It's over

 

The party, that is. Our daughter's 18th!! It has been keeping me away from my blog, since the beginning of the year. Well, one of the things. As we had to fix the narrow back landing, behind the house, to make it safe for partying teenagers. Seven in total, and they were mostly well behaved. I say mostly, because I'm sure the neighbours heard. But it's the first loud party we've had, since moving here in 2007. I'm glad to say it's over though...

Christmas DIY gifts

Just a quick link to a Youtube video, if you're looking for some last-minute, DIY Christmas gifts. I thought these 4 ideas were really practical, doable and used repurposed items, rather than purchasing new. So for those crafters out there, looking for inspiration, I hope this helps. The first idea can be used for any number of small items, which need to be kept together for storage, or transportation. Anyway, I hope you're all getting ready for Christmas. We should be putting up our tree today!

Free things

Peekaboo...

David surprised me last week, when he came home from work. The aged care facility he's employed by, had some plants and containers to discard. Or at least, no-one wanted to look after them any more. There were some mature specimens, inside the pots, and even a metal owl companion, found it's way with some succulents.

Reno round-up

Today

Two years on, from the bathroom renovation - was it worth the time, effort and money, spent? Which wasn't a lot of money, but still. Do you wonder, if I fell out of love with that green feature wall yet? Or did finding the right plant, that survived, seem more like a burden, than it was worth? Did I really achieve the sense of the outdoors, coming inside?  Or should I have just left the whole thing alone?

Bag workshop

Today's plans almost didn't transpire, due to Peter getting sick. A good night's sleep, had him well enough for me to go again, in the morning. Go where? The Toowoomba Simple Living, bag workshop!

It was my first visit as a spectator, rather than a presenter, for the sourdough workshops I've done formerly. The tutors were wonderfully informative, and I learned so many tricks to making your own bags.

Recycled doilies and denim

I loved the recycling ethos, and how to personalise your own bags. The two presenters (Neralie and Valda) used different applique techniques, reverse applique which was especially new to me, blanket stitch (machine and hand embroidered) incorporating buttons, peepers, handles, curves on the bias, and so much more!

I especially appreciated the demonstration, how to make bags, similar to the ones purchased from the supermarkets. Only made from recycled denim jeans, these bags have so much more heft to them. Yet the shape and construction, conforms to the checkout cradle, which holds them, while being filled.

Loved the Japanese theme

I even discovered my quilting foot, was perfect for sewing the bag together. As the different layers of fabric can be quite hefty, while sewing. The sturdy design of the quilting foot, is better suited, than a regular foot. Although, you can still use a regular sewing foot. I'm just thrilled to find another reason to use my quilting foot!

Now I just need to purchase some jean needles for my sewing machine. I have plenty of scrap fabric, and even some jeans. This particular workshop, gave me the confidence to tackle some new sewing projects, I've wanted to try. I mean, what can be more practical, than a bag?

If you're reading this Nanna Chel, Margy, Margaret, Barb, Sandy and Maria (I hope I got that right) it was nice to catch up with you all again.


And here are some useful links for making different bags
{from really talented people}:

Folded corner, box tutorial
As above - only with French seams
Hold-it Bin tutorial
Fabric basket tutorial

Good investments

I'm not talking about stock or real-estate investments. Rather, what do you consider a good equipment investment, to spend money on at home. My rule of thumb is: it has to serve more than one purpose, reduces waste and has to be able to last a long time. Especially if it's not cheap!

One such investment, happened early last year. It was purchased with a gift card, received for Christmas. This particular item, has been on my radar for several years.

3 in 1

It was a Fiskars brand, gift tag maker. At $40, I considered it expensive for the purpose of making gift-tags! However, in the one tool, it had three different processes. The first slot at the bottom, was for cutting gift tags. The second slot (at the front) was for punching a hole in the gift tag - and finally, the spindle underneath the handle, attached, metal hole protectors.

Finished gift tag

Why a hole protector? It ensures you don't cut through the hole, when attaching the string. I've done that before! The metal eyelets, came with the cutter, but will have to purchase more, when they're gone.

The main reason for purchasing this cutter, was for recycling Christmas cards we receive. But also, any card we come across that would look good as a tag. Do you want to know where the above card, came from?

Card stock 

waste not, want not

A packet of chocolate! Mmmm...chocolate. We like the plain stuff, with high cocoa - so not the milk chocolate, or flavoured centres. We don't normally buy this particular brand, but our regular chocolate wasn't on special. So improvised!

As the packet was transported to our recycle bin, that gold embellishment caught my eye. It would look perfect, as a gift-tag. So before any card goes into the recycle bin now, I see what parts can be scavenged for a gift tag. So long as it's clean card, that is!

What do you consider a good equipment investment, in your home - and what is your rule of thumb, for making them?

Kitchen Garden - October

Before the arrival of the rain, which broke the drought, many of the plants in my kitchen garden, set seed. Especially the lettuce. So I set about replacing them with another green, I knew could probably handle the heat a bit better. Silverbeet!

Silverbeet sharing space

They really perked up, with the arrival of rain - but more so, from the overcast days. I want to get the most out of my container space, so decided to plant my favourite bean in the same pot: Purple King. As long as it gets water, it can handle the heat. I have plans for these beans to help cool the area, around the containers for summer.

Click to enlarge

This concrete rebar, was left over from our neighbours' house build. The new neighbours did a yard clean recently, and asked if we could use it. So now it will function as a climbing archway for many things!

Peter decided he wanted to use it for a play area, but as you can see in the background, the chicken tractor, also shares the green runway. Isn't it nice to see green again!

Curious as to how far, these will climb

So now the beans have a sturdy structure to climb, instead of curling around each other. I'm looking forward to tasting fresh beans again. The seed is saved every year, so they're fairly well adapted, to our harsh conditions.

I will probably put my potted choko vine, on this structure also. With the intention, in a few months time, we'll have some valuable shade.

Spring 2018

This is the kitchen garden in October. Unfortunately the strawberries are rotting on the plant, from too much moisture. That's a problem I can live with, as the plants themselves are doing fine. The cherry tomatoes are doing well also, and setting flowers. Although many of my herbs have gone to seed, so have planted more!

I intend saving the seed, from the herbs, to use again next year.

 New

As my original kitchen garden was performing so well, I decided to expand. I made a simple stand out of leftover wood, used for cementing part of the driveway. My kitchen garden projects, are using up a lot of supplies around our yard, and the neighbours!

The only question I am yet to decide, is whether I will build another archway, against these new pots. There's an extra piece of rebar yet to use. However, we couldn't install the marque for Christmas - as it shares part of this space, and only this space. Decisions? Honestly, I'm learning towards the archway. Because it will live there all of the growing season - with the benefit of shade. But the marque only goes up for a day.

With the rain, and my new growing areas being developed, I'm hopeful for some Christmas goodies, for lunch! I hope your gardens are thriving, wherever they are.

Autumn assimilates

Autumn is when all that decay, from the end of a long, growing season, gets assimilated, back into the soil. So right now, is the perfect time to consider the aftermath left over, in your garden, after summer.

I have been outside lately, tidying up, and contemplating an idea my mother, inadvertently gave me.

Image source, of an outhouse

It's was based on the story she told me about the old, "outhouse", her father would dig every few years. Once it was completely filled with their family's humanure, another hole would be dug. To which the outhouse would be relocated over - then a tree was planted, on the former hole.

Apparently the best tasting fruit, were always gleaned from the former outhouse, trees. I thought it was a splendid idea of dealing with waste, by moving it around. But I didn't have a compost toilet, as yet - only access to a lot of organic materials. I wanted to be more strategic with them.

After 5 months

I started this pile back in Spring. Why here? It's near our banana circle. The long grass is disguising it's existence, but it's back there. I wanted to protect the bananas from hot winds, and thought a pomegranate would make a good windbreak. Only this location, had horrible, clay soil. It seemed to me, a perfect candidate for a pile of organic matter.

With the flush of spring rain we received (back then) I cut down a lot of grass, weeds, prunings and piled it all here - along with some buckets of kitchen scraps. Then left it over summer. During that time, it's shrunken considerably.

Close up, of older materials

The cooler weather of Autumn, summoned me back to the pile again. Time to clean up, and assimilate all those decaying materials in the garden, where they can do the most good! I had acquired a myriad of of both natural, and processed items, which needed an organic solution.

New additions

We had some brown paper bags, from buying fruit at the local farmers market. We tore them open, and laid them flat, on top of the old compost material.

Pungent!

On top of the bags, went a full bucket of vegetable scraps. Stinky, smelly and perfect for the job of decomposition. No fussing. No turning of older materials. Just dump it all on top! The smell dissipates, quickly.

The "whatever" I had laying around

I also had a couple of buckets of old coffee grounds, and potting mix, that needed rejuvenating. They were completely baked over summer, so too dry and lifeless to use in pots again. But perfect for a pile of compost. The soil microorganisms, will rehydrate them with enough time.

Cardboard

We also had an old cardboard box, groceries were collected in. Lovely carbon for the mix too. It was opened up and flattened, in the same way the bags were.

There ARE specific rules for the perfect pile of compost, but I literally use, whatever's at hand. It gets dumped, like nature would dump it, on TOP of the soil. If I fuss over anything, it's trying to make a carbon sandwich around the wet layers of kitchen scraps and green prunings.

Gleaning fresh materials

I tidied up the grass, growing around the vegetable beds, yesterday - using my trusty, manual, hedge trimmers. I love those, for avoiding petrol smelling clothes, unlike the line trimmer! And all that grass, was destined for my compost pile. I've got mountain-loads to deal with, right now. Can you see it all?

Ready. Set. Decompose!

Grass topped the pile off, and being so green, you can barely notice it's existence now. Perfect camouflage, but in a week or so, it will turn brown again. If you're dutiful enough, especially in autumn, you'll always be adding new material to the pile. My hope is by next spring, I'll have better soil, to start my pomegranate in!

Like the old, "hole in the ground", technique, my forefathers used, there's no reason a compost pile, needs to be in the same location. Maybe if you're limited on space, it makes sense to organise it that way. But if you don't want to turn compost with your back, just leave organic material on top of the soil; for the worms, bugs, larvae and all manner of microorganisms, to deal with it.

Clean and tidy, again, after David mowed

If I was to make a habit of turning compost, I think I'd want to do it, with one of those compost, tumbler bins. We've had a traditional compost pile before, and while I don't have anything against the concept; if I can reduce my workload, I will. I'm glad we don't have to turn the compost, every week, like we used to. Instead, we just have to be strategic, where we want to plant the next tree.

Which is about the only complicated thing, with this strategy - deciding where the next pile will go. Will I have problems with brush turkeys, bush rats and marsupial mice, trying to dissect the pile for a me? Most likely! Which is why it's best, starting, when rains are around. It will ensure the scavengers, have a plentiful supply of food, everywhere.

And if they scratch it up - so be it. They can turn the pile for me. I'll erect a cage around the pomegranate, when it goes into the ground. Which should save my sanity.

Has autumn (or spring - depending where you live) called you back into the garden yet?

Shady places

Continuing the theme of accumulative work, there's a relatively new project we've been working on lately. It does involve a retaining wall, but not building one! Thankfully. It's the retaining wall, below our hugelkultur beds.

During the warmer months, those blocks, heat up something terrible. Hardly anything grows in the beds. While the avocado tree sprouted near the wall, is helping reduce SOME radiant heat from reaching the blocks - it's certainly not enough to cover the span of wall, during the day.

Avocado (left) shade sail (above)

So we installed some treated timber posts, and a single, 3.4 x 3.4 metre, shade sail. During sumer, when the sun is high, it will shade approximately 3 metres of wall. But it will always creep in, on the east and west side, as the sun rises and sets.

To mitigate this, we're building screens on half the sides. You can see the lattice, installed recently. It was a gift originally, and I was tired of storing, instead of using. While it's not entirely big enough, I intend to add some mesh above it, with a pot underneath, to grow climbers over. That should provide better shade cover. I will do something similar on the west-facing side.

While it looks kinda junky right now, everything in the image above, has a purpose. The styrafoam boxes under the lattice, are shading a couple of pots I have potatoes and jerusalem artichokes, growing in. The plastic pot, on the styrafoam box, has a rock in it, to stop the box from blowing away. The white buckets in the middle, catches the rain which drops from the shade cloth. I then ferry that water, to the hugelkultur beds.

Best pepinos I've ever grown, over the retaining wall ~

now receives morning shade from the sail

The goal here is to create more micro-climate, for growing plants. Mostly edible ones. Also, to use the man-made infrastructure, as a means of capturing energy where I need it (ie: water harvesting) or deflect energy where I don't - radiant heat.

It's another work in progress, as funds and time become available. I intend to use more recycled materials to complete this shady area. In the meantime, we make do with boxes, buckets and other bits and pieces we can find. It's kind of ugly, but progressing us towards meeting our goal of more food production. Which is kind of great!

Accumulative work

While I've been away from this blog, I've been working on a building project. A very old project. It won't be news to those, reading this blog for some time. I'm talking, retaining walls again. Yes, my friends, we're still building them. Nine years, by my count.

 May 2008

We started our first drystone retaining wall, back in 2008. Which was more like a rock veneer. It wasn't designed to hold any weight, just stop the soil from rolling down the hill more easily - into the areas we wanted to use for compost bins. It was just a tiny prelude, of what was to come!

Terrace block walls

Our very first "prefabricated" block wall, went up, early 2008. Oh boy, we filled in about 7 years worth of work, on prefab block walls! Which gave us a lot of FLAT utility space, on our many slopes. We purchased cheap land, but the cost came later, in constructing retaining walls.

We've found cheaper ways to build them however...

 Log walls

Like using the enormous trees on our property, as wooden retaining walls. Total termite fodder! As they're not treated, at all. But at least they keep the little sawdust munchers, less interested in the house. Being hardwood trees too, it takes many years to make a meal of.

Tyre walls

We've even used free tyres to build retaining walls. Anything to keep costs down, as we attempt to hold the earth from defying gravity. Because when you've been doing this for as long as we have, you have to find ways to trade "time" for "money". Meaning, you use more of you time to gather, free materials, than you use money to purchase them.

First, large, drystone retaining wall

Where we really came into our own though, was in discovering the ability to build drystone retaining walls. The mega variety. And the fact, our local council  (or Main Roads, I'm not sure which) would dump dirt from road reconstructions, after the flood, just a few streets down from us. We'd grab a trailer full of dirt, and inevitably find a hoard of rocks. Home they came with us too!

We have not managed to reduce that pile, because roads keep getting built. More resources keep being added. We're barely making a dent.

 Upper and lower walls -2013

We actually started fortifying this side of the house, with drystone retaining walls, after the 2011 Queensland floods. Work started on the lower wall, early 2012. Why did it take us a year to get building? Because it takes that long to acquire resources. We were working on the walls in our spare time, between raising kids, going to paid work (in my husband's case) and generally managing a property.

The last time we left off this particular drystone retaining wall, was back in 2013. That was the year our son was due to be born, so it wasn't long before all work on this drystone retaining wall, came to a halt.

February 2013

This is where we left it, and four years have passed, since. Having babies and building driveways, are important time commitments too. Honestly, I can't remember everything we did, in those four years, but I don't remember much resting. Opportunities were seized, but not for this particular drystone retaining wall. Not until recently...

 Click to enlarge

The new section has been cobbled together, much like the rest - as resources became available. We like the big rocks for the base, but they're not so easy to come by. So we wait until we have enough to build the next section. And so it has been going, for these drystone retaining walls, since 2012.

It takes time, but it costs less.

Backfill opportunities

We're not particularly picky about which materials we put in our walls either. Backfill (behind the wall) is for hard trash, really. David found some old besser bricks, from someone's old project, at the local tip. They have been used and partially filled with concrete. The one above, also had a beer bottle embedded into the concrete. Someone's celebratory contribution, perhaps?

I topped it off with some blue-metal, available from the local landscape supplies. Blue metal, is what we purchase for these drystone retaining walls. Because no matter how hard you try, there will always be a small gap to fill. Which brings me to the next thing about building drystone retaining walls.

Size matters

There needs to be plenty of different sizes of rocks. Because when you're putting a wall together, with non-uniform pieces, there is inevitably a gap to fill, requiring different sizes.

We try to stack our incoming rocks in different piles based on size. There will always be those rocks which don't fit into the small, medium and large categories, but they end up in one pile, or another. Eventually, they're all used, until it's time to go searching for more material.

The base

The biggest rocks are reserved for the foundation. Make sure these are solid, and without imperfection, as they will be holding a lot of rocks on top. In Queensland, regulations state you're not allowed to build a wall, higher than a meter, without an engineer's certificate. We're sure to keep under a metre, but even low walls, can be heavy.

Chinks

Always have on hand, a lot of smaller rocks too. These are great for chinking into places, larger rocks won't fit. It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Return to your stack of rocks, regularly, to find the pieces which look to fit the best. If that fails, you may have to use two smaller rocks to fill the one space.

The aim is to fill in all the spaces, so none of the rocks will move. The ingenuity behind drystone retaining walls, involves filtering any water through the entire rock face, without the soil! So small rocks for chinking, are just as important as large rocks are, for the foundation.

Blue metal, is that glue for us - filling in all those spaces we cannot find a rock for. So it's worth the investment in purchasing. We want these walls to last.

Depth

The thickness of the wall is important too. We aim for 40-50cms. The nice facing rocks go down first. Then ugly backfill, goes behind. We've been able to find a lot of petrified wood on our property for this purpose. We find petrified wood and sandstone, but quality can vary, in the latter.

With sandstone, we've found it's best to let it soak in water and see if it breaks apart. Lower grade sandstone will, and eventually disintegrate over the years. You don't want that in your wall. Especially in the foundation. Any sandstone we're not entirely sure about, goes in the upper section of wall - just under the capping stone. That way, it's easily replaced, if they do prove to be inferior.

 Angle

An important design feature, of a strong wall, is tilting the rock face back, by approximately 10 degrees. This has to do with the angle of repose. It's a bit technical, and each wall will have a different angle: depending on the location, the slope and material the wall has to hold back.

As a general rule, we keep to 10 degrees. So as we're stacking the rocks, up, we place them further back, than the rocks below. This helps to resist the weight of the material packed behind. It has worked wonderfully over the years.

 Old section, observed recently

This is a section of the original wall, which is approximately four years old. It hasn't moved in that time. As for which rocks we choose, I read in a landscaping article, they should all be the same. Apparently it's meant to look more professional.

Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of uniform rocks, so we use whatever we can get a-hold of. Blue stone, sandstone, river stone, petrified wood, and even, good old concrete!

Concrete capping stone

We've found a lot of concrete, pulled from the road, in various soil collection journeys. They have a flat (enough) top, which makes for a nice top layer. We've even used concrete from the pour of our house slab - builders always dump the excess somewhere; which has been good for back-fill too.

We use every possible rock-like piece of the puzzle, to build our drystone retaining walls. If it's going to be dumped into landfill anyway, it might as well be in our own.

 Up close

I actually like the different tones of rocks we collect. It's like a patchwork quilt, using what we have available at the time. I can certainly see the appeal of a uniform rock wall, but I haven't found our cobbled together ones, altogether unattractive, either.

Besides, over the years, they tend to grow moss and fungi which blends them all together anyway.

This rock is not rolling

A large chunk of concrete we used in a wall, just down from our current project. (I'll demonstrate what I mean soon) has been in shade, for most of winter. Which has caused it to grow moss, all over it. Making it blend into the greenery, all the more perfectly.

I love seeing nature, take over our endeavours, by adding it's personal design touches. Shades of green, abound!

Lower rock wall

This is the lower wall, just down from our current project - and it came together last winter. It's actually where we first use to dump the rock, when building the original drystone retaining wall, back in 2012. Seeing that pile of rocks, become invaded by weeds, as the years passed by, kind of inspired us!

So we removed all the old rock (and the weeds) and built a very low wall. Really, it was designed, to hold back the soil for the plants to grow. You can see the Spanish Iris (grass like) which we broke up the wall with. There are other plants behind the Iris, but they're still very small.

I call this our green, rock wall. It's a fusion of rocks, with plants - working together to hold back the soil.

In perspective

This shows the lower green wall, in relation to the upper drystone retaining wall, we're presently working on. In between, we've created an access path. The wheelbarrow is taking up some room, but that's what it's meant for. Access!

When designing retaining walls, always plan for an appropriate access path. If you can have it before construction begins, it makes for a safer working area. There's nothing worse than hauling heavy rocks around, only to have your foot land in a dip in the ground. Ask me how I know this?

 Access is essential

In the five years, since this project began, we've been working on a site, with MANY dips and ruts. When we constructed the lower green wall, last winter however, it showed us the line for a pathway. As we dug out the soil, for the foundation of the new wall, we finally filled-in all those dips and ruts, in the pathway. It's heaven now!

Seriously, I must have goats knees from the many years, navigating less than perfect terrain - on slopes. My brain, somehow knew many of those holes and avoided having mishaps in most of them. But if you don't have to do that, don't!

Every time we make another piece of flat land, we lament why we didn't do it sooner. But, gosh, we've been so busy doing other important stuff too. Collecting resources, doesn't happen on it's own! So everything has to wait it's turn. But consider those access paths, as the MEANS to doing things. I'm glad we decided to perfect that pathway, the second time around. It's made such a difference to working on our project again!

Down tools - but not for long

So this is where we are at, presently. We dig down, about 10-20cms, for our foundation rocks, and build up a section of wall, as we find the resources. That's how it's been for 5 years, and that's how it will be, for however many years to come. Time. Painstaking to wait, perhaps. But has saved us anywhere between five to ten thousand dollars, purchasing materials to date.

We've acquired materials from dump sites, our own yard, they've even washed downstream, in our gully - and even collected rocks from my mother's house. She brought a few in her boot, a couple of times a year, when she came to visit. They weren't desired in her yard, but went to a good cause in ours. Oh so gradually, we found the resources, and built a wall.

 Getting there

When I think about what we've achieved on our landscape, it was really TIME that needed to be invested. We found precious little "spare" time, but what we had, managed to be cobbled together (like our wall) and accumulated gradually, to be something more substantial.

When I think of how we felt overwhelmed, or the toddlers who didn't cooperate with our building plans - the times I worked alone on the wall while my husband worked off site. When I think of the exhaustion, and the near misses too, well there's quite a lot of imperfect living, packed into those walls.

My husband has a saying, and I guess it's entirely true. We are packed into those walls, and they signify who we are. Superheroes, we are not. The physical reality of a busy life, constantly feeling like there's not enough time in the day. Goodness, but doesn't it amount to something more substantial, when work accumulates over time?

You can be weak, AND strong, so long as you have a degree of health and mental dexterity, to keep forging through those little pockets of time.

Is there a long-standing project, weaving through your life? I'd love to hear about it.

Raising the ceiling

In my last post, I linked to a brush with fate, in my vegetable garden. Or simply, how to invite brush turkeys to dinner, by watering. They like to dig up ground which is moist. Because it's easier to dig and attracts soil life to consume.

Turkey scratching in my hugel bed

Well, I finally managed to do something about the situation. I purchased some moth netting from the hardware store, with the intention of covering my hugel bed. I had a plan, but it required my husband's help, retrieving other building materials from the jungle (aka: outside storage area).

In the meantime though, I hung the netting over the bed, with just the blue milk crate, to hold off the plants. It succeeded at deterring turkeys, but was inadvertently killing the plants underneath. I'd successfully put a lid on a very full saucepan, and the plants were cooking.

Metal rebar

David was finally able to help me (between rain storms) retrieve some long rebar, from an overgrown thicket. Using the angle grinder, I cut one 6m piece, into four - making them 1.5m long. Then hammered each, into the four corners of the hugelkultur bed, by 20-30cms.

I had scraps of other building materials, to put onto the upright rebar...

Archways, and wilting silverbeet

Old water pipe, leftover from the original house build, was something I wanted to find a purpose for (instead of storage). So was the rebar, for that matter. I'd been wondering, how to use those 6m lengths for about a decade! Now they're helping me grow food.

Back to the water pipe though - I merely cut enough length, to create an arch across the bed, at both ends. It required a handsaw to cut the pipe, being so thick. Which made it perfect for holding the arch shape. I don't have to worry about flopping over.

Protected

Then it was just a matter, of draping the netting over the archways. I purchased 5 metres of netting, which was sufficient, to cover all sides of the bed.

Metal clip

To secure the netting, I first started with regular bulldog clips, attached to the rebar. Being metal however, I knew they'd rust over time, and possibly discolour the netting. So after a week, I replaced them with plastic ones, found at Bunnings Hardware.

Plastic clip

Now, the inside has a lot more filtered light, and air flow, which is allowing the plants to thrive. Making it so far, the best performer from all my hugel beds.

October 23 - first erected

November 3 - twenty days, later

The silverbeet has gone gangbusters. And while the netting doesn't keep absolutely all insect critters out - it reduces them significantly. PLUS, I don't get turkey damage, which is the main goal for this particular infrastructure.

I'm considering doing something similar with the other two beds. Now we've retrieved the rebar from the undergrowth, it won't take long. 

This particular bed has some other challenges, which needed addressing. Aptly covered by Permaculture principle #11 - use edges and value the marginal.

But more about that next time.