I got an email from a friend this Monday saying they knew of a ‘very overgrown’ piece of land whose owner was desperate for someone to look after it; by Tuesday I had an appointment to go and look at the land, and by Thursday evening I was in. Considering you usually don’t get any information about land unless your great grandfather lived in the village, this is quite a shock.
The land is 13 Are, about 1300 square metres, which isn’t quite as massive as it sounds, but it’s still pretty big compared to a balcony.
It’s about 50% brambles and 100% south-west facing hill. The brambles are so rampant that I can’t get within about ten metres of the bottom edge of the property. But it isn’t overlooked by too many houses so I shouldn’t get into too much trouble with nosy neighbours with my strange permacultural ways.
Pictured is the all important privvy/outhouse. At least I think that’s what it was: at the moment it’s full of windows and shutters from some long-forgotten building project.
So this is where all my fancy talk about ecology and self sufficiency will hopefully become reality, and blog material.
24 comments
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April 9, 2011 at 1:14 pm
Zweiradler
Wow, you got a piece of prairie … I’m impressed.
Nico
April 12, 2011 at 7:59 am
Andy in Germany
I’m still in shock… Thanks for dropping by…
April 9, 2011 at 4:44 pm
oldfool
I’m looking forward to your reports.
April 12, 2011 at 7:50 am
Andy in Germany
Careful, I’ll use that as an excuse to bore you all silly with long posts about digging… Thanks for dropping by.
April 9, 2011 at 5:14 pm
disgruntled
How exciting! That’s a lot to take on from a standing start – are you going to work gradually up to managing it all?
You’ll need a slasher for the brambles…
April 12, 2011 at 7:53 am
Andy in Germany
Very much so: we’re just making some veg patches in a vaguely cleared bit for this season and trying to handle the brambles in the top half. I’ll attack the bottom end later. Slasher on order.
I’ll ramble on extensively about the trials and tribulations of all this. Don’t expect spreadsheets though…
April 9, 2011 at 9:36 pm
Rick Pickett
Looking forward to your efforts! I just started reading Gaia’s Garden and am really enjoying it!
April 12, 2011 at 7:54 am
Andy in Germany
Thanks Rick… That’s a dangerous thing to say to a gardener… the only thing we like to do more than garden is ramble on about it in great detail…
April 10, 2011 at 1:17 am
travis
so excited for you. Amazing where God meet you once you begin to walk out in faith. I know your spring, just got a whole let busier and more exciting.
Cheers from Cali
Travis
April 12, 2011 at 7:55 am
Andy in Germany
Busy and exciting is the word… as if I didn’t have enough on at the moment. It is a major step forward though… thanks for the comment.
April 11, 2011 at 6:26 pm
Siouxgeonz
Happy happy spring!
April 12, 2011 at 7:56 am
Andy in Germany
Thanks Sioux…
April 11, 2011 at 11:41 pm
Tony
Whatever you do, dont get a goat!!!! What a great patch of prairie! Good luck to you and yours!
April 12, 2011 at 7:58 am
Andy in Germany
Thanks Tony… I wasn’t planning on getting a goat after reading the tales of havoc they wreak on The Rock. I have very little experience with animals anyway. A couple of chickens is a possibility later on when the main part of the garden is vaguely under control. Under control being taken to mean cleared enough that I can reach any errant fowl lurking in the bushes. We do have Buzzards, kites and sparrowhawks though and I’ll bet some foxes in the woods, so I’m watching the local wildlife to see what may try and eat the chickens before I do.
April 12, 2011 at 4:38 pm
Nick
Good luck to you! I have roughly the same amount of land. At the moment it’s a very uncared-for vineyard on a hill in Croatia, and I can’t get down there for long enough to do anything constructive with it until later this year. So, until I do, I’ll be reading your efforts with considerable interest, lookingfor tips and advice that may make my own eventual efforts more successful.
April 14, 2011 at 7:08 am
Andy in Germany
Hello Nick… Thanks for the encouragement, I doubt you’ll learn much ground-breaking information but it’s good to know I’m not alone. You’ll probably get long stories about trying to find my tools or stepping on a rake…
April 13, 2011 at 4:52 pm
the_big_smile
Congratulations!
1300 square meters is a bit more, than my “Kleingarten”. 😉
Have much fun, digging and blogging! 😉
April 14, 2011 at 7:09 am
Andy in Germany
It is a lot: fortunately part of the thinking behind Permaculture is that you start small and take stuff on slowly so I don’t have to attack everything at once…
April 23, 2011 at 7:13 am
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April 29, 2011 at 1:38 am
gerold firl
Can you give us a google map reference so we can watch your progress by satellite?
What do you think you’l plant there? Trees are nice, because they don’t need much maintainence, and have deep enough roots for hillsides. Cherry? Walnuts? Another possibility are pumpkins. Pumpkin oil from austria is very valuable, but the meat of the pumpkin is also very good for eating. Pretty easy to grow too, at least here in California.
Do you want to grow cash crops for selling? I love the farmers markets in German cities; is it practical to sell what you grow there? Fruits are a good match there, because the big farms can’t pick them ripe and deliver them at the peak of flavor.
Put a couple of solar panels on that outhouse, and suddenly it becomes a mansion… sounds like fun all right!
April 29, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Andy in Germany
Hello Gerold, thanks for dropping by…
I could give you a google reference but it’s pretty poor quality and from 2005 so it’s not really worth it: you can’t even see the boundaries of the property.
I’m working on trees, and I’ve a lot on site already, especially apples and some wild ash trees: I’m going to try and move the ash trees to the western side of the garden when they go dormant in winter.
We already have cherry and I think the tree that was felled last year was a walnut. I’d like to plant a walnut but I haven’t decided where yet.
I may try and sell the apples if I have enough. There is a place to take them locally to be pressed for apple juice. Alternatively I could charge an entrance fee for people to pick them themselves and take them away. I don’t know about farmers markets. Many are actually ‘premium’ food markets with food brought from a long way off. I’ll have to find out how it all works…
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