permaculture/gardening feats of strength!

I thought this might be a fun thread where people could share their most ambitious or demanding projects. It doesn't need to be purely 'permaculture'; think of it as the gardening version of extreme sports.

I'll start:

This spring we acquired about 20 dump trucks worth of wood chips and used it to cover an acre of bare land...using only a wheelbarrow and shovels.

What's the whackiest or most extreme project you've done? Permaculture, gardening and natural building are all fair game.

Note to moderators: if there is a better section of the forums for this, feel free to move it.

Bump

I know there are other permies out there that have done something extreme, and I'd like to hear your stories.

I dug out my entire garden with hand tools (except one little corner my husband dug with a rented mini-excavator) and installed buried wood beds....

While this may seem trivial, especially next to your 20 dump trucks of wood chips, dh and I collected about 30 bags of compost from under our trees.  We would have collected more if we could have found it.  

Years ago before I heard of permaculture, when I was younger, stronger and had REALLY bad soil, I brought home bags of leaves that others had raked and buried about 1/4 acre under 4 foot deep leaves! That worked nicely!
Now that I'm older, sicker, and have just bought better soil (I hope!) I'm trying to get a tractor so I don't have to move all of it by hand when I run amok with biomass this time. We'll see. If I can't get a tractor, I may be posting something horrifying in this thread!!
PS: oooh, I'm gonna have to find out where I can get wood chips delivered in this area!! Need to stalk the Asplundh guys....

Sorry all for not responding sooner; been taking advantage of the long days and by the time I would normally be getting online I'm ready for bed.

Tyler: that is a feat! I've dug up a fair amount of dirt on this property and it remains one of the most demanding tasks I perform.

Anne: Nothing is too trivial for this thread. The important thing is that it was a feat for you. Also, I'm envious: we don't have any deciduous trees here, just conifers. I would kill for 30 bags of mulch!

Pearl: 4 *feet* deep?! That is impressive! Again, I'm envious. If you don't get that tractor, I look forward to a tale of haunting permie horror. As for the wood chips, we were in a 'right place, right time' situation. CalTrans was taking down trees all along the coast in our area and they were hauling the wood chips 1 hour north. Needless to say they were more than happy to drop the chips with us being a mere 2 miles from the current work site.

As for my own project: our neighbor has a backhoe, but we had just paid out for materials to build our cabin...er...tiny house is probably more accurate...as well as a water storage tank so the budget was too tight even to cover fuel costs on the backhoe. I would have gladly accepted machine assistance if it were an option.

Considering how much money some of our projects are siphoning up I may have a few others to add to this thread that didn't get a budget, thus I may have to 'Proenneke' a few more things around here.

Keep the stories coming folks.

I'm gonna have to find out where I can get wood chips delivered in this area!!  

Try Chip Drop
They have arborists/users all over the U.S.

John Polk wrote:

I'm gonna have to find out where I can get wood chips delivered in this area!!  

Try Chip Drop
They have arborists/users all over the U.S.

Consider them, but don't depend on them unless/until you build up a working relationship with a dropper. I've experimented with the site a great deal for several years to no avail [including offering payment and agreeing to accept partial log loads.]

Location of the desired drop site is a huge factor at play here.