Recap from my first week in Minnesota

One of the cherry trees...we planted about 45 trees this weekend.

After a long, LONG, time without any real postings, I'm back.
I was due to come back to NY on Friday, but there was just so much
to do still, and the weather was so great, that I had to stay.
I feel like a bum for telling everyone that I would be at the chocolate
party last friday...but we must make hay while the sun shines...

My mom and I planted every tree, and ended up buying
4 more to fill up some extra space that I had made.

I did 6.5 days of full work, starting around 9am
and finishing around 8-9pm. I was outside mostly the whole
time and got a lot of sun on my face.

There was actually snow on the ground during the first 3 days.


Not very enocouraging, but I wasnt going to sit around.
There was a MASSIVE pile of branches and dirt that had to be
picked apart for wood-chipping and burning,
so with the help of my two friends Aaron and Stu, and my dad,
we had that monster of mud, snow, and wood totally dissected in 2 days.

(This pile was about 15 times bigger than this)

We are going to to use the wood chips for mulch, and then
I plan to build trellises with some larger, straighter branches.

The spring is so behind there right now...
its not usually like this in may. Coming back to NY was like
transporting myself 2 months into the future.

I had excavators with bobcats (skidloaders) come
over and shape the land to build swales (pictured below)


and dig out the spot for the dome greenhouse.

Many purists out there (most who havent actually done any
real landscaping or large-scale permaculture projects)
would be tempted to give me a hard time for using
machines that run on fossil fuels to create my garden.
From what they have READ, we should be working without these machines.


As romantic as it sounds, spending MONTHS digging out land with
a copper shovel when you have other things to take care of,
is not a wise or enticing idea. Hire the guys with the skidloaders and be done with it.
Before I started I dreamed of doing the whole thing totally pure,
but after realizing the time constraints and other factors, reality kicks in.
So before someone talks to you about clearing land by hand,
or anything similar to that, ask them what they've actually DONE.

I say...
Use the tools of the fossil fuel era to free us from the fossil fuel era. Get it?

I think that is what every civilized society in the universe is supposed to do.

Hear me out...we start with fossil fuels that were stored up for us long ago,
and in the meantime we develop technologies and use the machines powered on oil
to liberate us from ever having to use it again. We have to use fossil fuels to build
solar panels and wind turbines, but I think thats the whole point to the game.
The fossil fuels are our freebie...gave our society a boost. Now we have to be smarter
animals and develop something on our own. Look into implosion technology.

But in the meantime -

Use the non-renewable energy to create machines that run on renewable energy.

And besides...would you want to dig this stump out yourself? Look at those roots!
This is where the deck would be, so it would totally have messed up the footings.

We all have ideals, but in reality we have to...um...be more realistic?

And also...one of the main points of this project is to show people in the mainstream
(suburban households, young people just getting started) that we can build a permaculture
site in a very short amount of time and free ourselves from the food-energy
matrix of the present day system.Telling them that they have to devote months
of hard labor to this cause will not get many people on board, will it?


We then started conditioning the soil with worms, compost, peat moss,
sea minerals, and used straw for mulch.

Straw keeps the moisture in, and keeps erosion WAY down.
If you cant get your hands on straw, what else could you use?
What does nature use to keep moisture in and erosion down?
LEAVES! Gather up leaves and have about 6 inches covering your soil.
Dig out little spots for your seedlings and youre all set.

We also built a retaining wall that will keep the back garden raised up
and create a walking path between the wall of melon/tomato/cucumber vines
and the fruit trees just below them. The garden is where the straw will be.

This is the back slope of the land, going back away from the road.
I know it looks like a desert right now...but soon it should be lushy green.
There are two rows of fruit trees with the swale in the middle.
I threw the seeds of wild greens in every spot I could find too.

Ill draw some diagrams to show what I hope it turns out like soon.
I consumed mostly brazil nut smoothies with ridiculous amounts
of bee pollen and vitamineral green and honey.

I ate more nuts that I would ever recommend last week.
BUT...I had no access to decent produce, and just stuck to my
smoothies mostly. I was active for about 11 hours a day though,
so I actually stayed in really good shape besides eating
way too many nuts. Activity really makes a difference.
I didnt eat breakfast though...just a big water with vitamineral
green and msm. I would work for 3-4 hours then have a smoothie.

I know this is a bit of a long post, but let me make one more point.
For one whole week, I probably looked in the mirror not more than
5 times. I was so focused on work and doing what I loved, that
I had no time to even think about physical appearance.
It was so liberating. I was covered in dust and dirt,
my lips were all chapped from the wind and sun,
I was exhausted and my muscles were so sore.
I went to bed so happy.

Start doing what you absolutely love to do,
and the more you do it, the more you will be shocked
at how good you feel. I was so disconnected with all the
nonsense of the city. People coming and going...having no idea who
they really are or what they really desire.

Im not going to dish out some lofty spiritual stuff about
finding your calling or anything like that.
Its very simple...DO WHAT YOU LOVE.
And if you have to, find out how to earn money by doing it.
If I was a doctor, it would call it a cure for depression.
Maybe pills arent the answer...maybe its doing what you really love?

Me with my parents and their dog Molly...
thanks so much you two for all of your love, help, and support.
I wouldnt be able to realize this dream without you.

-A