More Adventures

Thursday, June 16, 2011

This afternoon, Patricia and I armed ourselves with bow saws and pruning shears and trekked up into the other MW sites to get us some mountain laurel for the orchard fence project. And did we ever get some mountain laurel! Patricia and I cut down four whole trees (admittedly, mountain laurel isn’t that big, but these specimens were fairly hefty with a great deal of spirally branches), all while fending off hoards of mosquitoes (commonly referred to as “those damn critters”)! Then, strong mountain women that we are, we dragged all four of them a quarter mile down a mountain and out of the forest. RAWR! Makin’ Ma proud.

---

Friday, June 17, 2011

Today was excellent.

I got up at about 7:30, and I was ready to start the pond project at 8, as scheduled. Unfortunately, a whole series of events prevented the pond project from coming together today. First, Sarah, Patricia, and I were the only ones awake, so I went to wake up Chynna and Coleman, who joined us eventually. Then, no one could find Lyndon to ask him where the new plastic for the pond liner was located, so Patricia, Sarah, Coleman, and I planted a mahonia tree while we waited for Lyndon to reappear. When Lyndon showed up and produced the plastic, Patricia was unable to find the right tape to affix the plastic in the right shape for the pond. That turned out not to matter much, though, because we discovered that we only had a little over half of the square footage of plastic that we needed.

At this point, Patricia went outside and just hollered. I couldn’t help but laugh! She just turned around, walked out the door and into the garden, and pitched a fit – yelled and growled, stomped her feet and pounded on the ground. But when she came in, she was perfectly calm – ready to figure out what materials needed to be acquired, to set up a new time to finish the pond, and to move on to another project. I think that Patricia has the right idea – let off the steam in a healthy way that doesn’t hurt anybody instead of allowing the frustration to build and sublimate into interactions with other people. I’m generally pretty laid-back, but it is nice to be in an atmosphere where it is socially acceptable to throw a healthy, well earned fit once in a while.

So instead of working on the pond, the garden team (made up of Patricia, Sarah, Coleman, and I) had a garden meeting and then took a tour around the garden and orchard. Patricia introduced Sarah and Coleman, who haven’t met the garden yet, to all of its various occupants. She pointed out newly completed projects and projects to be done, and she delegated on-going projects, like watering and harvesting. (I am the official harvester.) She talked about what has been planted and what still needs to go in the ground. It was a really informative trip, and we decided that we would have one every Friday morning.

When we were done with that, I went to help Lyndon with the fence around the orchard. We got so much done! There is an enormous section of fence where there wasn’t a fence yesterday. Plus, I got to play with power tools again. This time, I got to use the circular saw to cut the cross-boards to length and the drill to screw everything together. Lyndon and I got into a real groove – measure, cut, drill, repeat. Stop to paint (to seal the cross-boards against mold) every once in a while.

I also used the “tamper” to tamp in a fence post, which was fun. The tamper is a very long, incredibly heavy pole with a blunt end, and the idea is to slam it into the hole as hard as possible, adding dirt and gravel to ground level, over and over and over until the fencepost doesn’t budge. Lyndon, Sarah, and I took turns tamping and egging each other on by calling to mind things that make us angry. Anger is excellent tamping fuel. On my turn, no one could figure out what would piss me off. (I suppose I already have a reputation for being laid-back.) So I started talking about bp and Monsanto and Nestle, and believe me, that fence post will never budge.

Anyway, I did such a good job today (and I so enjoy the work) that Lyndon has promoted me to Head of deFence. I am now the work-exchanger (wexer, for short) in charge of making sure we get the fence up. For some reason, now that it’s "my" project, I feel super motivated to see it completed promptly. There is a LOT left to do (there are still 20 or so fence posts to go in the ground!), but I’m hoping to have it done before the end of July. The fence is really important. We can’t safely plant anything in the orchard until we can be sure that the deer won't eat it all, and there is so much valuable ag space in the orchard that could be churning out food. I am super motivated to make the fence happen, and SOON.

---

Sunday, June 19, 2011

So about four o'clock today, I walked into the kitchen and Sarah told me that Rising Appalachia was playing a second show tonight, and she was seriously considering going! I was so excited! I thought I got the marimba experience (see previous blog entry) instead of Rising Appalachia, but I ended up getting to go to BOTH concerts! I’m SO blessed!

Sarah, Coleman, and I went, and we had a BLAST. Rising Appalachia is SO incredible! The energy was great, and Sarah kept buying rounds. It was fantastic. There was just enough room to dance, and Leah and Chloe have great stage presence. Their new music is fantastic, so I bought the CD, and we listened to it all the way home. I could go on and on, but it's late and I need to go to bed. But AHHH!!! FANTASTIC!!!

---

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

After lunch, I went to help Lyndon on the fence, and he put me to work stripping the bark off of the new locust fence posts. The idea is to remove (or at least make less appealing) all little nooks and crannies where bugs might decide to take up residence. Locust is an extremely hard wood, which makes it very rot resistant and gives the fence a long life expectancy. However, burrowing insects compromise the integrity of the posts, which makes them more prone to mold and rot. In order to make the posts last as long as possible, we must discourage the insects by removing the bark, which is their habitat because it is easier to bore into.

Bark is removed with an extremely sharp curved blade with a handle on either side. You have to straddle the log, preferably on your knees to keep your shins out of the danger zone. You cut the bark off with a pulling motion and moderate pressure on the tool. For safety, you sit pretty far back from where you are cutting and use lots of short, shallow stokes rather than trying to take all the bark off in one long, deep stroke, which can result in losing control and cutting yourself. Let me tell you, bark removal is some dirty work. Aside from the fact that I was completely soaked in sweat from the several hours of exertion, I was COVERED in dirt and bits of bark that got kicked up throughout the debarking process. I was going to hop into the solar shower, but it ended up thunder storming really intensely, which forced me to quit earlier than I would have and to shower inside.

---

Note: You apparently also use your glutes a great deal when debarking, because mine are SORE this morning!