Garden Appreciation Platform - multi-function reclining version

[Burra Maluca]

My son's very own version of the Micro Climate Chaser



Can also be used as a recliner. Or even a wheelbarrow!

[Pakanohida]

WB Burra! Sorry about what is occuring in your country currently.

I like this very much btw, it is a great & very simple example of Permaculture. One tool, multiple uses.

[pebble]

What's happening in Portugal at the moment? (sorry, very insulated from the rest of the world currently).

Did that man get a crick in his neck? 8-)

[Pakanohida]

From what I have seen from a few friends on Facebook they are having money and political problems, not 100% sure on what but there is a lot of censored stuff & protest images showing up.

Then again, from the media black outs did you know Iceland over threw its government, threw the politicians and bankers in jail, and then forgave most mortgages for the people of Iceland? Not news in the US, but it certainly peeked my interest.

[Burra Maluca]

Yeah there's a load of economic troubles here, caused by dodgy politicians mostly as far as I can tell. I try not to dwell on such things though and concentrate on positive stuff I can learn and share to help people.

One of the main problems, in my opinion, is desertification. The soil in Portugal is thin and constantly being eroded, holding less and less water each year, leading to droughts in the summer and flooding when we do get rain as the soil, which is usually ploughed up over the summer to control fire, just washes away down hill and ends up in a muddy slimy messs engulfing the villages. Later this month my son and I are going to Tamera to the Second International Water Symposium in Tamera to learn all about water retention landscapes, they with a bit of luck we can start to construct one.

Hopefully they won't have too many wheelbarrows handy, else he'll sleep through half of it

Oh, and he says he only gets a crick in his neck if he falls asleep for a couple of hours, but if he switches sides then it goes away.

[Pakanohida]

Burra,

I made a deadwood swale 3 years ago & I remember at those other forums I got heavily edited often with regards to swales and water. I am very happy to tell you on the direct other side, the ground is exceedingly more wet. Has nothing to do with downhill only. Do you happen to get fog at all to harvest water from?

[Grahame]

Burra, I have a very similarly constructed platform. We also use it frequently as a small child transportation device. The child (or children) is placed in the 'bucket' and transported around the garden by raising the back end using the handles and pushing it around on the single wheel located at the front. When you arrive at your destination, such as the next chicken dome or the grains storage area, the platform can be lowered to a well supported seat and play structure. The rear 'legs' create an excellent and stable triangle with the front wheel. In the colder months we line the bucket with a warm coat. It truly is an excellent piece of permaculture toolery.

[Burra Maluca]

We don't really get much fog. We tend to move between very wet and very dry during the winter months, and just very hot and dry during the summer. Tamera have been working with Sepp Holzer at designing pretty large scale solutions for catching as much as possible of the winter rains (not that we've really had any this year...) to prevent floods and doing it in such a way that the water gradually seeps into the surrounding land to keep it re-hydrated over the summer. I'll know more when I get back at the end of the month. It's a three day event, and partly it's an excuse to go on 'holiday' with my son now I'm finally free of the 24 hour nursing I've been stuck with for years, and I couldn't think of a more constructive way to spend a few days!

Also, now I have a bit more time and energy available, I'll be busy experimenting with deadwood swales, hugelkulture beds, bone sauce, making charcoal, turning a pine wood into a forest garden, and anything else I can think of :-)

[Burra Maluca]

Grahame - it's a truly brilliant device isn't it?

As the children grow you end up needing one each for them though as they tend to not fit in more than one at a time. And there's no way I'm pushing him around in it now he's that big!!

[Pakanohida]

We don't really get much fog. We tend to move between very wet and very dry during the winter months, and just very hot and dry during the summer. Tamera have been working with Sepp Holzer at designing pretty large scale solutions for catching as much as possible of the winter rains (not that we've really had any this year...) to prevent floods and doing it in such a way that the water gradually seeps into the surrounding land to keep it re-hydrated over the summer. I'll know more when I get back at the end of the month. It's a three day event, and partly it's an excuse to go on 'holiday' with my son now I'm finally free of the 24 hour nursing I've been stuck with for years, and I couldn't think of a more constructive way to spend a few days!

Also, now I have a bit more time and energy available, I'll be busy experimenting with deadwood swales, hugelkulture beds, bone sauce, making charcoal, turning a pine wood into a forest garden, and anything else I can think of :-)

Great to have you back then!