I try not to use gas powered equipment for two main reasons, avoiding gas/petroleum usage and to put in some sweat equity. Do I have to explain the first reason? And, for the second, anyone can simply pay/buy the results, and that, to me, is simply not in the spirit of permaculture. Further, the main point of this project is to show that it can be done without using money as a first solution.
Anyway, so far, there are only two pieces of gas-powered yard equipment that I have used, the tiller and the wood chipper. As you may have gathered, I'm not afraid to use a shovel. But this one particular area was especially troublesome. This one small spot was a dumping point for small amounts of yard waste over the past five to eight years; I estimate that time range because it wasn't here before I left for Las Vegas nine years ago. Over the years, the soil in that one spot has become very rich...and completely meshed with shovel-blocking grass roots; I believe that they may be Krytonian in nature, absorbing yellow sunlight to enhance its strength.. Honestly, if the rest of the yard had been this thick with roots, I would've used semi-heavy machinery to originally build the terraces.
Anyway, so far, there are only two pieces of gas-powered yard equipment that I have used, the tiller and the wood chipper. As you may have gathered, I'm not afraid to use a shovel. But this one particular area was especially troublesome. This one small spot was a dumping point for small amounts of yard waste over the past five to eight years; I estimate that time range because it wasn't here before I left for Las Vegas nine years ago. Over the years, the soil in that one spot has become very rich...and completely meshed with shovel-blocking grass roots; I believe that they may be Krytonian in nature, absorbing yellow sunlight to enhance its strength.. Honestly, if the rest of the yard had been this thick with roots, I would've used semi-heavy machinery to originally build the terraces.
Two observations in the above picture. First, notice the difference between the upper level dirt that came from the yard-wast compost and the sand that I dug out to remove the stump; that's a big difference. Second, notice the fuzziness of the dark soil. Those are the Kryptonian grass roots of which I spoke earlier. I'll have to pull the steel rake through them to separate them out of the soil and them leave them in the sun to solarize to ensure their deaths. Eat yellow sun, Kryptonian roots. If I don't, they WILL re-root and take over. The big irony? My neighbor fights to grow grass for his lawn.
The wood chip pile is finally done. Actually, the slash pile has finally been converted into chips. No more slash to chip this season...WOOHOO. I'm quite excited about this. And, yes, as I said, this is my second use of gas power. It was worth it, though. And, honestly, do I spend the crazy amounts of time and energy it would take to do something like this by hand, which I don't even think is possible, or do I become part of the petroleum grid for a day? I'll choose the latter for now.
The huglekulture berm is complete. Actually, not really. It's needs a thick layer of some kind of organics. Leaves, compost, horse manure...whatever I can find. Note the kale in the foreground. Lonely little guy.
I left some of the logs out of the hugel bed. I'm going to use them as seats somewhere in the garden. Notice the 'wild' daffodils in the foreground. Man, those things are hardy.
The pond deconstruction is painful. My elbows are starting to hurt from using the sledgehammer. No joke, I think it's the same thing as tennis elbow. I'll have to find some kind of braces for them.
Suburban Hermit of Fayetteville, signing off.
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