well drilling update

the well is scheduled to be drilled next week some time. all the rain the last few weeks set the drilling back a bit. hopefully by next week the ground will be solid enough for them to bring the rig up.

seeding

moss and i seeded the clearing with winter rye on sunday. the clearing was stable after more than a week of rain but there were some soft spots and i seem to have found all of them. my sneakers have a new look. after seeding moss and i had a relaxed sweat in the chip-pile sweat loge whose sweet aroma is soothing.

Here's some info on winter rye from the web: Winter rye has high cold tolerance, moderate to high shade and drought tolerance and is fast to establish. It prefers a slightly acid soil and sandy loam to loam soil type. The seeding rate is 60 to 120 pounds per acre. The roots of rye release chemicals that inhibit the germination of small seeded broadleaf weeds such as redroot pigweed, purslane and common ragweed. Rye grows very tall and plant residues have a high C:N ratio. Because of its cold tolerance, it is the best choice for late fall plantings, providing excellent winter erosion control and removing excess soil nutrients.

well update

i met with the well driller this morning on the land. he okayed the well siting and commended us on it's preparation. thanks to our excavator for doing such a nice job. he expects to start drilling in a couple weeks.

the mist was heavy in the meadow, beautiful. trixie is up on the land for the week. i ran into him shortly after arriving. we walked the new clearing and talked about gardens, landscaping and paths. i'm looking forward to talking ideas and design at the upcoming gathering.

yestermorrow

i just signed up for a timber framing course at yestermorrow, a design/build school here in vermont. i'll be going november 13-19. i hope it's a little warmer than this picture suggests. i'm looking forward to exploring the possibility of building destiny's projects in timberframe. so many faeries at gatherings have expressed interest in learning "old" building techniques, including timber frame, straw bale and cob, that i thought it would be fun to spend a week learning. i hope i come back with some new skills.

meadow pix

here are a couple panoramic pix of the meadow and the circle. click to see larger versions. the piles in the first pan are loam, the organic material that was on top of the meadow. thaddeus saved it for screening next spring. we can use it wherever we need good topsoil. these could be the basis for our garden beds. the person in the first pan is my dad, in the second my mom.

from the parking area below the kitchen site

from above the circle

rocks removed from the meadow. be thinking of what we can do with these!

the pit for well drilling mud

well

i'll be meeting the well drillers on this coming wednesday morning at about 8:15am. if anyone wants to join please do. we'll be going over where and how the well will be drilled and picking a drill date.