Another Swale Day!!!

So much hard work and now I have ditches, holes and a mountain of poo.  I have several photos of Jacob and Bryan hard at work but I must mention Lia.  She is a machine.  Saturday she and Jacob were up early hand digging the original swale.  In the late afternoon they went for the third load of Alpaca poo.  It was almost dark when they arrived back home.  She was right in the bed of the pick-up unloading the poo with a shovel until after dark.  Sunday morning I opened my bedroom window to find her out in the swale with a huge pick, swinging it like crazy.  They did take the afternoon off and joined Joyce and I for a trip to Eugene.  We did visit a Permaculture Nursery outside of Cottage Grove.  The Fern Hill Nursery specializes in edible, medicinal and native plants for the Pacific Northwest. http://www.fernhillnursery.com/.  I got to visit with my Dead Dog Sistas and Jacob and Lia got some well deserved rest. 
Above photos:  1. No hand digging swales for Bryan; technology is a wonderful thing.  2. Ancient technology is great too.  Bryan showing Jacob how to use a water level.  3.  Lia and our disagreeable cat George. He loves her.  3.  Rudy loves our fish.  He does not understand that they live in different world than he does.  I just pray he doesn't decide to join them.

TIMBERRRrrrrrrrrrr. . .

I just got home from work.  There has been a huge flurry of activity in the last 2 days while I was at work, (Thanks goodness I had to "work").  The Silver Maple was felled by Bryan and his 12" electric chain saw.  He climbed up the tree and took it out from the top down.  Not the recommended method.  Jacob and lovely Lia have gone and gotten 2 large loads of Alpaca Poo;  natures miracle excrement and dogs favorite snack.  Contour lines have been marked to indicate the flow of rain water and the first swale has been dug.  Also Lia brought me worms!.  Not just any worms, these are amazing worms that produce casting that will enrich our soil.  It's all about the soil!  There are great UTube Videos that explain "Permaculture".   There are several segments and they are "The Global Garden" series by Bill Mollison, the father of the permaculture philosophy.  I will post photos tomorrow.

Free range dogs, Jacob and the Urbanite, and our lovely lawn.

First photos.  Lia arrived today with her worms.  We ordered mushroom plugs and will start cultivating Shiitakes.

In the beginning . . . .

Day One:
Jacob arrived a few days ago.  We've been making basic plans and gathering the first resources that we will need to start the project.  Lia doesn't arrive until tomorrow and we don't want to plan too much without her input.  I am already learning new things.  First: Jacob told me of the beautiful herb spiral that we will build.  We will use the rare and precious stone "Urbanite".  I have been wondering where we would have to go to obtain this beautiful rock and hoping that the cost was less than the granite we just installed in the kitchen. 
Today my yard is full of Urbanite and I have a grateful neighbor that doesn't have to worry about hauling away the concrete slab laying out in his field.  Hopefully I will have to USB cable to the camera in the next day or so and photos will be posted.