Things are ramping up around here. This last week we welcomed our resident permaculturist,
Shawn, and his family to the AVI house. Shawn is designing our site master plan which we'll be implementing throughout the summer.
We also welcomed Lloyd, an AVI resident, who arrived the same day to round out our core team of sustainability superstars:
Steveo, Keri, Ira, Michael,
Janell, and Meesh.
Ashevillage Institute core team meeting
Meetings, meetings, meetings are the order of the day. It takes a lot of planning and organizing to run this show and make real and lasting change. AVI core team meeting, website development meeting, strategic planning meeting, volunteer orientation meeting,
Permaculture Design Course meeting... phew! Good thing we have a sweet and stellar cast of characters, nourishing wild and fermented lunches and plenty of organic dark chocolate to get us through!
Volunteer meeting with bikes, barrels and burdock under the apple tree
... are just a few of the projects we worked on yesterday with the help of AVI volunteers and residents.
Lloyd and Meesh constructed an A-Frame level. A simple triangular tool using gravity to determine an accurate level reading.
The Egyptians used it in building pyramids.
We use it to put water bars and brush pile fencing on contour.
The two standing bars are about 5.5' long and spread 6' apart. The cross bar secures them and a plumb betty hangs from the apex.
To calibrate, it's set on level ground and a notch is marked on the cross bar where the plumb betty hangs.
You can see here that at this particular spot on the patio it is not quite level. This allows for drainage.
Dave and Shawn dug some water bars to help with erosion from all the crazy rain we've been having. Amie transplanted comfrey around the chicken fence so that there will be a ready chicken food supply easily at hand. And thanks to Mary and Blaize for their help too! Thanks everyone!
