What did you do today?

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Eric in Japan
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Re: What did you do today?

Post by 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.
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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.
"... so, the cucumbers said to the cabbage, `Lettuce Go.`"

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Zasso Nouka
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Re: What did you do today?

Post by 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 :twisted:

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

Tora
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Re: What did you do today?

Post by 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 ....

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Re: What did you do today?

Post by Tora »

Eric in Japan wrote:
Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:21 pm
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?

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gonbechan
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Re: What did you do today?

Post by gonbechan »

Tora wrote:
Mon Apr 06, 2020 10:21 pm
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.

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DocDoesFarming
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Re: What did you do today?

Post by DocDoesFarming »

Eric in Japan wrote:
Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:21 pm
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Looks like Pacman. Was that deliberate?
I write a load of bollocks, don't take me seriously.

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Eric in Japan
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Re: What did you do today?

Post by Eric in Japan »

Zasso wrote: 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!
Tora » Mon Apr 06, 2020 10:26 pm wrote: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.
DocDoesFarming wrote:
Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:20 pm
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.
"... so, the cucumbers said to the cabbage, `Lettuce Go.`"

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Eric in Japan
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Re: What did you do today?

Post by Eric in Japan »

Almost finished! (with phase 1)

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"... so, the cucumbers said to the cabbage, `Lettuce Go.`"

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