From plastic pole forest to food forest

Slowly the first food forest is growing. Thanks to the help of enthousiastic hard working workawayers.

 

We are working on two swales, made with the help of an A-frame. Swales not to catch water, but in the hope to spread the water over the whole meadow instead of only two areas. 

In these swales we have thick branches or thin beams, like in hugelculture. This wood inside the soil will be able to take up water, to give in turn to the plants growing in it. And when the wood brakes down, nutrients will be released in the soil.

Not easy to choose which fruit tree where to plant, when you know it can be very wet in some areas. That is why we plant all trees on a small hill, so part of the roots are above the water level. Time will tell.

 

I am looking forward to taste the first Dutch cooking pear Gieser Wildeman one day in the future. Thirty of these trees are going to be planted, grown from seeds this year. 

Next spring all these little fruit trees will be cut down to knee height, 50 cm, to create little fruit trees, which will be easy to prune and harvest without having to use a ladder.

The red plants above are Amaranth, full of proteins in the leaves as well as the seeds. The seeds will be given to the chickens. The leaves you can use in a salad or cook shortly together with other veggies.

View on the lake from the flag pole near the main house.

 

After work done, it is good to rest on a warm day overlooking the lake or on a cold evening enjoying dinner in a nice warm 'moon suit'.

First Workawayers on the farm

After the lockdown was suspended and borders opened again in Norway July 15, finally interested Workawayers could get a positive answer to come from me.

Here some pictures of some Workawayers, helping me with different tasks. Everything from the chickens feeding closing and opening the coop, cutting trees, paint scraping to heavy soil moving.

Sunset seen from the outdoor kitchen area, on August 25 at 21.00 hours. Just before closing the chicking coop.

The outdoor kitchen. Next year there also will be an indoor kitchen to use in case of 'bad' weather. Just behind you see red Amaranth of which the seeds will be given to the chickens during winter. The leaves are very protein rich too and can be cooked or eaten in a salad.

Thumps up after their first shower in the lake. The water in august is 22 C.

When the new chicken coop for rolling around on the property was ready, the chickens had to be 'put to bed' to learn where to sleep the coming months. The breed is White Sussex, which are very easy to work with. Well done Sue.

So nice to see that people become happy of cooking on fire. Some visitors told me that they are going to build one like this too. 

The thick sand is to prevent fire  spreading underneath through the ground. 

In the back left, the guest house.

A look from the water on the boat beach or shower beach. Here it is good swimming in shallow and warm water if you want. 

Are you going to kayak, you have to slide the kayak over the grass, onto a yoga mat to prevent scraping up the kayak, into the water. 

One kayak is wide with a flat bottom, impossible to turn around. The other one is a ladies kayak, with a narrow hole to enter, with a round bottom, and when you do not sit exactly in the middle is easy to tip.

Kayaking on the lake along various different scenes. 

Long long ago there was a glacier here and when the ice melted mountains were formed. 30 million years ago the see was 180 meter higher then today.

Looking at the farm from the kayak. The big red building is the barn/garage. The guest house behind and just to the left of a big oak. The farmhouse to the right. The boat is the white to the left.

Just across from the farmhouse there is a lot of heather.

 

Buying an old farm, means not only starting a garden project, but also project old house. Here a workawayer helping me with scraping of 'loose damaged' paint.

There is an electric chain saw, but then you need many electric cables to reach this area. The job can also be done sawing by hand, or like here done by ax. Workawayer Stephan really likes working with wood and an ax.

My permaculture heart, and the workawayers heart, hurt when cutting this tree. But planting fruit trees, they need sunshine to provide ripe fruit, so several big trees had to go. Here we open up the forest to the west, along the lake, to not only let in sunshine, but also reflection of the sunshine on the water of the lake. 

Kayaking on Lake Farris

Finally. Moving from one house to the other takes time. A lot of time; so no time (taken) for fun, until today. Finally my first kayak tour at Lake Farris, together with the first Workawayer at Farris Permaculture farm. Time to swim and paddle on the lake. The water temperature these days is 22 Celsius.

Sliding the boat down into the water, without touching the rock.

We went north and so westover, having heard the more north the more beautiful.

Some incredible high cliffs.

Beautiful white water Lilies.

Even a sand beach. 

Coming back a view on the farm from the water, with the sailing boat cabin on the left.

Not far from the house flowering Heather. Good for the bees here.

Chickens inspecting the movable chicken coop in the make

The little chicks are around 2.5 month old now. It seemed they doubled in size every second day up to now. An incredible speed of growing.

Because of foxes nearby, the chicken coop has to be made with thick enough (3+ mm) steel. Probably they can bite in pieces the layer of green chicken wire. So let's hope that the fox will be big enough that the concrete wire will stop them from going inside. In the lower rows with the green chicken wire a thicker steel wire is woven through the middle.

Chickens are curious, so they inspect the coop being build in their garden from every angle. It looks like they will like it in there.

The last few days these 'little' chickens have started exploring also the other side of the house... and yesterday they suddenly were to be found in the forest above the garden.

Cooking pear trees growing from seed in buckets

Guest house

Here some pictures of the one room guest house. Off grid, meaning no electricity or water inside. 

Around the corner, indoor bucket compost toilet. With water to wash your hands taken out of the lake.

Outside pallet kitchen with gas. Big table with chairs to eat outside in fresh air. Sometimes - if allowed by the fire department - possible to cook outside on the bonfire.

Double bed with 2 separate individually adaptable bed buns. Natural rubber mattrasses. Down blankets. Cotton sheets. Synthetic blanket available for allergic.

Showering means swimming the old fashioned Norwegian cabin way in the lake. It is also possible to hang 20 liter of water in a tree to warm by sunshine and wash your hair there.

Use of solar lights, to charge outside in the sun. Later solar panels will be installed.

The guest room is only a few meters from the lake.

Beautiful view to the right, where the sun goes down in the summer night.

If you want, you can put some water inside. Collect the used water and throw it around a different tree each time. Plastic and biodegradable waste to be collected separately.

                                                    The first attempt for an outside kitchen

Summer sunset around 22.30 at the end of July

Very first egg

Seven weeks ago chicken Anna was born in a breeding machine. Anna called out for company loudly. In the mean time she enjoyed sitting in my neck, often behind my left ear.

Maritha's breeding place must be too small for her,
that she chose this chair instead.
So the new one has to be a little bit wider then this chair.

                                                       

Looking to find a little 'sister' for Anna started and one week later chicken mother Maritha with her one to two day olds moved in.

Working hard

Since then the little ones have grown immensely. It won't take long and they will be as big as their mum.

'Finally done, but where are my kids?'

The small ones differentiate as follows:

3 of the 5 have white legs

2 of 5 have orange legs

3 have a red comb

2 have a yellow comb

1 to 2 tails are upwards

4 to 3 tails are downwards

So maybe the flock consists of 2 little females and 3 little males beside Maritha?

Running to eat fermented oats

Today Maritha wanted to come inside the house, making a lot of noise. What did the noise mean I wondered? After an orientating walk inside, Maritha chose to climb on an upside down kitchen chair, throwing the papers on the chair and herself, around and around.  When she finally calmed down she started making 'pressing' noises.

Danny, the brown one, is always the last one getting food

Fifteen minutes later Maritha had laid her first egg here on the farm, brown in color and 56 grams in weight.

'So great, the first egg'