First of several discussions with the garden site land owner, Mr. Gao.
Meeting at Greg's house following visit to site:
On-site Resources (aside from hoop house structures):
Gardening Group Resources (things from our houses or that we have easy access to)
Greg has procured some cardboard boxes and Philip has made an initial slope-step-building investigation - more on that from Philip.
Philip visits the site early (6-7AM) on 4/19 to further investigate improving access from the road down to the first terrace. There is a significant amount of discarded material and rubbish hidden under the new growth. Some of the material is usable (sections of screen and discarded pots) and some of it should be recycled (glass and plastic bottles, etc). The steep path down from the road to the first terrace is not used much, but is part of a longer path which goes all the way down to the stream and is still used occasionally. As he was surveying, he notices a portly man in his 50's in a smart black suit watching him from the road. He asks Philip if he is interested in buying or renting the land. Philip walks up to the road to talk to him without answering his questions. On prodding, he introduced himself as Mr. Zhan, the owner of the 土雞城 at the top of the community and revealed that he lives in the large gray home at the end of the road above our plot. He asked if Philip was the with the @peace cafe. Without answering, Philip asked him about water flow across the land during torrential rains. He explained that he has arranged for the water management administration to come in and cement in the stream bed below in the near future, that they would be taking heavy earth moving equipment down the sloped path I was looking at and that would be a good opportunity to have the land reformed. We need to gather more information on this project, perhaps from Mr. Gao since it could potentially significantly impact our project.
Jacques-Yves, Philip and Patricia start work on building stairs and stabilizing the path to the garden and cutting down the vegetation and cardboard mulching the top terrace. (Tammy is in Guangful, Hualien for the Food Forest project.)
Philip and Tammy visit the site to check on the mulching and to plan the next phase of work.
We honored Labor Day with some serious labor in the garden today! If you missed out, don't worry. We have lots more opportunities to come as we start building planting beds and continue to shore up the access path to the garden (special thanks to Jacques-Yves and Philip!).
Today we did three main tasks: 1) cutting down (not pulling out) the taller plants in front of the hoop house entryway to clearly show the planted citrus trees and to open up opportunities for gardening there; 2) removing (really piling up) trash and sorting it; and 3) more cutting down of plants on the inside of the hoop house and putting down cardboard. Actually, there was an important fourth activity taken on by Chu/Marie: removing the plastic tape from the cardboard. We still need more cardboard (this site is big!) so that we can keep one step ahead of the pioneering plants (known as "weeds" to some). But try and avoid boxes with too much tape and colored cardboard. The brown stuff with black print (or no print) is best. We will always need to have some cardboard on hand, so don't be shy about collecting it for the garden.
We still have some cutting down of plants to do, particularly along the outward-facing edge of the hoop house, where we will plant some of our first plants: sword and winged beans and bitter melon to help provide a bit of shade for the plants and people come deep summer.
We have already started collecting compost material in various stages of maturity and need lots more. On the subject of soil amendments, we have the incredible opportunity to procure a large amount of horse manure. BUT, we will need a largish truck to transport it. We will probably also need to shovel it. I am finding out about the details and trying to see if I can coordinate the acquisition with other gardening groups if the manure is sufficiently abundant. If anyone has access to one of those medium-sized work trucks with folding down sides and a driver, please let me know.
Other things we need to get very soon if we want to plant:
Conceptual master plan for the top terrace and entry way: I have started drafting a conceptual master plan, taking into consideration the vision process that we conducted. For those who weren't able to attend that process, please let me know if you have any specific ideas that you would like to be a part of the plan.
Next big gardening play dates: May 7th or 8th - let me know which one works best for you. In between, if anyone has time to work in the garden during the weekdays this week, please let everyone know when and see if we can do some work before the weekend. I plan to go there on at least one morning around 7-30-9:00. If anyone else can meet on a specific day at that time, then we can go together.
Who Was There on Saturday: Patricia, Philip, Jacques-Yves, Greg
Who Was There on Sunday: Kathrin, Greg, Patricia, Chu/Marie, Jason and Tammy
On Saturday, garbage removal and weeding continued, especially at the back side of the top terrace hoop house against the mountain. The bulk of the garbage was removed from the site, sorted and piled for possible reuse or removal as recycled material or trash (to the incinerators).
Sunday's main activities were further weeding, annoying nylon netting removal, and posterboard mulching. The really big event was the creation of a banana/papaya circle and compost pit, where we duly placed organic material in various stages of decay. Yum. We covered the pit with some high-carbon containing grass straw to reduce smell and visits by the local vermin. We will add at least one more banana tree (from Patricia) to the circle and a few more papaya trees (from Patricia/Tammy) as well.
On May 11, We score a load of wood, helping the steps and garden structuring, but the poor trees.
The weather turns cool and very rainy for several days, including over the weekend. But that doesn't keep the gardening gang from trekking up to our house to celebrate Philip's birthday and to plan our next steps in the garden.
After nearly a month of trying to arrange for truck/driver transport of manure gifted to us from Sue, the rancher in Beitou, we finally take delivery. All but two of the troops show up for a serious three hours of physical labor and heat to relay the horse manure from the road to the garden site below.
With the arrival of the manure, we go into structuring mode, building two herb spirals and laying out the path with stones and brick. Peipei, Daiwen and Mingzhu have also planted some heat-tolerant plants, working toward our first harvest.
June 4-5 - The spirals are almost done and the paths are finally laid out. Grooves from previous path are filled with soil from the digging out of the path. Jacques-Yves, Philip and Jason start clearing the bottom terrace in earnest. Almost all plantings so far are thriving. The grape vine is even putting out new leaves. Finally, our garden is taking shape out of the chaos.
June 12 - The heat slows things a bit, but we manage to get the path dug and grooves filled, which has been for an hour or two by different people over a week. Patricia has also put up shade cloth to give the herb spiral and other more temperate plants (and people) a break from the overhead sun. Manure is spread and lots of mulch covers it. Stefani is our guest gardener of the day. She takes home some rice husks and will start composting her rabbit's manure and share it with us. Jason sees a very big snake a little too closely down in the lower terrace garden. The second time. Jacques-Yves saw one, too. Maybe the same snake.
June 18 - Collection of mulch, mulching and more planting of heat tolerant plants and making sure that the garden has water. Jason takes on excavation of the uphill side of the top terrace, finding many treasures along the way.
July 22 - The heat is now fully upon the garden with less dependable rains. Water has to carried to the garden from the water supply at the turn off. We still plant other tolerant plants, including some summer beans. Some people are busy with summer projects, retreats, workshops. We start to see the first fruits of our labor (aside from herbs), though, with onions, peppers, aubergines, and rosella. The sweet potato leaves are starting to really thrive now as well.
July 31 - Clearing on the bottom terrace starts in earnest and plans for a compost bin and other water management projects. And finally, we start to get produce: corn, aubergines, habaneros, herbs, rosella. The rains basically cease for more than a week, and water has to couriered to the site more frequently. The beans plants start to take off and we start to get excited about the fall pre-planting and planting projects.
one bunch, ten hands, 150 fingers of bananas
