We dug a pond in the hillside as another experiment in dealing with erosion and the clogging of the drain in the back lot. It’s unbelievably frustrating to shovel the same dirt over and over again, but we do it because we have to do it — it’s a responsibility of stewardship. David has a new idea – using the pallets as containers for growing, using them as structures and filters that would eventually break down in the soil and form berms. These would be sort of terraced down the hillside where it has eroded. It’s hard to grow things in dead bricks and stones. We’ve started with two, one right behind the pond, the other around mid-hill. We’ve planted some clover, rye, and grass in the spaces in between along with a wild plum tree that Eric has had in a container for a few months.
The chickens, having eaten everything in their yard, continue to venture out, using their pea-sized dinosaur brains to elude us. One remedy for this rambunctiousness is to get some forage to grow in their spot. We’ve created little islands using chicken wire and tomato cages — hopefully, even in this autumn weather we can get something to grow. With a little forage the chickens can keep laying those golden eggs. Anyway, it’s fun to create more edge in the garden — more opportunities and islands of activity. The challenge of feeding and containing the chickens gives us so many opportunities to play with the edges and see zones and flows instead of grids and rows.
