Sunday morning was beautiful and golden! I woke up early (at least for students) and hustled downstairs to the kitchen where I found my housemate Isabelle and friends Ben and Dea preparing a hearty breakfast. More friends, students and community members soon joined us and we sipped our tea and ate our scrambled eggs and tofu, pancakes (endless amounts of them), and potatoes.
Glenn Gall, who, with Isabelle, helped lead a Practicum in Permaculture Design during our January Term, demonstrated how to use two different kinds of levels to measure the contours of the land so know how best to dig swales and build raised beds. Swales, he and Isabelle explained, are ditches used to redistribute water and prevent erosion in a permaculture-designed garden. They are a foundational first step in building a healthy infrastructure for a food forest/garden.
After this demonstration, we got to work. Some people worked to dig the actual swales, others started to loosen and aerate the soil of the lawns with pitchforks, while others sat in the sun of the porch starting seeds. After aerating the soil we spread a layer of composted leaves donated to us by the college grounds manager Dennis Grieve. On top of this we spread unfolded cardboard boxes and topped all this with compost and straw. We used wood chips to make paths so we could be sure to minimize walking on the beds which compacts the soil.
Lots of students, SEED house members, and community members generously donated time and labor to help us build beds as well as did folks from BioTour (www.biotour.org), visiting Oberlin for the weekend.
The day was filled with friends, food, compost, worms, and luckily sun. It was wonderful to see our first garden event go so well. Dea G., one of the students who worked on the design for the garden over Winter Term, expressed her excitement to see the paper turn into a real landscape. I empathize with her. Not only is the plan fast becoming a physical reality but it is happening as a result of a wonderful union of hands.
Keep your eyes and ears sharp for events to follow soon and follow this blog to watch our progress. Even better walk by the house (20/22 E. Lorain).
With Gardening Love,
Kate Coury
We were in the Source's article about BioTour Weekend!
ReplyDeletehttp://new.oberlin.edu/details/photo_gallery.dot?id=856974
It is good to see the garden that Selic spoke about . It reminded me that we need to get some worms in that compost in our city garden. Maybe I will take some soil from home, which I know has worms. Also - thanks to selic for showing us how to raid trash bins for cardboard. a very handy skill!
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