Just in the nick of time

We were able to procure some of the geotextile (i.e. erosion control blanket) yesterday at Garden Exchange. Thank goodness for people who KNOW what they're talking about and are good about helping (can you tell it took me awhile to find the darned stuff??). We had 2 rolls and more on order and set to work right away.

We asked Buck to come and join us- what a HUmongous help he was. Another focused adult makes the work go so much faster.

When we arrived this late am, the sun was shining and we set to work right away as Buck said a storm was abrewin. He was right.... soon after arriving, I saw a giant 'iwa flying over the coast. They are a portent of a storm.
Sure enough, within an hour of our arrival, it started thundering and the sky got darker and darker.

We first had to even out the terrain. The ground was filled with little rivulets from the big storm and some big scars. So we got out the shovels and rakes to move some earth.

wasn't too long before GB was looking all sweatyHere we are, laying out the first swath of geotextile.

You can see here that it's made up of straw, sort of embedded within a matrix of something plasticy. The thing is supposed to biodegrade in 12 months.

GB and Buck laid it out and then I went and tacked it down any place where it was sitting above the ground, rather than directly on it. It's only functional when it touches the ground.

Soon after taking the above picture, the rain started.

I set out in the truck with the little ones to pick up Silas from school and to get more of the staples that hold down the mat. Since the ground was so uneven, I was using many more than we thought.

While out the rain really picked up. I was secretly hoping to get a call from GB saying that they had abandoned the project for now. No such luck ;)

But amazingly, when I had returned, they had evened out more ground and laid out so much of the mat, that I set right to tacking. We covered a lot more area than we thought we would.

It looks so VAST in these pictures.

Here we are.... 3 very WET and sweaty, but satisfied laborers.....
soon after this it really really dumped.

And more hope. The angel's trumpet tree has sent up another shoot. It's tenacious!

And no blog post would be complete without a picture of our littlest rugrat.... looking very muddy.


Next wednesday we get plants delivered! We'll make teeny holes in the geotextile and stick the plants in there. We're on our way to securing the hill!