Amazing. Why oh why didn’t I think of this. My son Colin, the inventor, thought of it. Well, okay. Much much MUCH better than somehow “getting rid of them.”

These old walls — made of concrete and rebar —  that used to reign over the cob oven (see Cob Oven Saga), and were then cut in pieces and hauled next door to this back yard (by at least eight people laboring mightily) in 2012, remained stuck in place for ten years, two of them leaning against a tree, and the other, a corner wall, pushed near the NE corner of the yard. I detailed the first step in this Yurt Prep in last Sunday’s post, when neighbor Devin took down the tree next to that corner wall.

So what is it Colin thought of? He thought of the idea of actually repurposing the walls by cutting them in half for container garden walls. Duh! Okay! But Colin’s knee is still bothering him, so he can’t do physical work right now.

But then it just so happens that old friend Rich Viola came through again, on his way back to the Tetons (he was here a few weeks ago) . . . And being both skilled and willing, he decided to tackle the nasty job of cutting the walls down to size. Colin had the diamond blade with a grinder. So Rich got to work. A filthy, intensely noisy job, which luckily didn’t need to last very long.

First, with Joseph’s help, he tipped that corner wall (the largest, heaviest one) over.

Hmm, we laughed. Should this be repurposed as a permanent tent instead of cut up for raised bed walls? Nah. Here goes.

Victory! BTW: That corner item was cut into three pieces, one of them the shape of a sluice, so we figure we’ll use it as a channel for water somewhere.

The other two pieces, each to be cut in half, had been standing for 12 years leaning up against this tree, which I had never really paid attention to before, until Rich tipped both of them over to be cut. My soul reached out to that tree, truly! And thanked it for standing there stalwart, unbending, unmarked even! by that huge leaning weight all those years.

Notice the tarp. Both these pieces, now four rather than two . . .

 . . . and the corner pieces are going to be tarped until the next step in this process. They will make six walls for three standing beds. Now we’ll have to decide where to put them.

Three days later, I walked out to the back of the second DeKist house and saw Dan (who lived here for five years, and now comes to do his laundry and help with whatever needs doing) had just finished putting together the new compost bins from pallets we got at Colin’s Garden Tower Project warehouse. Yes!

So, besides being a week when we planted all sorts of vegetables during work mornings, and besides a small, intimate Community Dinner, both these major projects got tackled by members of our larger community, which now stretches even to the Tetons. Thanks Rich! And thanks Dan!

Next up? A small backyard ceremony for New Moon, tomorrow evening, something which appears to be on its way to becoming a tradition around here, since both Marita and Joseph want to continue them. YES!

Here’s Laura’s post for tomorrow’s New Moon, which actually occurs at 7:30 AM.

New Moon in Gemini — May 30, 2022