New Tropical Micro-Climate Garden

Magnus has been working diligently to remove the jungle and debris from a great location on our farm for several years.  

The first steps were taken in earnest last year and recorded at this blog post from 2016.

With the help of AviChai, Magnus managed to get the "Super-Bowl Garden" cleared of large trees that had accumulated over the years.

This year with the excellent help of Anne and Matts, the garden if functional and beautiful.

Above Anne uses cut Canna Rocha (Hedychium gardnerianum) to mulch around freshly planted Taro.

While Anne mulches, Matts pulls all the cut wood out of the stream bed and stacks it for future compost.

Above, the scope of the garden can be seen, with a beautiful spring fed stream running through the center.

Banana trees are planted near the mountainside, with Taro in the boggy areas and fig and avocado in the dry areas.

Young Taro transplants are growing their true leaves now and harvesting the solar energy.

The cool spring water creates an ideal climate for the Taro to thrive.

 Clearing a bed for the water to follow was a huge priority.  Before we cleared the channel, the water spilled over the entire area and created a boggy mess.

With Matts help, the stream runs free and clear now, allowing us to harvest water as needed.

The garden is located in a natural depression in the land, giving it amazing sun catching abilities.  As more stones and cliffs are uncovered, the area will retain the solar radiation and become more Tropical than the surrounding forest and gardens of our property.

Painting the Chimney and Oven

We decided to paint our chimney and oven a nice fiery color to complement our cool blue house.

Last year we finished refinishing the area, but ran out of time to paint before the rainy season arrived.

With a good cement job covered by quality primer and topcoat, this job should not need redoing in my lifetime at least!

2017 Jungle Clearing Season Commences

Jungle clearing is a labor and time intensive process to do correctly.

The goal is not to kill the jungle, but to make it a useful space.

This land was abandoned to nature over 50 years ago.

Below, the dark forest is seen in the background of the fallen giant.  With no sunlight available, not much vegetation occurs under this canopy.

The first step is to cut all the smaller incenso trees (pittosporum undulatum) and canna (Hedychium gardnerianum) plants from the area, in order to expose the fallen trees blown down in previous years.

The insenso is then stacked for drying and future fire wood use.  Below, a nice stack is prepared.

  

Below Beatrice separates the branches into one pile and the logs into another for drying and compost. Thank you Beatrice for helping to collect and stack all this wood!

The giant eucalyptus trees are carefully cut one at a time, as seen below.  With the inceso cut to a meter above ground level, they will regrow.  If they were left intact, the eucalyptus would break them or uproot them when they fell.

As part of our wwoofing program, we teach people how to safely and effectively operate chainsaws and how to fell trees in the direction intended.  

After the trees are felled, they are de-limbed and our wwoofer, Beatrice, removes the limbs and piles them for compost and kindling.   

After the land is cleared of the smaller trees, some of the giant eucalyptus are ring-barked to kill the tree, but leave it standing until a time when it can be cut down.  

After the eucalyptus trees die, all the leaves will fall off and allow more sunlight to penetrate our fertile gardens and allow our seeds to thrive and grow healthy foods for us to all thrive and grow also!

Sowilo (Phase IIA)

The foundation has set and now Phase II begins.  Phase II involves building the  concrete columns that will support the solar panels and rotating axis.

The north column stands nearly three meters tall, so a pedestal is required to strengthen the structure and minimize bend or cracks.

Also do to intense winter wind loads and the fact the uppermost solar panel will stand four meters above ground level, it is crucial that the structure cannot topple and land on our roof.  This iron reinforced bench will add 1700 kilograms of weight as a counter force.

I decided to us natural stone as a functional form, rather than wood or blocks.  

The bench should seat four people, one at each of the cardinal directions.  This will be ideal for watching the sun rise from the ocean.

It takes a little more time to select and align the field stones, but I want this to be Art as well as Engineering.

The bench is nearly at the final height and ready for the capstones.

Only one more course of stone and then I can back-fill with concrete and place the capstones.  Then on to Phase IIB!

Sowilo - Harnessing the Power of our Star (phase I)

Our off-grid home is powered by a Hydro-Turbine.  In the winter months we get more than 500 watts of output non-stop.  During the late summer months we start to get less rainfall and therefor we get less wattage.  As global warming shifts our system of winds and ocean currents, we anticipate drier summers.  As a result we are adding an additional 1,000 watts of power to our  system.  In the winter we will have more hot water and heating during the day and we will maintain our current standard of living in the summer when the rains stop and the sun beams down.

The tracker is designed to maximize yearly output of solar power by following the sun's path from East to West daily at  a constant 23 degree angle.

The first stage of the project is to accrue all the building materials and get them to the site.  Not a simple task without a 4 wheel drive truck.

All the sand and gravel must be bagged up and then hand carried to the top of the hill.  Thank you Stan and Ben for your help with this morale breaking job. 

Once at the top of the hill, the bags are sent down a steel cable to the location of the work site.  In the photo above you can see the bags of materials in cue to be launched on the steel cable directly above them.

Once the sacks of sand, gravel, and cement are all on location, the mixing process can begin.  In the meantime, the bags make a comfortable resting spot for the boss-man.

Next the foundations need to be dug to support the structure.

Ben and Cbass take charge with mattock and shovel and excavate the site.

The tracker will sit atop of a retaining wall we built in 2011, directly behind our house. 

After a day of physical labor, Ben, Cbass, and Magnus, take a break to press some wine and sample the quality of ethanol production this season.

Concrete mixing finally commences and the 2,500 kilogram foundation begins to be poured.

The iron is held in place with guide ropes to maintain perfect North-South and Vertical alignment as the concrete is dumped bucket-by-bucket into the wooden forms.

A difficult job is made much easier with two strong and able men alongside Magnus.

The final foundation shape is revealed as Sowilo.  The fitting symbol for this project and what it seeks to accomplish.

Next, the pedestal will be built at the base of the North column.  And then the columns themselves will be poured and finally the metal frame will be attached to the tops of the columns.  Stay tuned...

Our Humble Sacrifice to Summon the Spirit of Dionysus

This year we had a great harvest season for Strawberry Guava.

Odin and Mitra were eager to lend a hand to gather berries, one for the bucket and one for the mouth.

We developed a good system with the boys relaying the full cups picked by our woofer helpers to the master bucket. Below Stan and Mitra team up to get the job done.

Vince also lent a hand to gather fruit on our family farm.

After a hard days work, Mitra puts his feet up to enjoy the biggest and best fruit gathered.

And when there are enough fruits to fill a large vessel, we engage in the ancient and sacred art of fermentation.

Early Autumn Harvesting