Thanks to everyone who made this a success! From the prep party to this first workshop.
We sing in the morning, and we speak from our hearts
We share in the work, and balance 'plans' to 'just start'
What language is common?
What purpose is ours?
No matter uncertainty, we can find work for hours.
Find work in appreciating the texture of wood
and work in no more idea of what 'should'.
We make home for the mushrooms and termites and ants
to let the wood decompose into humus for plants.
All we do is just gather logs and bury them into ground
As my friend Chris used to say, "Humans: We Move Stuff Around."
We didn't get to sowing any literal seeds, but we sure made a big pile of logs together. :)
We decided not to add soil for a few reasons:
1. We consolidated our efforts into making the pile pretty much full-height, but only building half of it, so ultimately it wants to wrap into the property and therefore needs more building - and more wood than we had.
2. It will be better for the plants we have (native donations from someone met at a seed swap, plants from the dump pile at a local nursery, and divisions from friends around town) to transplant in the fall rather than in the draught and heat of summer.
3. "Weeds" will not grow in unplanted soil in the mean time.
4. We haven't yet found a source of clean fill dirt.
We did have a great donation of a bit of deer fencing to protect plants in the fall. Thanks Tinker!
We adjusted our plans for the weekend's goals when everyone who signed up for the workshop canceled.
An astrological note: I usually check before I schedule workshops, but forgot this time, and Mercury went retrograde the very day we started. Mercury is the planet of communication, when it's retrograde it's a time of reflection rather than a time of more usual "outward" thinking - often "plans" don't go as planned. It's a great time to study, reflect, organize, for new opportunities to arise... but not great for thinking things will go the way you thought they would.
In any case, different people than expected came and helped with the pile in wonderful and timely ways. A neighbor down the street donated an additional truckload of wood when she learned what we were doing. We ran out of wood at the end of the second day, and used all the small stick piles around the property, which is what we wanted. Overall, we felt the volume of work accomplished was impressive (we still made a huge pile!) and well-paced (easy going).
Stay tuned for 'round two' when we build the rest of the hugel pile and plant into it!
We share in the work, and balance 'plans' to 'just start'
What language is common?
What purpose is ours?
No matter uncertainty, we can find work for hours.
Find work in appreciating the texture of wood
and work in no more idea of what 'should'.
We make home for the mushrooms and termites and ants
to let the wood decompose into humus for plants.
All we do is just gather logs and bury them into ground
As my friend Chris used to say, "Humans: We Move Stuff Around."
We didn't get to sowing any literal seeds, but we sure made a big pile of logs together. :)
We decided not to add soil for a few reasons:
1. We consolidated our efforts into making the pile pretty much full-height, but only building half of it, so ultimately it wants to wrap into the property and therefore needs more building - and more wood than we had.
2. It will be better for the plants we have (native donations from someone met at a seed swap, plants from the dump pile at a local nursery, and divisions from friends around town) to transplant in the fall rather than in the draught and heat of summer.
3. "Weeds" will not grow in unplanted soil in the mean time.
4. We haven't yet found a source of clean fill dirt.
We did have a great donation of a bit of deer fencing to protect plants in the fall. Thanks Tinker!
We adjusted our plans for the weekend's goals when everyone who signed up for the workshop canceled.
An astrological note: I usually check before I schedule workshops, but forgot this time, and Mercury went retrograde the very day we started. Mercury is the planet of communication, when it's retrograde it's a time of reflection rather than a time of more usual "outward" thinking - often "plans" don't go as planned. It's a great time to study, reflect, organize, for new opportunities to arise... but not great for thinking things will go the way you thought they would.
In any case, different people than expected came and helped with the pile in wonderful and timely ways. A neighbor down the street donated an additional truckload of wood when she learned what we were doing. We ran out of wood at the end of the second day, and used all the small stick piles around the property, which is what we wanted. Overall, we felt the volume of work accomplished was impressive (we still made a huge pile!) and well-paced (easy going).
Stay tuned for 'round two' when we build the rest of the hugel pile and plant into it!