This last week, I have been very productive, both on the land I live and also on a friends land, where I helped them plant some tree's along with others from our Collective's gardening group. I have moved past the point of attending regular meetings and now I just want to do. So every second Friday, the gardening group visit's someone's garden and helps them out.
But before that I made some more progress on the compost toilet. If you remember I had dug a huge hole, which you can see above. But unfortunately, one side of the wall had collapsed, so I needed to build it up again. My friend came on Thursday and we spend the morning building a dry wall. It was my first time to do so and I must say I really enjoyed it. I had already dug out a lot of big stones, but I had to find more suitable ones, ones which were flat. Luckily, there is loads on the land. So off I went with the Wheelbarrow.
I got so into it, that I forgot to take more photos. It's like a huge jigsaw really. My friend had made walls like this before, so I am very grateful to have had him on hand to give me some direction. This wall, will act as a supporting wall for the toilet. I could have used a pallet, but there were so many stones available and when building, it is always best to use what you already have. A wonderful permaculture principle that I like to follow.
You can see the difference between the old wall and the new one we build. I will be working on the old one in the next few days to make sure it will stand standing. The rain finally arrived here this weekend, so I have not yet had time to work on it. But tomorrow the sun returns so I plan to get more done. This is such a great skill to have, I was super impressed with how it turned out and made a point of showing it to all my friends who have since come to visit me.
I couldn't resist another photo of our handy work. It looks just as good as the original one. The land I am on, is made up of six terraces so it is a skill that I know I will put to good use to again.
Then it was onto my friends place, to help them plant some trees on their land. I have planted quite a few trees in my time, but I love when I get to learn about new methods, or tips. They use permaculture techniques as well and recently a local goat herder asked them if they had any use for some sheep's wool. Of course they did, as mulch for their trees. Using wool, will help to protect the soil, by keeping it at a constant temperature and also by helping to hold moisture in, on the hot summer days.
We had also added some manure to the soil, and after making sure that the wool was not actually touching the tree, we covered it with off cuttings from some of the other trees on the land and then finally covered that all with wood chip. It gets cold here in the night still so it's important to protect the roots. Then when the summer comes the heat can be relentless, so water retention and helping to keep the soil cool is so important.
When we were digging up the manure, we found this very impressive grub. It was huge. I love insects, I've always been fascinated by them and I was thrilled to get to meet this guy. We put him back in the pile, so that he could get back to work, helping ti break the manure down. I love to be in the garden by myself, but there is also something magical about working with others, chatting away, each of us lifting the spirits of the other. I look forward to our next garden meet up.
Oooh, that's a good size curl grub! I wonder what type of beetle it will become. What ones do you commonly have around?
We get a lot of slightly smaller ones, which are likely Christmas beetles, then even smaller will probably be the African lawn beetles, which I gather aren't native. Occasionally we'll come across one that size. Those are incredible!
Nice garden rendezvous, it must’ve felt so good constructing the toilet being your first time of doing that . Great job!
Impressive wall! This is a forgotten art, so nice you got into it!
And sheep's wool is magic. I love weaving with woolen yarn, the energy is amazing. Great for the garden, yes! And for healing and more!
Thank you @traisto , i really did enjoy it, feels so good to be doing some physical work xxxx
The ancients would be proud!
Ah thanks @todayslight xxxx
What a bunch of patience to pile those walls so neatly! I've heard those grubs are full of protein, but... courage
Patience indeed, but very enjoyable. No way could I eat that grub though xxxx
This is very nice, you have truly been working hard.
Yes I have, thanks @harnah12 xxxx
You are welcome 🙂
It happens. When you are so sink in the work, taking photographs seems like a distraction.
That's an awesome principle, indeed. By making use of the available resources, we can save both the time and money
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Thanks for the lovely feedback and support @amberkashif xxxx
You are most welcome @trucklife-family
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This is very nice and amazing! Since I was out for a week, the moment I got back here was really to find you and your read your contents!
Ah thanks @rene.neverfound, I hope you are well xxxxx
i am currently... how to call this, regenerating from the draining weeks. but, worry not, i am well and fine! i hope you are too, @trucklife-family
Beautiful post, dear friend @trucklife-family!! Thanks for sharing your glorious skills! I LOVE seeing others perfect crafts - sooo satisfying, eh! I love your big grub too: we have a very similar, only slighyly smaller one here in rural Italy, which I don't know the name of, but am very aware that it nestles into the hearts of tree trunks and eats them from the inside out... very pesky beast! It only seems to thrive where there's a LOT of overgrowth and undergrowth, ivy, vines, creepers, and dark, dank build-up of layers: seems to work symbiotically with ivy and rotting funghi systems, and to take care of the chopping trees down bit!
Blessings!
Hey there @clareartista, thank you for your wonderful feedback. I have been so productive these last few weeks it has been great xxxxx
Your wall is very impressive! I think it looks beautiful. That tip with the goats wool is cool, I didn't think about using it as mulch, but I'm sure that it will now also provide the birds in the area with nesting material, so don't be surprised if the pile starts to diminish over time 😃
Going through our compost yesterday I found a bunch of grubs exactly the same as yours and I was wondering what they will turn into? Esteban kept a few in a box, hoping to find out!
Great work with that wall. Looks super solid. Puts my stone house to shame with its mud mortar! Sending hugs x
Your rock walls looks great! I remember when we bouht the farm property, the first thing my father did was to create terraces.
It's understandable that when people live, we disrupt the natural ecosystem aside from physical damages, but to find methods that let people and the environment coexist with lesser damages or even build a sustainable environment is really the way to go.