Earthworks for Everyday Earth-users – September 9th

Abundance on a Shoestring A natural water management system can save you heartache, time and money. Learn how to grow food in a planned landscape. Utilise the different micro-climates. Sculpt the thirsty places and soak up the soppy patches. Mitigate flooding rains and prepare your home for wildfire. Not all water management systems require pipes, dams, tanks or machinery. Nor do they require weekends of back-breaking digging, bags of cement, pebbles or terrace bricks. All Earthworks need a bit of know-how and planning. With this bit of know-how you can turn you garden into a more resilient and productive space. …

Compost Lasagne

In our workshop on making a swale without using soil we use compost lasagne along the contour to catch and store water and make new soil. We used lots of layers of old building waste – timber, a bit of biochar, ash, cardboard paper mache, grass clippings and leaves. This gave us a rich Hugelkultur method of creating soil.