at least, it's a bloody master piece).
In the time that Dave hasn't been here, I've created a small veggie garden with raised beds on contour (to evenly catch rainwater), attempted a 'berkeley method' compost pile (hot compost. Which seems to look and smell quite good, and should be ready in a day or 2), worm farm, rough nursery and am currently working on a hopefully fox-proof chicken coop.
Carl, at times has gone through much stress, largely by being totally dicked around by the phone company (I could mention it's corporate name, but most people know what I'm talking about). Long story short, we had to thread a wire through a 250 metre long pipe that was underground, which took us over 6 hours. It seems to be all sorted now. All we need is electricity.
A few days ago we had a "celebrity" appearance via Dan Lawton (Geoff Lawton's (please google) son) who came for a couple of days to help us install the solar system (that should be ready with a bit of technical wiring by an electrician). He also taught us a lot about fire, and one evening, within a couple of hours, he gathered material from our scrapyard and built a 'pocket-rocket' (a mini rocket stove made of tin designed to be used as a heater; another masterpiece in my eyes). Dan was another massive source of inspiration and a pleasure to have. I should also mention that during the time he was here I somewhat nailed the heat control of of my newly bought dutch oven (camp oven) with a roast leg of lamb and veggies. Seeing as I've only got a 2-ring gas burner to cook on, I very much cherish this piece of equipment.
We also recently got a visit from 2 (1 from Colombia, 1 from North Carolina) really good friends from the PRI and had a pretty good chuckle and a sharing of ideas. Hopefully another diamond geezer (from NSW), who was a long-term WWOOFer at the PRI is coming down to live here for as long as he wants. He is easy going, passionate and quite the social/environmental/political activist. Also, a really cool guy we toured with Amma with, from North California also should be coming for at least 3 months (like Carl and I, I think he might be a bit jaded by the people around Amma, but I could be wrong?)
Some people may (or may not particuarly) be impressed or inspired by what I've just written in this post, but it's probably also fair to mention that the small amount of progress we've made has come with a lot of pain, stress and discomfort at times (certain events that I've not gone into detail about). I am nonetheless enjoying it and learning a lot and sincerely wish to progress with Carl, and hopefully more, with efficient (and beautiful) design.
Once we get internet (touch gumwood; it's everywhere) I'll at least be more diligent with photos on the blog.
* - a level trench, usually a few metres wide, along the contour of the land with a soft mound on the lower side, designed to capture and passively soak water with the assistance of trees (and other plants if wished) planted along the soft mound (the tree roots assist the soaking and get effortlessly irrigated at the same time.
I've been wanting to write a post for about a month now. I'll fit as much as I can in the time I've got with internet.
On the 17th of October we moved on to Carl's new bit of land (yeah, the one in the photos). Before this time, I was still WWOOFing at the Southern Permaculture Institute, as well as visiting a few other permaculture inspired properties in Victoria (see the photos along the side). Once we moved on, we set up camp and cooking facilties (although the first thing I did when I got out the car was casting my fishing rod into the dam, but to no avail).
The first job that needed to be done was digging a trench, with an excavator, to set up irrigation from the higher dam (via a 2 inch poly-pipe) to our base in the hay shed (right next to the lower dam in the top photo of this blog). Sorry, just before this, the same excavator ripped all the dry cow shit and blackberry bushes out of the hay shed (giving us a huge pile of fertile decomposed manure for gardening). And I should mention that Carl hired a very experienced permy, bushman, and fucking gentleman called Dave, who we both met at the PRI up in NSW to come down for a couple of weeks, to basically pull us out the shit (as chefs so eloquently put), and guru us through times of confusion and frustration. I would like to say that since then, Dave has taught me a bloody lot. His work ethic, simplicity, humility, and apparent ability to naturally balance lateral on logical thinking has been a sincere source of inspiration for me.
After the trench from the top dam was dug, a trench was dug for a header tank, in order to gravity fed the rainwater we would harvest from the main tank next to the shed (which both arrived a couple of weeks ago). Getting running water to the house was the first of hopefully many successful rivers crossed. The next earthwork was connecting a swale* to the lower dam. Because of this connection the swale instantly filled, and a has stayed full of water (though it needs finishing on the farside).
The next day, a concrete slab was laid by the 3 of us (Carl, Dave and myself, but mainly Dave, cos he knew what he was doing... poor guy, he's 15 bloody years older than me) to cover 1 third of the hayshed floor (the rest was filled with gravel, as concrete is expensive and, as I have now realized, bloody hard work). A sliding door was fitted (we have an awesome second hand scrap yard about 20 minutes away) at the back of the shed, any holes in the shed have been patched up with tin, any leaks in the roof sealed (though there is still one leak that we haven't figured out yet) a tin wall has been placed between the concrete slab and the gravel inside the shed, in the hope of enclosing off a comfortable living area.
With the excavator, Dave has also made a mound around the shed to divert rainwater, coming down the hill, into the dam (Carl has turned this mound into a herb garden and Medetirranean tree grove). Shortly after this he used it to rip up a compacted, rocky area, designated to for a veggie garden and food forest.
After this, Dave built a rocket stove (please google) for hot water via a wood oven made of clay and bricks (to me at least, it's a bloody master piece).
In the time that Dave hasn't been here, I've created a small veggie garden with raised beds on contour (to evenly catch rainwater), attempted a 'berkeley method' compost pile (hot compost. Which seems to look and smell quite good, and should be ready in a day or 2), worm farm, rough nursery and am currently working on a hopefully fox-proof chicken coop.
Carl, at times has gone through much stress, largely by being totally dicked around by the phone company (I could mention it's corporate name, but most people know what I'm talking about). Long story short, we had to thread a wire through a 250 metre long pipe that was underground, which took us over 6 hours. It seems to be all sorted now. All we need is electricity.
A few days ago we had a "celebrity" appearance via Dan Lawton (Geoff Lawton's (please google) son) who came for a couple of days to help us install the solar system (that should be ready with a bit of technical wiring by an electrician). He also taught us a lot about fire, and one evening, within a couple of hours, he gathered material from our scrapyard and built a 'pocket-rocket' (a mini rocket stove made of tin designed to be used as a heater; another masterpiece in my eyes). Dan was another massive source of inspiration and a pleasure to have. I should also mention that during the time he was here I somewhat nailed the heat control of of my newly bought dutch oven (camp oven) with a roast leg of lamb and veggies. Seeing as I've only got a 2-ring gas burner to cook on, I very much cherish this piece of equipment.
We also recently got a visit from 2 (1 from Colombia, 1 from North Carolina) really good friends from the PRI and had a pretty good chuckle and a sharing of ideas. Hopefully another diamond geezer (from NSW), who was a long-term WWOOFer at the PRI is coming down to live here for as long as he wants. He is easy going, passionate and quite the social/environmental/political activist. Also, a really cool guy we toured with Amma with, from North California also should be coming for at least 3 months (like Carl and I, I think he might be a bit jaded by the people around Amma, but I could be wrong?)
Some people may (or may not particuarly) be impressed or inspired by what I've just written in this post, but it's probably also fair to mention that the small amount of progress we've made has come with a lot of pain, stress and discomfort at times (certain events that I've not gone into detail about). I am nonetheless enjoying it and learning a lot and sincerely wish to progress with Carl, and hopefully more, with efficient (and beautiful) design.
Once we get internet (touch gumwood; it's everywhere) I'll at least be more diligent with photos on the blog.
* - a level trench, usually a few metres wide, along the contour of the land with a soft mound on the lower side, designed to capture and passively soak water with the assistance of trees (and other plants if wished) planted along the soft mound (the tree roots assist the soaking and get effortlessly irrigated at the same time.
