Second Retaining Wall Completed

Another marathon week of construction has come to a close with fantastic results.
Happily, we discovered that below 60 cm of earth, the mountainside was in plain view. This allowed for our foundation to be smaller than the previous wall, saving time and materials.



Our second massive retaining wall needed a sturdy concrete footing for its corner pillar. We utilized the ample stones on our land in conjuntion with concrete to build up a low spot in the natural stone foundation.



We also added a 'deadman' midway through the wall to farther strengthen the central pillar and add weight into the mountainside to overcome a potential tip over during our rainy season.



We backfilled the wall with tons of stone to allow the water to pass through the many drain holes we placed strategically along the wall.



This wall ended up being slightly taller than the first since we had the option to add a fifth course of concrete block.



Here is our home, with both retaining walls seen behind the house and below the grade of the roadway. Soon we will be planting these new terraces with all manner of sun lovers.

Retaining Wall Completed

This retaining wall is located directly above and behind our house.

View last years post about the project here, http://magnusandkonswan.blogspot.com/2010/10/wall-building-to-retain-new-road.html
We began last September, but had to wait for the wet weather to end before moving forward.

We needed to be sure this wall cannot fall, especialy after moving the mountainside and altering millions of years of soil and rock sedimentation.



We dug a 40 cm deep by 70 cm wide trench and then filled it with stones and concrete, in order to provide a stable foundation.



Next, we used 30cm concrete block reiniforced with iron and poured concrete.



In order to transport the concrete to the site we used a high density polyethelene tube.



We hired two local workers to help with the project. Below you can see the three man team making progress.



The finished wall meets the approval of the boss and baby boy.



Next we will add manure to the soil and plant the garden with sun loving tomatoes. This location is completely protected from the wind and gets twelve hours of direct sun in the summer.

Spring Weather and Gardening

This year is the first one in over fifty years that the sun is allowed to shine fully on the Fruit Farm gardens.
We have been steadily clearing the forest around the Farm for four years. The sun now is able to come streaming through our valley without hindrance and strike our gardens as it rises from the ocean.


Below are the primary vegetable gardens that supply us with 80% of our yearly vegetable consumption. This photo was taken at 7:55 in the morning. In previous years the forest blocked the sun until nearly noon.



Magnus is renovating the Herb Garden in order to utilize the fantastic sun exposure for Tomatoes and other Sun Lovers.



Magnus is sporting his new Summer Hat that Konswan knitted for him, as he removes the Rosemary hedges for translplanting. The new hedges will be placed in one of the newly available areas recovered from forest land.

Beltane Approaches

The weather is warming up and the rains are slowing to a drizzle with only occasional showers.
Trout are plentiful in our river and Konswan is an awesome fisher-woman.



Some of the larger ones are nearly like Salmon.



The fertile soil has been amended for good measure and the beds are ready for planting.



The young transplants of Chinese Cabbage are thriving in the extra hours of sunlight.



Our Jerusalem Artichokes are pushing through the soil, opening up their tender new leaves.



And our meditation garden is a lovely spot to take a break or watch the sunrise.  The boxwood hedges are growing in and the flowers are spreading to cover the earth.

Beltane is only days away and we are waiting eagerly to embrace another fertile year of abundance and growth.

Wall Building to Retain New Road

First we begin by excavating the job site to hold the new retaining walls above our house.



Unloading cement blocks is much easier this year, since the blocks can be delivered to the loading zone on our land directly using the new road.

Unfortunately, the road to our house is only accessible with 4 wheel drive, so we have to bring the blocks from our loading zone higher up on our property to the actual building site using our little jeep.



Once all the materials are on site, we will begin to build massive retaining walls!

Early Summer Gardens

Tomato and Basil Garden, with a few Jalapenos and Garlic to keep the baddies out.



Experimental Perennial Pepper garden. Already we have several plants making fruits.



Jerusalem Artichokes and Potatoes.



Roma Tomatoes for canning.

3 Year Anniversary of Our Arrival on Flores

When we arrived, we found that the jungle had overtaken the fruit farm, and that the house had fallen down!

Our original plan was to live aboard our sailboat, while we fixed the property. However, the shipwreck changed that plan and we began working on the house first. This way, we would have a place to live while we worked on the land during the following year.

Our next challenge was to get building materials to the site. The original builders had used Oxen to pull the stones along an old path. We had a modern idea...using gravity!

The nearest road is 150 metres, as the crow flies to our house. An inconvenience for us was the river and valley between the road and our house, making the trip by foot about 600 metres!

The send off...

Magnus´s mom and Steve spent their summer vacation helping to bag sand and send concrete blocks across the valley at dangerously high speed.

The recieving end.

Here the house is taking shape.

Now, the forest surrounding the house needed to be cleared.

Gardens and fruit orchards need as much sun as they can get, and this thick jungle was not helping.

We learned how to build free standing stone walls, allowing us to terrace our most protected property for food production.

Collecting stones from all over the mountainside, bringing them to site via foot and wheel burrow was a challenge. But now, we have an abundance of food.