The Elysian Fields

Some of the May posts from Green Man Enviroscaping LLC blog:

Green Man Enviroscaping LLC will be volunteering some time & expertise to assist the D&L Trail Tenders at the Lock 13 in Parryville.

The work will be scheduled for May 22, and will start at 9:30am.

If you're interested in volunteering for this or other D&L Trail Tenders events in the areas covered by any of the four chapters (Easton, Lehigh Valley, Northern Lehigh and Carbon/Lehigh Gorge), visit the D&L site for contact information.

We hope to see you there!

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Mulch Matters ~ article on how to use mulch

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Boosting the signal for Edge of the Woods... here are some of their coming events... be sure to visit the nursery website for more information on these events, as well as sign-ups or tickets as mentioned in these blurbs:

Things are Blooming Away here at Edge of the Woods!
A few of the plants in their glory right now are Fringetree (it's fragrant, too!), Catawba Rhododendron (lavender and white), Amsonia (great for butterflies) and American Wisteria (not nearly as aggressive as it's Asian counterpart). Stop in Today to see these great native plants and learn how to use them in your garden.

Make a rain barrel May 22
Sponsored by the Saucon Creek Watershed Association.
The fee is $35 for each rain barrel, and participants will be provided with the materials and instruction needed to make and take home a finished rain barrel. Pre-registration is required and space is limited. Download a registration form and mail it in today!

Learn all about Rain Gardens May 22
Adrianne Blank, Registered Landscape Architect.
Adrianne will give presentations at 10, 12 and 2 on May 22. Rain gardens collect storm water runoff from roofs, driveways, or other impervious surfaces. With a rain garden, you can grow beautiful plants, reduce polluted runoff and re-charge groundwater supplies. The presentation is free of charge, so don't miss it!

Gardening for the Future June 12 10 AM
A 'Must Hear' presentation With Dale Hendricks

Tickets on Sale Now!

Why bother gardening with natives? Plant grower and lover Dale Hendricks will answer with good information about the many positive impacts our seemingly small acts can have. Can gardening be good for the climate? For wildlife? For us? Does this have to be complicated? What plants are the easiest for beginners? He will then present, in his down to earth way, the joys and lore of several easy to grow, durable and beautiful native perennials and grasses.

Well, mostly new, at least picture-wise.

Yeah, I updated greenmanenvy.com... if you've been reading along (and have access to secured posts!), you've seen most of the photos used in the update, if not all of them.

At long last, I updated the gallery with two more projects ~ the deer exclosures from this Spring and the more recent work in Weissport. I had been delaying on the latter to let the Borough do a reveal on it first, but I wanted to get that stonework on there.

As soon as it rains enough to wash the last of the work on the Stone Stream clean, I'll take pictures of that project and add it to the page.

We completed three sides of exclosure #4 - the most we could do without the gate. Despite the steep slope, some of the sides are a lot closer to square, something we didn't think was possible. The stakes went in very fast; the biggest problem was sometimes they would be loose even when driven in all the way.

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We discussed the Boxer as an alternative to a larger skid steer. I had looked at these a while ago ~ they're significantly less expensive than a compact track loader ($25,000-$30,000 vs. $60,000-160,000), and meet the weight requirement nicely. I was worried that they wouldn't be enough to help with our needs, though. Based on Matt's feedback regarding his familiarity with the machines and their attachments, they will be a perfect fit. I will see what kind of financing I can get for the trailer ~ which we'll need first, to pick one up ~ and then I'll see if I can get the financing for the Boxer itself. I know that Boxer offers several financing plans, but I don't think the same thing exists for the trailers. Also, I don't know what the 10k trailer runs. I know the top o' the line 14.4k ran about $60,000, so it's still likely to be more than the Boxer itself.

For attachments, we would need the plate compactor, auger drive and some auger bits, the landscape power rake, and, most likely some form of bucket. Having them in-house would definitely make the 4 projects we have out to bid right now possible. Without that, we'll have to rent pretty much the same equipment, except it's likely to be the larger flavor, which means we'll have to work with someone out of Bethlehem and pay an arm and a leg for delivery to and from the job sites. If we can get financing, this will prove more cost effective.

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The best news came just before Matt was about to head home ~ it was the truck driver, and the rest of our fencing was on its way. Matt hung around for a half hour, and then all three of us could unload the parts for exclosure #s 5 & 6. All parts are now in house, all we need are some rainless days ~ well, one half day of rain is okay; that will give us time to assemble the three gates. =)

Unfortunately, unlike some folks in New Jersey and further up along the coast in Massachusetts, we did not get thirteen inches of the white stuff. We only got three inches, so I went out once with Rachel along for the ride, and we did the client sites, and came back to do our driveway.

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I had been concerned ~ well, suspicious really ~ that it would snow while I was up at the conference and I'd miss it, but I made it back in plenty of time.

Saturday, after the conference, I headed over to Worcester to visit some family, and hear a bit more about the Asian longhorned beetle and all the trees that were cut down to try to keep the pest from spreading. As mentioned in yesterday's semi-conscious post, I had dinner with my mom and her two sisters and with my grandfather's sister as well. All four of them were flirting with the waiter to one degree or another, so I spent much of the time shaking my head or saying "oy" or something like that. Despite all that ~ or, in all truth, because of it ~ the waiter took two "buy one get one free" coupons when it clearly stated one per table. So he made up the extra in his tip.

After getting more stuff from my great aunt to bring back for the kids, we went back to my Aunt Susan's and talked, looked at some pictures I had on the computer, and watched Blazing Saddles.

The conference went great, I learned a lot of useful bits of information, had a lot more bits that confirmed I was on the right track, and found a whole bunch of vendors that I'd like to work with. I went from having a couple of tentative contacts with possibilities to discussing things (one of whom has never gotten back to me) to a number of companies that offer viable solutions to all of the needs I had and then some. I've gotten challenged ~ both from the vendors and the sessions ~ to bring the skills I have up a notch or fifty, and that will benefit my customers greatly.

The section of the books I am currently studying ~ Edible Forest Gardens (hands down, the best books I've seen on permaculture) ~ is going in-depth into the structures of the soil and the soil food web, and that was a recurring theme in the conference. Although I had some soil-testing gear on my wish-list for the company, I'm now convinced that I need to up that in priority. I, at least, need to pick up one or two things and then expect to use a lab for the tests themselves. At some point, it will be important enough for me to make sure I can do the tests myself.

Because the general purpose solution worked in my yard, I was attempting to bring that to others (at least until that solution proved to be ten times as expensive as other commercial offerings) and I realize that, to be able to charge people, I need to be able to offer better service than a one-size-fits-some-and-hopefully-you solution, and actually be able to fine tune it to the specific needs of the site and desires of the landowners.

I did talk to some other vendors about permeable pavers, rain collection systems, and a few other things I had looked into and hope to be able to offer at some time in the future. I also made contact with a lot of great people in some aspect of this industry ~ the vendors, growers, landscape architects, some folks who were just interested parties, as well as fellow design-build-maintain contractors like myself.

Also, if you ever get a chance to listen to the Forest Service's Kevin T. Smith talk about anything ~ even if he's just reading off the ingredients list on a cereal box ~ go and see him. He is a great speaker, combining a depth of knowledge with an entertaining delivery.

Also also, one of the speakers from NH used "wicked" at least three to seven times in her portion of the talk, and that made me smile and think of the homeland.

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I had mentioned, the other day, how I had dinner with firesign10 and family, and I have to go into a bit more detail. First off, I think Mr. Bear tried to adopt me. He showed me his Fantastic Four action figures, set up a game for me on his Leapster, and offered me the best bits of whatever food was on his plate. He also thought I should go home with them, and when he found out I wasn't coming over, he asked if we could set up a playdate. He's about a year and a half older than Mr. B, and if we could ever get those two together, they'd have a blast.

Conversation covered everything from work to commuting to bass playing ~ which reminds me, I should have mentioned this: firesign10, you folks should come to the Musical Day cookout on the 25th of May! (okay, really I should just announce that to everyone, but, in particular, you guys should bring down the basses and guitars and so on! =) (I should also verify if it's going to be on the 25th or another day that weekend, or, even, the next!)

Great people, and it was great to meet them!

Yes, after exhaustive research, I have discovered the Cure for the Common Cold!

Spend a mere three hours performing hard labor - such as lifting, rolling, and carrying heavy rocks - in cool weather with a light drizzle.

Clear as a bell!

I have also discovered how to Relapse!

Stay up hours and hours past your bedtime entering data into the new payroll system because the prior payroll system failed in basic math!

I go attempt cure now.

Multiple times, in fact. We had to turn it to put the legs on, then the braces for the legs, and, finally, the stops for the upper deck.

It was kind of neat - once the legs were on it was actually solid enough to function as a work table for the remainder of the assembly. Kind of felt like when you're a blacksmith and you flub your way through making a set of tools so you can make a better set of tools and so on. Only it was just one table, and it went from "I'm a wee little table" to "I'm a tank. Put rocks on 'em and hammer away, I'll hold up!"

I'll take some pictures tomorrow. It's not pretty, and there's a reason I don't build furniture or do finish carpentry for a living, but it's functional and it's - pun quite intended, thank you very much - rock solid.

There's two table surfaces by design, the upper deck, a bit of padding, and the lower deck. The lower deck is the table proper, and it has four two by fours bracing it along the length. It's only 18" deep, so that's a 1.5" thick piece of lumber running the length every 3" or so. The upper deck just sits there, held in by an open-cornered frame. I expect it to wear out with normal use, so it's designed to be tossed out and replaced - only thing you have to do is cut another sheet of plywood and drop it in place.

The legs use wing nuts and carriage bolts to mount to the lower deck of the table. Although everything's rather a pain right now (mostly on account of the holes for the bolts being barely larger than the bolts, requiring some persuasion to remove them), the legs can come off. The legs are two 2x4's in an L, so they're pretty solid on their own, especially considering the small size of the table (30"x18"), but to make sure they can hold up to a pounding hammer, they are braced by an additional 2x4 frame from leg to leg. The side braces are permanently mounted, while the front and rear braces (~27" long) have carriage bolts and wing nuts. While assembling, we tested the disassembly process for one side, as the shallow depth barely provided enough room for the drill - and to ensure a perfect fit, we used the brace itself as a guide, and the braces mounted inside the legs.

The table is a perfect height for me to work on - it should prove very comfortable to work stone on, with the height optimally set for me. Now I just need to find some canvas bags to use as sandbags and it's good to go.

In other related news, the newest design went off to the customer for approval today.

Saturday, Justin and I spent the morning forking around with over-ripe compost and seed mix - maybe fifteen to twenty wheelbarrows worth. And this wheelbarrow, we joked, was bigger than the other crew's pickup truck...

...not quite, but it was 8 cubic feet of heavy crap (pretty much literally) and mushrooms. Very heavy. After about eight or ten trips, we were joined by one of the members of the board. This made it much easier to get up the steep, soft bank to where we were spreading the stuff. Thankfully, we had two wheel drive - a single-wheel wheelbarrow would have bogged and flipped with what we were putting it through. Of course, the fun part was the scent of amonia that steamed out when you ripped into the stuff to load it.

We wrapped up with a single load of wood chips, to assist the singing wheelbarrow, split between a garden bed at the Osprey House and a bench overlooking the pond. Then it was pizza, donated by one of the other members who was volunteering, and we were done.

After that, we headed over to deliver and review the three detailed designs with the customers. We added a few things to one of the design, and should get approval mid-week.

Six, actually, providing only slightly obstructed 360 degree views.

For a couple of days this week, my view looked like this:



...although somewhat seasonally adjusted for mid-March vs. early-December and a slightly different angle.

Here's the office back in January:



This week I parked the office up by where that photo was taken.

I was far more productive working at the office than I had expected. Sure, it's a wireless hotspot, but I have to figure out if I already have an account for it or if I need to create a new one, so I worked distraction-free. I did finish things up last night at home, but it was definitely easier to stay focused at the office.

I completed the three design projects I needed to get done and wrote up some invoices for them. I was going to present them today, but that got moved until tomorrow afternoon. Before that, Justin and I will be bringing the office - and some wheelbarrows and shovels - to assist with the Spring cleanup day at the location in the photos - the Lehigh Gap Nature Center. If you're in the area, stop by Saturday March 22 - from 9am to 2pm - and give us a hand!

Now I'll have to see about getting the company I own to hire me... =)

I'll have to go up before the entire board for the interview process... that'll be rough. I know so much about me already, I'm really not sure what kind of questions I should ask myself...

Big step. Many appointments coming up. Need to get everything ready to go because it's showtime...

In other news, I'll be giving my car some much needed R&R on Monday. Put winter wipers on. Leave it at the garage until it has good oil and working turn signals. 60-70 miles a day, five days a week for five years is enough to wear out any piece of machinery. Maybe even get the check engine light fixed, for once.

This weekend, much to do. It looks like a good chance for plowing tomorrow morning. Have to assemble the wheelbarrow. Put the brush blades on the heavy trimmer and the split-boom trimmer. Need to assemble the new spreader, give it a quick trial run in the snow and see how it does. The old one - maybe 20-30 years old? - is too fragile now, and it would slip way too much. Also, it's a drop spreader, and much lower to the ground than this one. The new one has big ol' pneumatic tires instead of solid plastic ones. Both those will factor into how good it runs on snow in general and in this meadow in particular.

To continue this fragmented style of post, I installed the Slushbusters. Had to warm the truck up for a while - the adhesive likes to be above 40 degrees when first installed. So I sat around, listening to tunes and waited. The supplemental heater really, umm, heats things up, so it wasn't that long until I could pop on all the lights, squeegee the window dry, and install the strips. Gave it a few test runs and I think they'll work. We'll see if it's still snowing tomorrow morning!