Flores Permaculture

Chris and Bronwyn did a fantastic job turning our steep mountainside into a functional and safe pathway using Eukyliptus logs and iron stakes. First they removed the top layers of soil from the mountain to find the clay layer that would support the new pathway. Then they used the branches from a tree on our land to make the steps. Odin and Mitra tested the steps out and give them their full approval.

This year we managed to clear the largest flat area on our farm and plant it with Sweet Potatoes. I planted five varieties and all did very well. Above the brush fire is still smoldering as we turn the twigs into ash for fertilizer.   In the photo above you can see the massive Eucalyptus trees that still need to be cut down. For now 'ring-barking' them makes the leaves fall off, allowing the sun to enter the gardens.   A freshly harvested row shows the fantastic forest soil we begin with, now just to keep the natural balance intact and the gardens will keep giving forever. Sabrina helps to unearth more rows of yummy food.  The leaves are also excellent to cook with. Mitra is a huge help at gathering all the sweet potatoes as they are unearthed and gently placing them in a bucket for transport. We dry them in the sun for a day or three, until going into storage. At the present we have to sto...

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 grou...

After eight years of steadily clearing the forest behind our house, we are now free of potential killers. Read our blog post  Tree Felling Adventures  for a backstory. Phase one involved sending Maarten up a tree to fix the lines. Phase two, Filippo,Maarten and myself strung a steel cable across the valley to attach a winch to a stump to control the falling direction of the ~30 tonne giant. Working in the jungle is always a challenge! But after a day of rigging safety lines, the giant came down exactly as planned. Now our house is finally safe from danger and we can begin building  a solar tracker in the new safe zone!