Harvesting Arundo grass for The Nest project
Today Will and I got out to the Arundo grass site and started cutting, yanking, and pulling and stacking. There seems to be an endless supply of this stuff. Our directions are to thin it, and I think we will get our entire supply here. We are also thinning out some bamboo, which we will use for anything structural. We have decided to clean each stalk of each plant as we go, so are removing branches, leaves, and sheathing before we stack it. It is "chop wood carry water" kind of work, and Will and I have had some good discussions about the project as we harvest. Today we talked about some of the amazing bamboo houses Will saw on his travels in Laos, which are built high off the ground, initially because of the danger of tigers. Also sited a rare young blue Heron down at the creek...amazing bird!
Gardener Will B. workin' up a sweat digging up Arundo grass.
Pile of Arundo grass and bamboo
Stripping leaves off each stalk.
I tried pulling out a bunch of Arundo at once with rope and the old '54, but, while it was fun, it wasn't really as effective as I thought it would be. Discussion now is how to dye the canes blue, as we need a nice contrast at the site, which is pretty drab. It's going to be a lot of work, and we will try to pull together some Gardeners early for a work day. I will bribe them with a BBQ. This project is a bit different for us as the material is more monolithic, and the installation is a bit less improvisational, more designed. We will see how it goes..lots of improvisation possible after the initial structure is up.
Trusty old '54
Rosie and Sonny, the goats', home.
Rosie, the goat, getting curious while we cut the Arundo grass