Pangas Ponkai

What is a KWhotel?

Charlotte Anthony - If you mean fermenting for fertilizer, I am leery of doing that, as the weeds we use are 90% cogon or more, which is an invasive weed. We are careful to cut these weeds before flowering, as the flower contains at least 3000 seeds, and, when using as mulch we monitor every day for any sprouting and remove that immediately before the roots take hold. Until there is more research done on cogon fertilizer, I think we will refrain (unless we do a very small segregated test area). Beginning to research the silica crystals and uses. Cogon here is used for thatching, and many farmers use it for cattle feed (the cows turn up their noses at the cogon when it is barely a shoot, and when it begins to flower, only eating newly mature leaves - watching a cow turn up her nose is quite a site to see!).

Couple years ago we cut the weeds on a parcel of land about 6k sq meters. Got lazy and left the piles for more than 6 months, ended up with a form of compost. The next year we forgot a couple piles which were under some non-productive mango trees. Voila! We got mangos. At that point we moved all the rest of the piles (not under mangos) and scattered on our garden, which covers about 500 sq meters. Weed pulling there now takes about 30 minutes a week. The weed mulch covers the dirt (which hardens quickly under the sun here), maintaining the moisture. As a result, when we plant we no longer till, in fact, we no longer use a shovel, just digging with our hands. We then piled the cut weeds in our trenches (pathways) which pulls water from the drive and is about 2-3 feet deep in places. Not only is it soft to walk on barefoot, but it also protects the moisture and is cool on the feet. We love weeds. The 6k sq meters is slowly being converted into orchard, but there will still be weeds. We have another parcel about 2.2 sq meters that will be the new weed garden.
We have never used any commercial products on our land, which has never had commercial products before us.
We highly recommend weeds! Makes the job easier!

Barbed wire was cut, people continue to steal wood, bamboo, etc. Tried the dead hedge, which worked for awhile until someone burned it down.

We would like to be considered, although we are in the very beginning stages of building towards eco-tourism. We are in Bohol, The Philippines, on a ridge with 360° views of ocean and mountains. This is basic, just nature, we are 2 hours from the nearest shopping and cinemas, in the jungle with no close neighbors. One day, possibly, native huts...

We keep some of our property in weeds, specifically for cutting every couple months and using as mulch and in compost. Since we started the mulch aspect a year ago we have not had to pull the first weed in our garden! We are also in the process of learning how to weave grass-like weeds into ropes, and possibly into roofing materials. Haven't gone the edible path, but this gives us inspiration!

I always wondered why 2 seaters.
However, a long time ago I was in Minnesota on a small lake that had a 4 seater, it was situated up a hill from the lake. I wondered until I saw a rope hanging down, which I pulled. The entire half of the wall was hjinged and lifted up, offering a superb view of the lake, I watched a deer scampering across the beach on the opposite side of the lake.
Back in the late 60's we bought a property that had an outhouse, but was not built on a hole, it had a drawer that you could pull out and I suppose dump over the fence into the next property.
Don't mean to sidetrack these photos of this nice pooper, but I'm getting older, reminiscing is beginning to be a favorite past-time.

You can reach me through a Facebook account (it is a public account): www.facebook.com/Pangas.Ponkai

Oops, sorry, meant to tell you that I have never used comfrey, but I truly would like to find out how it works. I have quite a few square meters of abused land that needs to be refreshed!

Let me know when you have returned, and the address for the cuttings to be sent (sometimes the post asks for a phone contact as well).