While what we are doing at the Green Acres Village and Urban Farm may seem bucolic —
Or confusing . . .
. . . we’re busy busy busy during this season. Yesterday evening’s one-hour work party turned out to involve only the five of us in residence — Rebecca, Logan, Dan, Evan, and me — we got a hell of a lot done in the area in back that used to be the chicken yard. First the three young men smashed up and removed the final remains of roof structure for the cob oven (see cob oven saga). Then we tackled the tangle of invasives which, Rebecca tells me, was a mixture of wild hibiscus and either Korean or Japanese bittersweet. That took time . . . We were freeing up space for a new garden bed, now that the chickens have moved over to the yard of the new DeKist house — for what will become this year’s tomato patch.
Afterwards, Evan and Dan worked some more on their various ferments, and then, along with Logan (all three hail from Booneville, and were classmates way back), had a date to go bowling. I went gratefully to bed.
You might want to run quickly through these. I hope it gives a sense of the effort involved, and yet how very much can be accomplished when people work together, even for a short time. Besides, working together, with a goal in mind, is more fun!
In order:
In the following shots, you’ll notice how the red wall of two story chicken coop finally becomes visible.
But what do we do with the pile?
Most likely haul it away. It could be used to make hugelkultur beds, but we’d have to make sure it’s all dead first, and we need the space NOW.
Oh, and BTW: besides selling peas to Uptown Cafe downtown yesterday, Rebecca also took some seedlings over to the new Deep Roots Garden Center and returned with $100. YES! We’re on our way, learning how to live and work, together with the land, in place. Reframing the anonymity and sterility of life in the “suburbs.” Regenerating culture from inside out and ground up.
