There’s a whole lot a diggin goin on
Yes! Everything has finally given in to green. Walking around on the land these last few weeks has been incredibly refreshing. Especially since our friends have been helping us identify the various trees and wild edibles already available to us. We are pleased to find several sugar maple trees big enough to tap next year for some syrupy goodness. Also, a new one for us all – ramps, native wild onions that have a garlic-like kick and make amazing pesto. We’ve been feasting on them for weeks!
We have also discovered some apple trees, black walnut trees and harvested a few cattail shoots (they smell like cucumber and go well in salad). But, of course, we’ve been doing more than just foraging for wild foods – say hello to the Dacha’s first Orchard and Garden.
Here is that garlic that we planted last year – comin right up!
We are excited about these guys and check in on them often.
Also, we decided that growing food was a major priority even though we aren’t yet living on the land. Lea came up with a really sweet garden design and in one afternoon we (with the help of our awesome new “interns” Brian and Jon) created the Dacha’s first garden.
First, we went to Ithaca’s Public Works Facility for free compost. It was delicious…for the plants. After a lot of shoveling (thank you world’s best shovel) we had a truckful to use in the garden and to give nutrients to the trees.
Next, we spread compost in the beds and put straw down to make little pathways through the garden. Here I am with our friends Brian “Diamond” and Jon Karr who have been living with us and giving us some much needed help. Thanks guys, you rock! We are so lucky to have these guys with us.
Then we put up a fence to keep the deer from the veggies, and started planting. Right now we have some onions, kale, broccoli, peas, chocolate mint, chives, spinach, strawberries and a lot of other goodies peeking their heads out. Nothing beats the satisfaction of watching your own garden take root.
Now that we have so many things that need watering, we’ve decided that we need a pond. In the process of digging we found a beautidul and enormous flat rock that we just had to crack open. Here we are in the hole:
We are still in the process of getting the pond to the desired depth. For now, we’ve diverted the water from the roof of our straw bale tool shed to go into a few large barrels – the overflow will eventually go through this drain tile into the pond. As you can see, goofing off is still a major priority, too!
Luckily, our friends Shira and Ari came to help us out. These cats work hard – you should check their project out on -http://shirari.com/ahimsa/
And last but not least…THE ORCHARD. Thanks to all of you who were able to help us out, we now have a huge orchard. We just finished planting the last of the trees and bushes yesterday. It was a lot of work and a lot of planning…and re-planning. Our first idea for the placement of the trees yielded a lot of holes with standing water. Then we decided that some of the holes were too close to potential building sites….la di da di da… we dug a LOT of holes, many of which we didn’t end up using. Oh my.
At this point we have planted about 50 evergreens around the property as well as about 60 fruit and nuts trees, and maybe 10 bushes. Seriously a lot of work for the Dacha. Finally, we put these green tubes around the trees to protect them from deer and rabbits while they are babies. So right now it looks like some weird graveyard, but really… it’s tons of delicious fruit in there. Go team!
Now it’s on to plastering the straw bale, getting building permits and a billion other things. But we’re enjoying all of it, and sharing the experience with our friends. Check out the stencil Brian made for us! Thanks again to everyone who is supporting us in all the different ways… and come on by if you haven’t yet.
More soon…of course.
May 12, 2009 @ 3:19 pm
It was so much fun coming out to work with you guys. I love the stencil!
May 12, 2009 @ 3:23 pm
Thanks, Shira. I wish I had some photos of you out there. Do you have any for me?
May 12, 2009 @ 10:55 pm
Great to see some more blog posts. I miss you guys!
-gene
May 14, 2009 @ 3:30 am
We miss you too, Gene Machine…come out and play with us already! Come ooooooooon….
May 22, 2009 @ 9:18 pm
So great to accidentally learn about your great work in sustainability and alternative living. This is one of the many things that makes me a proud Ithacan. I would love to bring my young boys (5 & 8) out someday, if at all possible, so that they could see the gardening and the hay bale construction first hand. Congratulations, and I look forward to virtually following along on your project.
best,
Armin
May 26, 2009 @ 7:51 pm
Thanks Armin! So nice to hear local support for our project – it makes us more motivated. You should definitely bring the boys down sometime – especially when we start to plaster because that’s something even kids can help with. We will update you about when that’s happening. Keep in touch and thanks for writing.
the Dacha
June 7, 2009 @ 3:05 pm
Hi Armin,
Just wanted to let you know that we are ready to do some plaster on our straw bale, and if you want to come out and get your hands dirty, we’ll be at it this week and quite possibly next week as well. We’d be happy to give you directions and such- just get in touch!