Progress report November 17, 2018
Well, I'm feeling substantially better, but not 100%. I enlisted the help of the kiddos today in making a little progress. They were more than happy to jump in!
We actually got quite a bit done, all things considered.
We took about a third of the mass from the middle and bottom swale berms to add to the north hugel. Not easy work, by any means, but their help was significant.
That's all we got done with five loads of five buckets each. We loaded up three buckets in the big wagon and two in the little wagon. Sophie and Farmer Sam tag teamed the small wagon, and were in charge of bringing back the buckets to where we were loading.
Then we unloaded a bag of leaves in each bay of the north hugel. This will help mulch there as well as building the soil. I've noticed the worms like to come up and poo where there's leaves to keep in moisture and keep out the wind and cold. Hopefully this will help them feel even more comfortable in this area that they'll be in charge of fertilizing.
Next was planting. We planted the two swale berms that we had taken soil from. The soil on the south side of the yard is not the same as on the north. It compacts and dries easily, and is much lighter in color. I attribute that to the fact that it's much less densely planted with trees. The trees serve to build soil, while grass doesn't. More trees generally equals less grass, as can be observed in nature. In a food forest, there's little room for grass.
Planting included:
- kale on the north half of the bottom swale
- broccoli and spinach on the south half
- cauliflower and all year lettuce on the north half of the middle swale
- red lettuce on the south half.
We didn't plant the entirety of our seeds, as we still have another berm to plant, and probably more than just that. I kept them spaced about every foot or two, just by eyesight.
I also put some water in the swales. they're not 100% graded on bottom, but that's not critical. I will do some to even it out a bit before we fill them with chips though. For now, I'm debating putting in some leaves to insulate the ground from evaporation and weather, as well as get started building the soil. I think that'll be a project for tomorrow though, cause I'm kinda wore out.
It donned on me while working today that the long south bed is not going to be a standalone bed. The area between swales is going to be the bed. This means We've effectively made the entire south project into a planting area now. That's our biggest bed, and we're evolving past the model of dedicated beds into a more integrated landscape design, as intended in a food forest.
That's our progress today! We've got a string of good weather inbound this week, so it seems we'll be blessed with good growing weather!
I'm off to eat some supper that Melissa's been working on while she decorated the tree and house. She's been busy today as well.
Y'all have a good evening!
Stay relevant
Nate
Posted using Partiko Android