We had a first light frost on the ground with a half moon in a clear night sky. Yes it's getting colder and time to move the kitchen indoors.
Today was picked as the moving day and everybody jumped in. Wheelbarrow loads of stuff was taken out of the cupboards and fridges and is now in its new location for the cold months. Marisa orchestrated and many hands made the work light. And still it took all day.
At the end of the day dinner was served indoors!
A few more interns finished on Friday and have moved on. The place feels empty and quiet. Our winter population will count around 20.
There's lots more to do to be ready for winter: the garden will be put to bed, firwood moved closer to the buildings, water shut off to outdoor showers.
Meanwhile I am preparing for a trip to Africa- 10 days from now I'll be on my way. And Sundays at O.U.R. Ecovillage will resume in February.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Thanksgiving weekend
Yes, it's been a long while since I last actually sat down on a Sunday to write.
It is somewhat symptomatic for how the season takes off here at the Village, leaving hardly a weekend to sit back and reflect.
So here it is Thanksgiving weekend and we are taking three days off. Days off look different for everyone. In my case it looked like this:
Sleeping in was definitely on my list. Followed by "unscheduled time to do whatever I felt moved to do". That translated into doing some browncoat plaster in the bathhouse and cleaning out the gutter of the Art Studio.
A drive to the open water near Sooke at French Beach was a wonderful break. There's just something about sitting by the ocean and listening to the pulse of the surf.
A visit with friends also felt good and was long overdue.
So think about what time off means to you and how do you make it happen?
It is somewhat symptomatic for how the season takes off here at the Village, leaving hardly a weekend to sit back and reflect.
So here it is Thanksgiving weekend and we are taking three days off. Days off look different for everyone. In my case it looked like this:
Sleeping in was definitely on my list. Followed by "unscheduled time to do whatever I felt moved to do". That translated into doing some browncoat plaster in the bathhouse and cleaning out the gutter of the Art Studio.
A drive to the open water near Sooke at French Beach was a wonderful break. There's just something about sitting by the ocean and listening to the pulse of the surf.
A visit with friends also felt good and was long overdue.
So think about what time off means to you and how do you make it happen?
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Mid Summer riches
Summertime for a builder is high season at work. For many of us, however, summertime means time to travel, have a holiday, spend time at the beach with kids and so on. It is festival season, too, and around here one could make attending festivals a full-time occupation at this time of year.
I'm experiencing the cross-over of all these here at the village, and especially over the past couple of weeks.
We've had some fun times with our "Taste of Cob" running at the same time as a kids camp. Children as young as four learned to mix up clay, sand and straw into the material for sculpture, wall or bench.
Led by natural building interns, participants young and old happily danced in the mud, flipped tarps, spread clay slip onto dry cob and pushed it all together with their newly discovered thumb power.
At the same time Robert Laporte from Econest guided the Skillbuilders, continuing Natural Building Interns and visiting econest interns in a tour de force effort on erecting the second floor of Taj 2. We applaud everyone in that workshop for their determination and hard work.
And then a few days later its all done- the Skillbuilder program that is- 9 weeks of learning and living together, struggling with the challenges of group dynamics, feeling the highs and lows of community life, of creating a new self perhaps or a new vision for one-self. And the question arises: what now? How do we take the learning and integrate the experience.
And for me the question is up: How will we create next year's program- what do we keep and what do we change? Every group is different and amazing. Our learning is ongoing as well as O.U.R.Ecovillage takes on this role of demonstration and education site more fully every year.
But as much as something is finished- we're only in mid summer and so much more is coming up. So this weekend at the Duncan Folk Festival marks a welcome break for me with music and community connections.
And tomorrow is Monday and we'll start with a check-in at 8 am in the Chillage.
I'm experiencing the cross-over of all these here at the village, and especially over the past couple of weeks.
We've had some fun times with our "Taste of Cob" running at the same time as a kids camp. Children as young as four learned to mix up clay, sand and straw into the material for sculpture, wall or bench.
Led by natural building interns, participants young and old happily danced in the mud, flipped tarps, spread clay slip onto dry cob and pushed it all together with their newly discovered thumb power.
At the same time Robert Laporte from Econest guided the Skillbuilders, continuing Natural Building Interns and visiting econest interns in a tour de force effort on erecting the second floor of Taj 2. We applaud everyone in that workshop for their determination and hard work.
And then a few days later its all done- the Skillbuilder program that is- 9 weeks of learning and living together, struggling with the challenges of group dynamics, feeling the highs and lows of community life, of creating a new self perhaps or a new vision for one-self. And the question arises: what now? How do we take the learning and integrate the experience.
And for me the question is up: How will we create next year's program- what do we keep and what do we change? Every group is different and amazing. Our learning is ongoing as well as O.U.R.Ecovillage takes on this role of demonstration and education site more fully every year.
But as much as something is finished- we're only in mid summer and so much more is coming up. So this weekend at the Duncan Folk Festival marks a welcome break for me with music and community connections.
And tomorrow is Monday and we'll start with a check-in at 8 am in the Chillage.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Festival weekend!
"Have you heard about us before? " this was the opening line for many conversations over the course of the Organic Islands Festival on the weekend. Cassandra (in the picture) and many of our interns spent their weekend time networking and introducing O.U.R. Ecovillage to curious visitors of our booth.
We shared our ideas around natural building and food production, explained about zoning issues and ecovillage development, and made new connections in the community.
Our display showed ideas like "Lasagna gardening", Seed balls, natural plaster samples and ingredients and offered a natural building "peep show" in a dome made to look like a cob oven.
While many were anxiously following the final game of the soccer world cup, Brandy facilitated a panel on Green building and sustainable development with Guests Doug Makaroff of Living Forest communities, John Gower, JC Scott, Gord Baird from Eco-sense and me, representing O.U.R. Ecovillage and my own design company "houses that love you back".
The panel offered diverse approaches to reducing our carbon footprint from a building perspective. Alternative systems, woodland preservation, sustainable harvesting of lumber, natural building and the idea of the 100 Mile house were presented in short presentations by each of us and then questions from the crowd fielded. A juicy topic like this is hard to fit into a forum like this, so I invite you all to look for "Building as if People mattered" a one day conference in the Spring of 2011!
All in all we had a good time and feel in good company among the many businesses and producers of "organic everything" .
Join us this week for a "Taste of Cob" on Thursday or Friday : cobbing fun for the whole family.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Cob in the Village
Remember that tune: "It's a cool , cool summer...." ? Ok...it's not cool but cruel in the original version but everybody got the tune anyway, right?
Well it still comes up in my head when I think about last week's "Cob in the Village" workshop.
A joyful bunch of people got together and learned to build with cob.
With Summer being hesitant to say the least (thus the tune) we spent the week creating the Bath house at the Art Studio: a two room building that will have a bucket compost toilet in one space and a shower and sink in the other. On the exterior is another sink serving the toilet and anyone needing a handwash.
All Waste water will be directed by underground piping to the berry bushes on the slope below the building. A solar water heater will provide hot water in summer and a propane heater serves in colder months.
During our time together we talked about tips and techniques around cob, foundations, roofs, finishing and design ideas.
I watched how everyone gained such confidence in working with the material in just a few days and feel reassured about the empowering quality of this way of building.
And then there was another altered disco tune: "It's raining cob, haleluja, it's raining cob..."
With that I invite you to have a look at the slideshow:
Sunday, June 13, 2010
good rhythm
Giving people the space to learn and practice hands on skills is one of the central things at our village.
Last week interns were engaged in many tasks- and as leader of the building program I don’t get to fully observe what the garden team is up to. However, there they were on a sunny afternoon cutting the tall grass on a hillside with scythes.
There’s something about the rhythmic swinging movement that has an old fashioned appeal to me. It takes a while to find that rhythm, and once established the effort becomes easier. I tried and have to admit that I’ll need a lot more practice!
Meanwhile the Natural Building Skillbuilders were working on the Bathhouse: after laying most of the stone foundation the previous week we put in plumbing pipes and floors- or floor bases. The little building is set on a slope and we are stepping the floor levels to match that. This way our composting toilet will be accessed from a lower path on the West side, the shower and washing space has its own doorway from the East. The south wall will include some solar hot water system. Stay tuned for more on that.
Finally on Saturday a Wedding: We celebrated with our friends and danced until late last night to the tunes of the Ecclestons. Some good rhythms there for all to play!
Monday, May 24, 2010
coming and going
“Comings and goings “ is a regular agenda item in our weekly community meeting: this week Chris, Kate and little Fergus left after being here for almost six months. Everybody deals with parting in a different way- some are able to express their feelings right there in the moment, for others the “missing” of the person doesn’t begin until after they’re gone. Here we sing a song as farewell:
“while you are away
from your people we do pray
that in your searching you will find
balance in your heart and mind “
Spending a few months together we get used to the place/ role someone takes on in the web of community. Chris spent a lot of time building and fixing things and I will miss his confidence as builder. Kate inspired me to start running again this spring- thank you!from your people we do pray
that in your searching you will find
balance in your heart and mind “
And Fergus, being the youngest child on site, gave us all the chance to be silly and to remember how quickly children grow. In the time here he learned to walk and is now speaking his first words.
I wonder how the fact that we have so many people coming in and out affects the children. What does Fergus think now? Here a toddler is surrounded by people outside the family: older children and adults who give attention and interact with him. It is safe here for parents to give their child a larger range of movement- there are many eyes on the children.
So Kate, Chris and Fergus: we wish you well on your journey and hope to see you again soon!
Today is the second big day of arrivals: Welcome skillbuilders! The tent village fills up and we start our “permaculturalization” tomorrow morning.
And Friday and Saturday were the final days of the Small Straw Bale workshop: Friday was spent doing a lot of filling: with light clay, cob and straw.
On Saturday we applied the “bodycoat” and everyone got muddy! Have a look:
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Small Straw Bale: 100 square feet
Three days and thirteen people and we have a little building. At the end of a workshop I have few words- feeling the satisfaction of the richness of working together and seeing results:
We all look forward to continuing the workshop next Friday for the Body coat!
We all look forward to continuing the workshop next Friday for the Body coat!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mothers day
The fact that today we celebrate Mothers day stimulated a conversation about families over pancakes this morning.
When I asked one of the interns about his parent’s age he said “mid fifties” and I realized: that’s me- almost. My mother talked about that too: “I think of you as 25 still…” just as I think of her as 40-something.
Aging sneaks up on you- by now I’m supposed to be all grown up and have life figured out. But the reality is: I keep learning: about myself and the world, always changing and creating, and I still wonder “what am I going to do with my life?”
Looking back the path is pretty obvious but looking ahead there are choices to be made, obstacles to overcome and many unknowns. Being in relationship with my partner influences my choices as does my relationship to this community.
When recently the women held a crone ceremony for me I felt the call to move into the role of an elder. Who are my models for this?
In community we get to see all the stages of life and have relationships with all generations. That makes for good conversations around the fire or the dinner table and offers much inspiration to me. It reminds me of other perspectives and needs, and challenges my habits!
And to wrap up for today a link to some further reading:
One of our interns this year just published an article about permaculture in Urban gardening magazine. Congratulations Javan!
PS. :Monday morning and someone just sent this Mother's day you tube link that I'd like to share with you:
When I asked one of the interns about his parent’s age he said “mid fifties” and I realized: that’s me- almost. My mother talked about that too: “I think of you as 25 still…” just as I think of her as 40-something.
Aging sneaks up on you- by now I’m supposed to be all grown up and have life figured out. But the reality is: I keep learning: about myself and the world, always changing and creating, and I still wonder “what am I going to do with my life?”
Looking back the path is pretty obvious but looking ahead there are choices to be made, obstacles to overcome and many unknowns. Being in relationship with my partner influences my choices as does my relationship to this community.
When recently the women held a crone ceremony for me I felt the call to move into the role of an elder. Who are my models for this?
In community we get to see all the stages of life and have relationships with all generations. That makes for good conversations around the fire or the dinner table and offers much inspiration to me. It reminds me of other perspectives and needs, and challenges my habits!
And to wrap up for today a link to some further reading:
One of our interns this year just published an article about permaculture in Urban gardening magazine. Congratulations Javan!
PS. :Monday morning and someone just sent this Mother's day you tube link that I'd like to share with you:
Sunday, May 2, 2010
The Interns are coming!
Every year, sometime in spring, the day comes when the interns of the season arrive. We anticipate this day with curiosity, excitement and a bit of anxiety: how will the new members of the community fit with each other, with those of us who have been here a while and with the place and our organization and its peculiar ways.
Over the years we have created a process that we call "permaculturalization" - a way of bringing us all together as learning community. We spend between 3 and 5 days with activities focused on getting to know each other, connecting with place, building trust, playing games, and downloading information about O.U.R. Ecovillage. We create a vision for the season, talk about personal goals and make team agreements. Guest facilitators bring in pieces about conflict resolution, team building games, personality profiles or body awareness.
This past week was this year's spring staff retreat. 25 of us spent many hours in the yurt, learning about the ecovillage structures both visible and invisible. We had workshops on successful meeting facilitation with Dawn Smith, Village elements with John Andreas, strategic planning with Rick Juliussen and conflict resolution with Brandon Tallman. Our teams (kitchen, office, building and food production) took turns cooking meals - an opportunity to find out how we work together.
Explaining to others how things work here I really bring to my own awareness all the small bits that have become pattern: how to use the composting toilet, where to put the recycling, who to ask for what, how the greenhouse shower works and so on. There are so many details and there's a story that goes which each one. And so we all become story tellers- the longer we live here the more stories we hold.
Our team agreements are tools: each team lays out their intention on how we want to work together, communicate with each other, hold responsibility, give respect, deal with conflict and get our work done. Through the season we will revisit our agreement regularly and have a look at how we're doing: are we following what we set out to do? Do we need to re-negotiate?
In summary I believe that as a result of this initial time together we will be safer and more open with each other, which enables us to better learning and working performance.
And when I look at my team this year I am stoked : anticipating fun and lots of action.
Change of topics: Yesterday was World Labyrinth Day and I will post here a few images of the recently finished labyrinth at O.U.R. Ecovillage
Over the years we have created a process that we call "permaculturalization" - a way of bringing us all together as learning community. We spend between 3 and 5 days with activities focused on getting to know each other, connecting with place, building trust, playing games, and downloading information about O.U.R. Ecovillage. We create a vision for the season, talk about personal goals and make team agreements. Guest facilitators bring in pieces about conflict resolution, team building games, personality profiles or body awareness.
This past week was this year's spring staff retreat. 25 of us spent many hours in the yurt, learning about the ecovillage structures both visible and invisible. We had workshops on successful meeting facilitation with Dawn Smith, Village elements with John Andreas, strategic planning with Rick Juliussen and conflict resolution with Brandon Tallman. Our teams (kitchen, office, building and food production) took turns cooking meals - an opportunity to find out how we work together.
Explaining to others how things work here I really bring to my own awareness all the small bits that have become pattern: how to use the composting toilet, where to put the recycling, who to ask for what, how the greenhouse shower works and so on. There are so many details and there's a story that goes which each one. And so we all become story tellers- the longer we live here the more stories we hold.
Our team agreements are tools: each team lays out their intention on how we want to work together, communicate with each other, hold responsibility, give respect, deal with conflict and get our work done. Through the season we will revisit our agreement regularly and have a look at how we're doing: are we following what we set out to do? Do we need to re-negotiate?
In summary I believe that as a result of this initial time together we will be safer and more open with each other, which enables us to better learning and working performance.
And when I look at my team this year I am stoked : anticipating fun and lots of action.
Change of topics: Yesterday was World Labyrinth Day and I will post here a few images of the recently finished labyrinth at O.U.R. Ecovillage
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
a quiet week
Some weeks go by quietly without outstanding events. People go about doing their work, no big storm or other weather event happens and suddenly we find ourselves at the end of another seven days.
Maybe I wasn't part of things so much this week.
You see I have my own design and consulting business here and at this time when the building season is coming close, I try to wrap up my design projects so that I can be free to go outside to build and teach at the end of May.
My office space is visually not connected to the commons- that helps me not to get too distracted by the general activities and comings and goings. It is located at the north side of the Art Studio and looks out onto the wetlands and to the West overlooks the new garden area. Working in a natural building surrounded by the sounds of nature is something I appreciate every day.
Add to that the fact that I don't have any travel time to work and suddenly there's space to give work time to the general operations of the ecovillage.
A contributing factor to the general quiet here was that a few of the men from our group went to a Warrior training of the Mankind Project this weekend. In community that means those who are left behind pick up the slack where necessary.
We're happy when they return: nurtured by the work and deeper connection to each other. And with that I direct my attention to my partner who just arrived.
Maybe I wasn't part of things so much this week.
You see I have my own design and consulting business here and at this time when the building season is coming close, I try to wrap up my design projects so that I can be free to go outside to build and teach at the end of May.
My office space is visually not connected to the commons- that helps me not to get too distracted by the general activities and comings and goings. It is located at the north side of the Art Studio and looks out onto the wetlands and to the West overlooks the new garden area. Working in a natural building surrounded by the sounds of nature is something I appreciate every day.
Add to that the fact that I don't have any travel time to work and suddenly there's space to give work time to the general operations of the ecovillage.
A contributing factor to the general quiet here was that a few of the men from our group went to a Warrior training of the Mankind Project this weekend. In community that means those who are left behind pick up the slack where necessary.
We're happy when they return: nurtured by the work and deeper connection to each other. And with that I direct my attention to my partner who just arrived.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Rainbows and Easter Eggs
It’s just too tempting to pick up the weather topic again today. A big storm kept people a bit on edge for a few days now, causing widespread power outages all over Vancouver Island on Friday, and bringing rain and hail and heavy, gusty winds.
Not enough to scare the Easter bunny away though- this morning the children went on a scavenger hunt on the land and found baskets of treats.
And we’ve been eating little chocolate eggs all week in anticipation…do we really need an excuse to eat chocolate?
Talking about eggs: This morning I noticed a chicken squawking loudly in the storage shed right next to the Art Studio: sounded like it just laid an egg.
In the afternoon I investigated and sure enough: a dozen or so eggs were laid there behind some buckets.
While one program is finishing up (the permaculture landscaping that’s been happening all winter) it’s been high time for summer program applications this week: The Natural Building Skillbuilder attracts people from many backgrounds who want to get a broad basic training in our community setting. Now we’ll conduct interviews and meet people so everyone can be well prepared for the May start.
Those who have been working on the winter program are hoping for a “spring break” , a couple of weeks away perhaps, to recharge and turn towards summer.
Monday, March 29, 2010
A day late
Monday morning and I have an internal conflict about the Sunday blog I didn’t write yesterday. Now I never promised anyone that this would be an every Sunday blog, but I'm guilty to myself: I took on the challenge that it would be.
How am I facing my voices? Do I own up and deliver now? A day later? Is that better than next Sunday- nobody else will know after all.
Yes, but my commitment is to myself, and it’s me who’s doing the judging. And it’s my energy that’s getting pulled into it.
This situation illustrates something that I believe is an important part of life and especially important in intentional community: commitment and accountability, along with self-motivation. There’s no better learning environment than a long-term group situation, and while for many this is too big a challenge, others take it on and share the highs and lows of their paths.
So now let’s talk about the weather- seriously, that was my intention yesterday.
We were lucky last week with a sensitive pond sealing job and a ceremony to be held outdoors. The early part of the week was mostly sunny, with bits of rain at night. The garden pond was scheduled to be pumped out and sealed with bentonite clay and burlap. So for two days people were knee-deep in the water, applying the clay to the edge of the pond: a wet and probably cold endeavor.
When I asked on Wednesday night what was next the answer was: “Now we need rain and the whole thing is done”. Thursday it rained. Perfect.
Friday all attention was on cleaning things up, hanging new gates, collecting flowers and setting up space for the opening ceremony of our labyrinth on Saturday. I love how an event raises the energy level and we all take a look around and pick up, rake, sweep, and put away.
Saturday came with sunshine(!) and the labyrinth received a last check and some flowers. The celebration brought in new faces and old ones- an occasion like this marks time for this village and longtime friends, who may be less involved on a daily basis, show up. Everyone walked the labyrinth that day and there was song and drumming, blessings and food.
And Sunday when everything was quiet again I woke up to the sound of rain.
Now next Sunday is Easter…will I be writing ?
How am I facing my voices? Do I own up and deliver now? A day later? Is that better than next Sunday- nobody else will know after all.
Yes, but my commitment is to myself, and it’s me who’s doing the judging. And it’s my energy that’s getting pulled into it.
This situation illustrates something that I believe is an important part of life and especially important in intentional community: commitment and accountability, along with self-motivation. There’s no better learning environment than a long-term group situation, and while for many this is too big a challenge, others take it on and share the highs and lows of their paths.
So now let’s talk about the weather- seriously, that was my intention yesterday.
We were lucky last week with a sensitive pond sealing job and a ceremony to be held outdoors. The early part of the week was mostly sunny, with bits of rain at night. The garden pond was scheduled to be pumped out and sealed with bentonite clay and burlap. So for two days people were knee-deep in the water, applying the clay to the edge of the pond: a wet and probably cold endeavor.
When I asked on Wednesday night what was next the answer was: “Now we need rain and the whole thing is done”. Thursday it rained. Perfect.
Friday all attention was on cleaning things up, hanging new gates, collecting flowers and setting up space for the opening ceremony of our labyrinth on Saturday. I love how an event raises the energy level and we all take a look around and pick up, rake, sweep, and put away.
Saturday came with sunshine(!) and the labyrinth received a last check and some flowers. The celebration brought in new faces and old ones- an occasion like this marks time for this village and longtime friends, who may be less involved on a daily basis, show up. Everyone walked the labyrinth that day and there was song and drumming, blessings and food.
And Sunday when everything was quiet again I woke up to the sound of rain.
Now next Sunday is Easter…will I be writing ?
Sunday, March 21, 2010
New Ground
The chickens have been covering new ground lately. Their fence was opened and suddenly their range has multiplied in size- namely into the new garden area. Without hesitation they went for the farthest reaches and scratched away happily.
There's still machine work going on: areas of ground are being leveled so that we can install irrigation systems. A new pond has been dug and still requires finishing. And a central driving lane is part of the plan also: occasionally it's important to be able to bring in a larger vehicle to offload compost, manure or other supplies.
Well the machine work means just more grub to the chickens. They closely follow the scoop and every time a bit of earth is scratched by this big tool, they're there picking up the bounty.
The ground in our area is full of rocks- about the size of potatoes. (Just north of here is the rural community by the name of "Cobble Hill") On top just a very thin layer of topsoil with some grass. So the first order of action is soil building. In a presentation I heard this weekend I learned that our top soil is being depleted at a frightening rate- much faster than it can be built up or recovered.
Of course without soil there's no growth, without growth no product- or produce- or FOOD!
What does it take to build soil? Lots of compost, management of erosion, composting toilets, cover crops, crop rotation and probably a few more strategies. Remember I'm not a gardener!
Somewhere along my learning path I have heard about potatoes as first crop in a garden. So I was not surprised to see ground being prepared for potatoes here. Mike, a volunteer from Ireland, has taken it upon himself to plant an area with a method that he learned at home. So today, on this Equinox Sunday, I joined him in the field to see what he was doing. Its a simple strategy: Lay out the line with a string, cut a line with the spade and then dig once to one side turning over the grass and once more to the other side , thus creating between the dug trenches a bed of turned soil on top of the grass layer
. This is where the potatoes will be planted- but that's part of the next installation of this blog. Back to today: I showed up ready with my own spade and stepped on the edge- and hit a rock! And that is how it is here- digging is a struggle of wedging your shovel in between rocks, sometimes hand picking . Slow, hard work. Of course -you might have guessed- the chickens are right there at the end of the spade each time it turns a bit of soil: ready to find some yummy grub.
Earthwork can be done in different ways- by spade and pick or by machinery. While I acknowledge that the spade is the more gentle way for the land, I do believe that a machine can become the extension of our arms and with its power move so much more soil in a day that then frees up the gardener to get on with the other tasks: composting, preparing beds and planting seeds.
On this First Sunday in the Spring of 2010 the air has that sweet smell of flowers, the song of birds and the nights now echo with the calling of the frogs. Blessings of the season to all!
There's still machine work going on: areas of ground are being leveled so that we can install irrigation systems. A new pond has been dug and still requires finishing. And a central driving lane is part of the plan also: occasionally it's important to be able to bring in a larger vehicle to offload compost, manure or other supplies.
Well the machine work means just more grub to the chickens. They closely follow the scoop and every time a bit of earth is scratched by this big tool, they're there picking up the bounty.
The ground in our area is full of rocks- about the size of potatoes. (Just north of here is the rural community by the name of "Cobble Hill") On top just a very thin layer of topsoil with some grass. So the first order of action is soil building. In a presentation I heard this weekend I learned that our top soil is being depleted at a frightening rate- much faster than it can be built up or recovered.
Of course without soil there's no growth, without growth no product- or produce- or FOOD!
What does it take to build soil? Lots of compost, management of erosion, composting toilets, cover crops, crop rotation and probably a few more strategies. Remember I'm not a gardener!
Somewhere along my learning path I have heard about potatoes as first crop in a garden. So I was not surprised to see ground being prepared for potatoes here. Mike, a volunteer from Ireland, has taken it upon himself to plant an area with a method that he learned at home. So today, on this Equinox Sunday, I joined him in the field to see what he was doing. Its a simple strategy: Lay out the line with a string, cut a line with the spade and then dig once to one side turning over the grass and once more to the other side , thus creating between the dug trenches a bed of turned soil on top of the grass layer
. This is where the potatoes will be planted- but that's part of the next installation of this blog. Back to today: I showed up ready with my own spade and stepped on the edge- and hit a rock! And that is how it is here- digging is a struggle of wedging your shovel in between rocks, sometimes hand picking . Slow, hard work. Of course -you might have guessed- the chickens are right there at the end of the spade each time it turns a bit of soil: ready to find some yummy grub.
Earthwork can be done in different ways- by spade and pick or by machinery. While I acknowledge that the spade is the more gentle way for the land, I do believe that a machine can become the extension of our arms and with its power move so much more soil in a day that then frees up the gardener to get on with the other tasks: composting, preparing beds and planting seeds.On this First Sunday in the Spring of 2010 the air has that sweet smell of flowers, the song of birds and the nights now echo with the calling of the frogs. Blessings of the season to all!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
changing the clock
Today is the first day of daylight savings time for this year. This switch of the clock is a reminder to me of (hu)man's artificial ways of relating to life and nature.
I happily am in the position of waking up with the morning light most of the time. There's a built in response in our bodies that wakes us at daybreak if we're exposed to the light. In my experience I'm happiest if I follow that first natural wake-up call and actually get up.
On Sundays, however, I will allow myself to stay in bed and go for another round of dreams.
When I finally got up this morning, the day was in full swing. We had planned a clothing swap for the morning where we could offer up things we no longer use to others in our village. I scored some magazines which I plan to use for a vision board exercise with my group this summer.
There's an unspoken agreement here at play on Sundays: we claim this day as personal time or family time. Living in community teaches everyone to give space, we know that the busy summer season will soon be here when the village fills up with students, interns and visitors. So for now we enjoy the luxury of quiet times.
Having said that there's still things to do: the Credit Union, our central composting toilet in the garden is my care responsibility this week. So I clean, refill, and replace what's needed. Someone has installed a magazine holder for toilet reading material. A toddler's toilet seat has also been added recently.
Mike is out in the new garden area preparing for his special potato plot- I'll write about that when I learn more.
I hear the dog barking and go out to meet two visitors I'm expecting. These folks called to come and talk about natural houses and hoped to actually go inside one. Yes! This is where that can happen! I take them for a walk to the Healing Sanctuary, our hybrid cob and straw-bale building. I'm watching their eyes light up as they walk through the sculpted space. We discuss the differences between the materials, how the process works and when they can come and learn. We move on to spend the rest of our visiting time in the Art Studio where I live. Made of cob and light clay, this building is full of fun details. My visitors chat for a while and leave with the statement:"I want to live in a house like this". Yes I am very blessed to live here.
As this Sunday settles into a rainy afternoon I will go back to my book "The secret teachings of plants" which also has me thinking about our very limited ways of describing nature - just like the changed clock.
I happily am in the position of waking up with the morning light most of the time. There's a built in response in our bodies that wakes us at daybreak if we're exposed to the light. In my experience I'm happiest if I follow that first natural wake-up call and actually get up.
On Sundays, however, I will allow myself to stay in bed and go for another round of dreams.
When I finally got up this morning, the day was in full swing. We had planned a clothing swap for the morning where we could offer up things we no longer use to others in our village. I scored some magazines which I plan to use for a vision board exercise with my group this summer.
There's an unspoken agreement here at play on Sundays: we claim this day as personal time or family time. Living in community teaches everyone to give space, we know that the busy summer season will soon be here when the village fills up with students, interns and visitors. So for now we enjoy the luxury of quiet times.
Having said that there's still things to do: the Credit Union, our central composting toilet in the garden is my care responsibility this week. So I clean, refill, and replace what's needed. Someone has installed a magazine holder for toilet reading material. A toddler's toilet seat has also been added recently.
Mike is out in the new garden area preparing for his special potato plot- I'll write about that when I learn more.
I hear the dog barking and go out to meet two visitors I'm expecting. These folks called to come and talk about natural houses and hoped to actually go inside one. Yes! This is where that can happen! I take them for a walk to the Healing Sanctuary, our hybrid cob and straw-bale building. I'm watching their eyes light up as they walk through the sculpted space. We discuss the differences between the materials, how the process works and when they can come and learn. We move on to spend the rest of our visiting time in the Art Studio where I live. Made of cob and light clay, this building is full of fun details. My visitors chat for a while and leave with the statement:"I want to live in a house like this". Yes I am very blessed to live here.
As this Sunday settles into a rainy afternoon I will go back to my book "The secret teachings of plants" which also has me thinking about our very limited ways of describing nature - just like the changed clock.
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