Hello from the Italian Alps

Hi everyone,
I joined your wonderful forum yesterday. I’ve been a longtime lurker, but in recently closing the deal on an old watermill in the Italian Alps, I finally can get my hands dirty and I can’t wait to tell you all about it (and ask lots of questions — I’ve already got some burning questions out there on the forum for you to hopefully lavish me with your infinite wisdom!)), so it was high time to make an account!
Our domain is about 1,5 acres of sloped pasture and woodland, which features quite a few challenges in the steepness of the terrain and the soil composition (we’ve either got ‘soil’ that consists of almost purely rocks, or soil that is pottery grade heavy clay). But we’ve got lots of water from the creek that runs trough our land and from 2 natural springs that come out of the ground within the borders of our terrain, so I’m determined to transform this little rocky valley into a veritable corn of copious! I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences (and undoubtedly my many blunders) with you!

Welcome to Permies : )

Looks like a beautiful place. I am on steep land too and look forward to hearing about your projects there.

Hi S;  Welcome to Permies!
We like it when lurkers come out of the bushes!
Looks like a very cool place you have!  I especially like the water wheel!
Looking forward to your adventures! With lots of photo's!

Ya'll come back soon now ! We will leave the light on for you!

Kate Downham wrote:Welcome to Permies : )

Looks like a beautiful place. I am on steep land too and look forward to hearing about your projects there.

Thanks Kate!
I'm originally from Belgium, where the land is completely flat, and the soil is perfectly black and rock-free.
Now I have terrain with varying degrees of steepness, cliff-faces, a river and so many rocks in my soil I don't yet know what to do with them. It's going to be a challenge to say the least for me to adapt to this place. But it's a challenge I'm looking forward to!

I actually made a post yesterday about one of my slopes that I want to transform into an orchard (maybe some hugelbeds as well). I'd love to hear your insights in working with steep terrain!
Here's the link: Heavy clay slope

thomas rubino wrote:
Looks like a very cool place you have!  I especially like the water wheel!
Looking forward to your adventures! With lots of photo's!

Thanks for the warm welcome Thomas! We're so happy that we managed to find and buy this place. It's a longtime dream finally coming true, so I can't wait to show you guys all about it.
If you'd like to see more about the waterwheel, I made a post about it yesterday with some more detail and lots of photos here: Restoring an old watermill