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this is  the retaining wall at Campsite A.  Alyssia's place.   Last year,  they hired Nathan to prepare this flat place that would receive her modular home.   Had a lot of conversation about it.  Exchange.  But every time Nathan was here on his own,  different things would happen.  They ended up calling him Uncle Nathan because he had his own imagination about this Place and couldn't help but create things….one of which was cutting too deep into the Hill,  requiring Jenny and Alyssia to build this retaining wall.  Which took forever and was extremely labor intensive for them.

But it's done.  And it's there.  and today,  it's a really Grand raised bed.  Between 50 and 60 feet long,  3 ft wide in the bed, but there is all that is behind the wall too.  Today we think of corn there.  

right now,  except for the two small spaces that the kids planted,  it's full to the brim with whatever seeds flew there and secured themselves.  Weeds.  Wildflowers….some of which Alyssia and  i are  positive are edible and nutritious food plants. Medicinal plants.

Like with everything else,  there is a Restlessness….an urge to Get On With It….time goes.  But there are the extenuating circumstances that arise.  Puppy's surgery,  the resultant incarceration in the travel trailer,  and RAIN…24/7.  Again.  Way beyond "normal".

and so it goes.  Watching.  Looking for ways to Understand.  Looking for ways to Be within it all.

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16 responses to “Campsite A retaining wall that is becoming a Garden”

  1. Mo Crow Avatar

    (((Grace))) one of the hardest days work in my life was rebuilding a retaining wall in one day that had collapsed the day before the opening of a new housing estate in Adelaide. We were a team of three, I was the 22 year old hired hand. After 10 hours of digging back all the soil, digging a deeper trench, resetting the posts in gravel and relaying the sleeper wall I threw myself on the ground and said I couldn’t move. My wise boss said, “Fatigue is just a state of introversion, go for a walk, touch a tree and then get back here to finish the job.” It’s true, touching that tree revived my spirit and we worked hard for another three hours, finishing just after dark, a huge life lesson that has helped me get through many a long day ever since. Living on the land is hard yakka but the most rewarding thing to do in the world, good on you and all your family!

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  2. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    If Nathan had not made the “mistake” of digging back the hill too deep–you all wouldn’t have this glorious 60 by 3 foot deep bed to plant with herbs, flowers, peppers, tomatoes and even potatoes. Yes, they worked hard for it but everyone works hard to make a home—or they should. Means more if it’s hard to have and hold.
    When we moved here to Maine, I did hard labor to make my garden. It took 3 years before I turned a sour barren sandy area into a fertile garden. and every year after I have to keep working on it. 3 years before I could even plant one seed. And there you are with Earth ready to take seed and grow. Identify those medicinal plants.

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  3. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    I am so impressed with the strength that it took to build that retaining wall. Those are strong women you created!
    I love how green everything is there. We had white today. It looks like you have dandelions. I read that the root gives a light pink dye.

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  4. Michelle Slater Avatar

    Oh wow. Looking fine. Love watching from a distance.

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  5. Nancy Avatar

    Wow!! (((smile))) Love seeing those trees and sky! Glorious 🙂

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  6. beth Avatar

    That blue… What is the box-like structure behind the wall?

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  7. Patty Avatar

    So much hard work and future in that wall. I can see sunflowers
    and tomatoes. That blue sky I remember well.

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  8. Dakotah Avatar

    What a Fabulous wall!
    I worked all fall and winter building proper garden beds. Now it looks like we won’t be here. So nice you have a permanent Place. If my next home isn’t my Place I’m going to say screw it and just become a hobo.

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  9. grace Forrest Avatar

    there is so much to learn here about this earth…
    we walked the little road on Sunday and the water
    was rushing down from the deluge of Rain…to see
    places where the granite shelves are just at the
    surface…i’d so much like to understand the
    geological story

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  10. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes…in N Mex it was also begin again and again in so
    many ways. This may be a different story, we’ll see.
    I need now to begin bringing goat manure over to
    campsite B’s compost.
    I love the challenge of growing for Food…growing
    for the next meal you will eat.

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  11. grace Forrest Avatar

    they are dandelions…not quite the same as the midwest
    ones i know and there were no dandelions in the desert.
    so to me, they are such joyous bursts of the
    yellowest yellow…they are how Emrie will learn that
    color.
    i wait to be able to dye. Only one cooking pot is here
    …maybe soon.

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  12. grace Forrest Avatar

    i like thinking of you…looking out your window, over
    the pigeons, watching

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  13. grace Forrest Avatar

    it is. glorious. i stand in Wonder.

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  14. grace Forrest Avatar

    well…the beginning of a chicken palace. Maybe.
    work on it got interrupted by daughter’s hours at
    her job, leaving time to re-think….It still could
    be moved…?????

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  15. grace Forrest Avatar

    i ache to be able to post pics like i used to be able to,
    but it’s impossible and when i think about just writing
    the words, they can’t tell the story, really, but
    today or tomorrow the seeds will be here from the
    sustainableseedco.com in Chico. and it all will begin
    in earnest.

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  16. grace Forrest Avatar

    i have felt like everyplace was “permanent”..and it was…
    for its time. and i’m thinking again, it’s the DOING
    of it, the living of it that is ‘what its for”

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