What did you do today?

[Eric in Japan]

Well, I had some old concrete reinforcing wire that I had tried to use as fencing. And I have a bajillion rocks that the wild boars had rooted up, or rolled down the mountainside. And I have a ton of wood that I never got around to splitting and it has started to seriously rot. I thought, how can I combine these things into something useful?
Eureka! Gabions! Hugelkultur raised bed garden!

So I planted a stake in the ground, tied a loop in one end of a rope, measured out 1.5 m, and made a circle of wire mesh (cut in half to make a 45x180cm strip). Then I made another circle about 15cm inside that one. I made a path to the middle, and I put in some wire bridges to keep the sides from bulging.
Then I told my slave child that I would give him 1 yen for every rock bigger than his fist that he could find and put in the wheelbarrow. Between the two of us, we got halfway around the circle in about 4 hours.




Should be able to finish over the next weekend. Might have to up the price to 2 yen per rock though

Next step is to line the inside wall with landscape cloth, fill the bottom half with the punky firewood and rotten branches, then cover it that with the the 20 years of leaf mould on the concrete driveway of the abandoned house, and maybe a dump truck of good black soil.

[Zasso Nouka]

Way to go Eric, it looks like you are building some sort of barrow or stone circle. Is this something that archeologists in a couple of thousand years are going to be digging up and wondering what was going on ? If it is then I salute you Sir

But if it's not then please forgive me, had a few too many strong zero's so could be very very wrong.

[Tora]

Saw a crow trying to eat a young mamushi. I need to become better friends with that crow. Any suggestions? Seriously.

Also, While I was away working, the wife and child had a go at chopping up the most useful pieces of wood in my scrap... er... material pile. They were really upset at me when I told them (as politely as I could) that we no longer have material to finish out the kid’s room or the kitchen. On the bright side, we now have enough kindling for the upcoming subtropical summer season ....

[Tora]

I would give him 1 yen for every rock bigger than his fist that he could find and put in the wheelbarrow.

Might have to up the price to 2 yen per rock though

How much do you expect to pay the kid?
How high will the walls be?

[gonbechan]

Saw a crow trying to eat a young mamushi. I need to become better friends with that crow. Any suggestions? Seriously.

Crows love dog food. Dry or wet.

[DocDoesFarming]

Looks like Pacman. Was that deliberate?

[Eric in Japan]

Is this something that archaeologists in a couple of thousand years are going to be digging up and wondering what was going on ?

Well, I doubt it would last more than 20 years, more like 20 minutes once the boars find it, but that would be cool!

How much do you expect to pay the kid?
How high will the walls be?

I will probably end up paying the kid 500 yen or so. Not that he gathered that many rocks, just because he really tried hard.
I will only make the rock part 40 cm tall. I might put some fencing on top to keep out boars.
If this works out really well, I might someday make a 10 m diameter 90 cm tall and 30 cm thick, but that is a mind bending amount of stone. I would probably have to buy that amount.

Looks like Pacman. Was that deliberate?

The shape lets me get away with less pathways to keep weeded. I can stand in the middle and easily reach 75 cm into the bed, or I can stand on the outside and reach 75 cm in. And I like circles. They are pretty awesome. Triangles too, but not this time. This was circle time.

[Eric in Japan]

Almost finished! (with phase 1)