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Old 03-14-2010, 08:21 PM   #67
Carol
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Big Island, Hawaii
Posts: 2,008
Default Re: Come have a sit down with me around the Pot Bellied Stove and talk story.

This indeed is one of my favorite threads. I hear the coffee grinder in the background and know a good cup of fragrant coffee is soon at hand. This morning my husband walked in holding an old gourd I had grown a couple of years ago. Actually around the time Avalon started. I forgotten about it and had tossed it off to the side of the guava tree. This morning he brings it in and the side has a small hole that looks as if a baby chick had pecked it open, only instead, there was a beautiful vine that was growing out of it. New life, green and beautiful. Two of our hens started brooding this last week and have 7 eggs under them each. Again new life.

This past week with everything going on has been very sad for me. In fact, when I realized just exactly what was happening (as of last Thursday), I was stunned. This forum has been an amazing adventure with incredible people from all over the globe. Where else could we have all met and shared such heart opening experiences? Indeed, we have had our challenges, just as Bill and Kerry have had their challenges. I does sadden me that the doors are closing as I and many others have invested hours and hours of our time and heart-felt energy here.

These past few weeks my whole intention and attention has been on getting a ground/dirt garden prepared. As I hate dirt gardening you have no idea what a challenge this has been. The first time I tried the dirt and grew potatoes I ended up with weeds as tall if not taller than I am. Then we had to start over and I said, SCREW THIS and decided to to cover up the dirt with weed cloth and do the garden in small containers. Again, this requires constant watering (containers are small), not too much weeding and fertilizing. Again, I'm such a failure at this whole fertilize on a regular schedule and watering when.. thinking the dirt holds water forgetting smaller containers need watering frequently. Needless to say it was time to look at another way to get a ground garden going for those plants and veggies that need something to grow in.

Currently the blueberries look sad, very sad and the bell pepper plants need help along with the rhubarb. Needless to say after more then two years its time to get on the stick and figure out how to do this successfully.

Ahh, the coffee is here. hmmm, good.

So now the storms have been brewing.. on Avalon and outside, but we still need to find ways to nourish ourselves.

Back to the problems at hand. After a visit to a friend, she showed me how she had built this huge wooden container - maybe 16 to 20 feet long, 4 feet wide and at least 2 feet deep. It was filled with beautiful produce they had grown from seed. I have to say I was inspired. She shared how her husband had conditioned the soil and believe me the results just would make you all drool.

Okay, back to the internet for more research and the purchase of multiple garden books However, while researching what type of garden books to purchase I ran across this lasagna method of soil prep that looked pretty good to me. Basically it was layering peat moss , grass clipping or green stuff (I used alfalfa for the nitrogen), manure over a few times until it reaches 24 inches. Newspaper is suppose to be the first layer but we used cardboard to keep the grass from growing up and letting the worms to have something to feast on.

Anyway, I drew up some plans for the container layout and decided on a L shape in full sunlight. The containers were 8 feet long, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep using 8'x12"x2". We purchased the wood and put it in the horse trailer to bring home. Those suckers weighed a ton. The previous weekends we had to build a fence to keep the chickens out and just used 5 foot stakes and wire fencing.

As the area was on a sloping hillside there were other challenges with digging out the areas for the various boxes and terracing them down to the large triangular box in the corner. Digging in dirt is back breaking work, but the various storms and rain made the soil soft. (Much like how we are being softening up here on the forum.) We finally got the boxes built and nailed re-enforcing the ends and sides to hold the dirt. (Kind of what the mods have to to when working the forum with various problems that surface.)

Yesterday, after many hours we finally got the last box completed. We could finally begin to fill them using a method that allows the materials to compost itself so I wouldn't have to remember to fertilize every month. This container has no dirt in it. We did all of this in the course of moving the horses around, giving the dog a flea bath and then next, pouring peat moss over the cardboard and draining the duck pond water over it all. Then came the layer of hay and layer chicken poop over it. Blech... reminded me of the poop that has been flying around here lately only this stuff have that very sour smell to go along with it. It was icky stuff. And then it was time to go gather up composting horse poop and not composted horse poop. Each layer needed to be watered down and leveled out.

By the end of the day, tired, stinky and achy I come in to relax and see what is going on with the forum and am stunned with how swiftly the changes are occurring and how folks are just spinning from their core center trying to figure out what on earth is going on and is there a place for them somewhere in the midst of all of this and what is it.

I too have been grieving as I realized my angel thread would be closed. This was the thread I put my heart and soul into and would search on threads and the net for images to add to it. And then I realized with the forum closed all of the amazing images that have been posted on the individual profile pages and in people's personal albums will all be lost. All of it as if it were never there. I felt so profoundly sad. All those lovely images were the love being shared among the members toward each other. All of those images represent the positive intention and force of this membership in action. And then I had this scathingly brilliant idea. But I need your help. I need everyone's help to do this if we hope to be successful. I want us to remember us as we are and what we have done together during this time in this special space. I want us to create an Avalon album from our profile pages to leave for posterity. To leave for those who were here and those who follow.

I would wish and request that each person search through their profile page and post what messages and images sang to their heart.. and uplifted their spirit givng credit to those souls who took the time to reach out and touch their spirit. I would like our Avalon album to include links to our individual members and other forums they visit. By now we know that there will be 3 spinoff forums from here (Project Light Warrior/Kerry; Avalon 2/Bill and Avalon Mist/avalon members). There may be more forums but it will never be the the same. I've already been through this with GLP and other places. You see, the garden we planted here is like my gourd. Some of it was hidden only to be discovered that something amazing happened when no one was looking. New life.

So please, please help me remember all of you. Please come together for this special project by posting images, special messages on our Avalon membership album. I will start in in the Spirituality forum because after all, we are true sisters and brothers in spirit and of one family. So my friends.. come join me in a cuppa and share a bit of your treasures with us to have and to hold in our hearts when the doors close to this lovely, lovely space.

http://www.projectavalon.net/forum/s...863#post256863
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Images to nourish the spirit: http://mistsofavalon.invisionplus.ne...&showtopic=198

Last edited by Carol; 03-14-2010 at 08:38 PM.
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