My host in this volunteering exchange has been making a few changes and adjustments to her house which means she has neglected her garden area. To me that's a bit of a good thing because it means I get to have fun fixing it up while I'm here ;)
The first thing was to get the fence back up to keep the chickens from entering. Anyone who's ever had a garden and chickens at the same time knows how lethal they can be as they can make a mess of everything in a couple of hours.
The boards at the bottom needed some replacing as well because the previous ones were quite rotten.
To cut the new boards I had to make the acquaintance of this new friend: a circular saw. I've been using mainly powerless tools for all my life and it's a bit intimidating for me to tangle with these monsters. Also there's a lot of horror stories with the saw and I experienced first hand how whacky it can get. On several occasions it took a life of it's own going in a different direction than I willed it. Thanks God for no harm done 👍🙏.
With practice I've gotten better and now I'm cutting the board at desired length with relative ease.
Looking a lot more tidy already 👌
The best part is the view I get each time I walk from one side to the other, it's a really beautiful place 💚
Time to bring out the mesh. After years of doing everything with either recycled or foraged material it is so easy to do things when everything is bought and conveniently sized for the purpose.
Also got zip ties to lock into position.
I must confess it felt nice to get such a neat and tidy result. Still, I'd be happy to still do things in my primitivist style if I could have land in this part of the world where the weather is so nice.
But for now let's celebrate a job well done.
Next thing was to add better soil to the beds which will be planted soon. Some chicken manure was interested as well so they'll need a little time to decompose before planting.
The space already looks different with the fixed fence and improved soil. Unfortunately, I won't be here long enough to see it thriving with plants.
During the next days I will be keeping close watch on the soil and see what things I can do to speed up it's recovery process so that we might plant before I leave.
Thanks for joining me in this little task, have a great one!
