Natural (mostly) Playground and First Permaculture Project

Hey Hi,  New to premies and permaculture as a whole and this is my first post.  My wife/partner, two kids (6+4), pup recently moved from NJ to VA and are beginning our first year of mostly observing on our property.  It’s tough to not hit the ground running but we’re doing our absolute best.  Luckily there is a decent sized raised bed garden to keep us occupied as well as a multitude of learning opportunities as we fumble our way through stewarding a much larger property then our previous lives were built into.

That said, I do have one project that I’m not waiting on and that’s the start of our jungle gym, playground, climbing corner.  Most of our motivation for the move was centered around lifestyle pivot and what kind of life we were presenting to our kids.  This is something I feel can grow with them, allow all of us to learn, and utilize mostly materials found surrounding us or already owned by us.

First phase is fairly simple but on a tight(ish) timeline.  Build a platform to connect our slide to.  I’m already a few days into this portion and hope to have it finished by May 18 when we’ll have some friends over to play for our 4 year olds birthday.

Steps:
1. Pick Location, Research wants/possibilities
2. Sketch Design (rough drawing)
3. Clear area as needed of downed limbs and unwanted debris.
4. Pull and prep materials from recently downed trees (power-line maintenance) as well as owned 2by stock.
5. Build

A small note that I will be using some PT 2by that I have from a previous project that made the move with us.  I’m not positive my feelings on this use for the material yet as I’m quite early in my permaculture journey and quite low on knowledge and opinions.  I won’t be using any touching the ground and perhaps it will even be changed out later on as I grow my skill sets.

I’ll also be using a few activities that we would like to add like a zip line, rock wall, and slack line which will most likely be purchased.  We just like them and I’m ok with that.

I’m also making it a goal to involve the kiddos in as much of the process as possible.  I.e. looking at fun inspiration on Pinterest, helping me sketch ideas, clearing the space, digging holes, collecting logs.  So far it’s been a blast even as they dig the first 2” and I finish the next 22” of a hole haha.

Without further ado…. Some pictures and process.  I’ll update as I can and when I remember.  Thanks for having me.  Here’s to many more!

I began laying out some of the pieces to the puzzle and playing with spacing.  There’s about a 1’7” drop for the slide length so seeing it in place was super helpful.  That post is simply using an angled edge to stand and act as a place holder for now.

We also began outlining a path with sticks to help shape the movement through to the back.  

Just today!! I pulled what I think will be the largest of the posts and certainly learned some lessons about how handy a tractor or other vehicle would be in helping lighten the load.  It was no joke and we had to get creative with the hand truck after the drag down out of the woods.

Also learned out how to debark and char wood to help preserve in ground portions of the posts.  Now we get to observe the effectiveness and cross our fingers for enough time to outgrow it!

With the main post set on a few inches of gravel and about 24” deep, we’re beginning to start seeing.  Our soil is pure clay after the first few inches in this section. Luckily no large rocks were hit!  I was sure to tamp and re-compact the clay around the post as I filled in.

Any and all advice or ideas are welcome!  I’m fairly handy and super open to learning as I go.

Hey Jon,

Welcome to Permies! Looks like a fun project and and an opportunity to practice round wood timber framing.

I love your ideas and putting those logs to use! My kids have always enjoyed walking along and jumping from log to log. I also love that you're incorporating your kids into the designing and building process. I think one of the reasons my kids love their playground so much is because they helped with it, and have the ability to modify it, too.

(If you haven't already stumbled across it, you cans see pictures of my kids' ever-evolving playground: Permaculture Playground and Diner. We've just slowly added to it over the years. We've used a mix of natural materials and pre-fab playground equipment that we were given or were free on the side of the road. I honestly think it's perfectly fine to utilize some non-natural stuff to make it even more fun for the kids....especially when the things would otherwise be in a landfill!)

One fun use for the logs is to make a teeter-totter out of a log and a carved log for its balancing point. My kids really like walking down it, and they've incorporated it into their obstacle course. My kids love playing "the ground is lava" and trying to go from one equipment to another without touching the ground. It's a pretty easy thing to facilitate, too, if you have logs and rounds to walk and jump on!

Thanks Aaron and Nicole! Nicole, I’ve definitely been using your post for inspiration and will continue to do so!  Love the idea of the teeter totter.  

Recent updates include nearly finishing the deck that the slide is attached to, as well as adding a slack line with obstacles.  Once I add some clean up to the deck and the whole surrounding area I think we’ll be in a good place for a “Phase 1”.  The goals was to have slide installed and some sort of obstacle course in time for our 4 year olds birthday party this weekend.  Rain has been a bit heavy and may be for the party as well but we’re in a pretty good spot.

This will be the final piece of my standard boards as I’m also out of stock besides smaller pieces.  It was definitely useful for getting us a quick start but I’m really looking forward to some of the more organic shapes we can create with found materials now.

Ooooh, that looks really good! What are you thinking of using to preserve it? Linseed oil might be a good natural way.

Linseed Oil was exactly my thought.  Thanks for confirming it.  Hardware store has been sold out this week so I’ll have to source it next week or so.

I've also had pretty good luck with 1/4th vinegar to 3/4 canola oil (or linseed oil). I'm not sure where I found this recipe (it was somewhere online, and I think a family member pointed it out to me). But I started using it 6 years ago when we built our swing set. I wanted an affordable, relatively natural protectant for the wood.

Interestingly enough, it turned my wood almost black. It does seem to be protecting it, though!Now, instead of canola oil, I used linseed oil, and it seems to be doing well.

This is beautiful, Jon. Not sure if it's ok but I'd hang a knotted rope or two for playing Tarzan. Or a tire - we see them on the side of the road here a lot. I'd think you could protect the tree branches and take them down when the kids outgrow them. Just an idea...climbing was my son's favorite thing.