planted willow in the labyrinth area by the tipi
Thursday, May 15, 2008
12 pm
I was so tired of being lame and sitting in my chair in the house, so I gathered up the essentials: binoculars, bug suit, clippers, quart of homemade soup, willow and birch basket, camera, bug repellent, journal and pen.
I put it all in the basket. I made that basket with a very tall handle so I can carry things with it without having to bend down to pick it up all the time. I put all that on the little golf bag cart I found at the reuse center at the dump the other day.
I wheeled it all along, stopping to add a hide to the mix, and down the hill and along the highway to my woven walled tipi.
It was wonderful to be outside again. I put my bug suit on and lay in the hammock for a few minutes. I decided the hides should be on the outside of the walls to provide me with a bit of shade, so I stood on my chair down there and got them through the tipi poles onto the outside of the alder weavers. It was perfect.
After a moment’s rest, I took my clippers and headed out to a willow patch and clipped it all down to the ground. I wanted to make a labyrinth of willow, so I figured if I put willow pieces into the wet ground every few feet in all directions, leaving rows and aisles, I could later connect them to become the circles that the labyrinth will eventually need.
I worked out there for a long time, walking along and pushing a foot long piece into the ground beneath the layers of dried sedge leaves from last year.
When I had finished that, I rested in the hammock again, then put them into the ground all the way around the tipi, one at the base of each pole and two between poles.
The marsh marigolds look like they are doing wonderfully! They haven’t gone back at all since I transplanted them from the marsh the other day!
I can’t say how many willow stakes I pushed into the ground of the marsh, but the area is about 30’ X 30’.
I'm hoping that they will all root and I’ll be able to cut willow for baskets at the end of the fall!
12 pm
I was so tired of being lame and sitting in my chair in the house, so I gathered up the essentials: binoculars, bug suit, clippers, quart of homemade soup, willow and birch basket, camera, bug repellent, journal and pen.
I put it all in the basket. I made that basket with a very tall handle so I can carry things with it without having to bend down to pick it up all the time. I put all that on the little golf bag cart I found at the reuse center at the dump the other day.
I wheeled it all along, stopping to add a hide to the mix, and down the hill and along the highway to my woven walled tipi.
It was wonderful to be outside again. I put my bug suit on and lay in the hammock for a few minutes. I decided the hides should be on the outside of the walls to provide me with a bit of shade, so I stood on my chair down there and got them through the tipi poles onto the outside of the alder weavers. It was perfect.
After a moment’s rest, I took my clippers and headed out to a willow patch and clipped it all down to the ground. I wanted to make a labyrinth of willow, so I figured if I put willow pieces into the wet ground every few feet in all directions, leaving rows and aisles, I could later connect them to become the circles that the labyrinth will eventually need.
I worked out there for a long time, walking along and pushing a foot long piece into the ground beneath the layers of dried sedge leaves from last year.
When I had finished that, I rested in the hammock again, then put them into the ground all the way around the tipi, one at the base of each pole and two between poles.
The marsh marigolds look like they are doing wonderfully! They haven’t gone back at all since I transplanted them from the marsh the other day!
I can’t say how many willow stakes I pushed into the ground of the marsh, but the area is about 30’ X 30’.
I'm hoping that they will all root and I’ll be able to cut willow for baskets at the end of the fall!