New Shelves in the cabin

The clutter is being cleared and the shelves are adding character to the space.

Straw bale compost

Surrounding the compost with straw helps it cook. Straw from the Co-Op in Tennessee, locally grown.

Lower terrace (West side)

These terraces that were made with trees, brush, hay, soil & compost will not be used to grow fruit trees, only veggies because of their shallow roots.

Creekside Berries

25 Raspberries on the westside (with soak-hose) & 13 blueberries on the east (with T-Tape).

Upper terrace irrigation II

Upper terrace irrigation

Lower terrace irrigation

Last week I planted dandelion, lambs quarters & yellow clover in this bed. It will soon be ready for more salad greens & peppers. A few days later I installed the irrigation system I ordered from Dripworks - it uses T-Tape which drips water every few inches. Just make sure the soil is perfectly level to insure even irrigation.

Lower terrace nook

I planted mint in between some of the logs that form the walls of the lower terrace - this way its confined & won't take over large spaces. Mint is great for repelling aphids & for adding to green smoothies. Jerome at CRMPI (Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute) in Basalt, CO. gave me this alpine mint last May.

Carolina Siding!

Ira cut down some trees that were dangerously close to falling on the house. His expertise once again was a blessing to the cabin. This was the smaller of the two trees that had to come down first. If you need a tree to come down in a tight spot, he is the man to call.

Future Forest Gardens

This is the upper terrace, above the pond/wetland area. These trees are spaced 12-13 feet apart and have full sun exposure. I gave them 5 gallons of water each and the following day I fed them some fish emulsion. I added a hand-full of non-pine wood chips to the bottom of each hole and planted each tree with a mix of compost, peat moss, perlite, non-pine wood chips, and soil from the site. Four separate forest garden areas have now been established on the land.

Gift from Billy

Last week Billy gave me this ear of local red heirloom corn. The good ol' boys passing on their living heritage - RESPECT!

Heirloom Apple Trees

I purchased these apple trees from the Yancey County Ag. Extension office. They had a Spring bare-rootstock sale so I stocked up: 22 apples trees (11 varieties), 20 blueberry bushes, 25 raspberry whips, 500 strawberry plants, a dozen asparagus crowns & 2 horseradish plants. Great prices and paperwork on how to plant & care for them.

Compre los manzanos de la red agricola del municipio nde Yancey. Son 22 manzanos (11 variedades -no hibridas), 20 sotos de arandano, 25 trepadoras de frambuesas, 500 plantas de fresas, 12 coronas de asparagos y 2 plantas de rabano picante. Me dieron muy buenos precios y la informacion de como plantar y cuidarlos.

Power to the People!

The first step to solar freedom was provided by Jon Ruth, a friend from Boone who has been working in Costa Rica to provide people with off-grid power. He hooked the inverter, charge controller etc. up the the batteries so the generator is able to charge up the system when the sun doesn't provide enough to meet the demand.

El primer paso a la libertad energetica fue gracias a Jon Ruth, un amigo de Boone, NC que lleva unos mese trabajando en Costa Rica con un proyecto de energia renovable que esta fuera de la red electrica. Jon conecto la invertadora y la controladora de carga, etc. con las baterias para que la generadora carga el sistema cuando no haya suficiente sol para cargar las placas.