! Josiah’s Bootcamp Log

#51

Ever wondered what planting into hugelkultur would be like? Come to WL and find out!

#52

Lots of Allerton Abbey plotting today. I took these panoramas from the top of the Abbey to show some of the topography

Here are some other panoramas of the NW and S sides of the Abbey

Great idea with the panorama shots. And the location shots help a  lot also by putting views all together where one can "walk around" the abbey and get a  much better feel for your little piece  of paradise.


Cheers,
Rufus

I've been full of energy the last couple days enough to try and keep up with Orin. As the rest of the crew is emerging from their delirium we have been sitting around the kitchen table and talking through some design problems. Today we focused on directing the driveway run off(water), finishing the pond, placement of the house-hold grey-water processing greenhouse, and potentially building a one-cell berm shed. I will be working to incorporate these into the next base map.

For now, here are some fun doodles I made showing ideas for Hugelkultur around the Abbey as well as one of paddock layout.

Kyle,

We are definitely planning to run at least chickens through this plot, but it will probably only be between 12 and 25 so a rather small mobile coop will suffice. We have an emergency backup plan to dramatically cut the fencing, but are nonetheless 100% motivated to finish all the fence by mid mid May this year.

Mike,

There is currently only 18 inches of soil on most of the roof, but we are planning on deep mulching and growing lots of veg up there. Paul thinks that we will get MAJOR season extension up there due to heat from below.

Hans,

That is an awesome idea, I'm putting that one in my brain bank. We haven't talked about it in relation to Allerton Abbey yet, probably because we are all sick of new building projects right now. There are some concerns about humidity, but personally I'm all for the attached greenhouse.

Based on the views provided and my previous suggestion and my sun observations here at latitude 47.25 re are my suggestions.
You mentioned the road drainage and it seems to me that it could go down the cut to the HE if you move dirt at the bottom of the cut at the edge of the front yard into the hughel suggested for the outer wall of the attached greenhouse. No rush to build the structure but establish the earth work so that it is stable if and when such would be built. Also you want a barrier to keep the chickens off the porch when they are in that paddock.  As for the bank of the cut, Paul has talked about how cold air needs to flow out between mounds, therefore I suggest making diagonal mounds along the bank NW at the top to SE at the bottom. Morning sun would then shine into the space between and the hot afternoon sun which goes all the way around to the NW in the summer would not be stressing the plants. During the winter they would catch and hold snow to get them fully hydrated.
What are the observations on the water flow of the road and the cut. Design the problem to be a solution.
The gray water solution is a great opportunity like the one at Lawton's demonstration education center in Jordan. Looks like it could go down SE from the back entrance.

#53

A couple pals joined the boot camp for a few days and we got a whole lot of fence materials. Here is an example of how much I like to cook for a full house.

Josiah Kobernik wrote:Here are some other panoramas of the NW and S sides of the Abbey

What is that odd object in the second photo, it is in the middle near the bottom. It looks like half a cat? or a cat with one leg?? what is it :D

Yes it is a 3 colored cat, very good camouflage for hunting. This one has a black back leg, some white, ally cat stripes and orange ears.  

That’s a panorama cat. A chimera synthesized by the photo combining software.