Planting Trees

On Monday we planted six trees.  First a circular spot is cleared with the lawn mower.  A square hole is made with a mattock, then the dirt is emptied out of the hole with a shovel.  All the dirt from the hole is spread on the downhill side for two reasons - 1) to make the ground more level and 2) to put the poor quality soil on the side that will drain away from the tree.  The hole is filled with ground rock, fertilizer and compost...enough to bring the level of the new tree up high enough so it will not be lower in the ground than it was in the pot.  These layers are mixed and tamped down with the shovel really good so there will not be any air pockets.  These layers continue to be added until the soil is built up in the hole as high as we want it.  The tree is then put in the hole, and the rest of the hole is filled in around the tree roots with compost.  Step around the planted tree to compact the earth...but do not step on the root ball.  It's important not to damage the roots of the plant.  Last the perimeter of the tree is fed with blue stone, fertilizer, compost, and mulch.  Then the sprinkler is turned on to water them in.

Ready to plant trees.

Ground cleared of grass with lawn mower.

This is where a tree will go.

Using the mattock to make a square hole.

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Mix and tamp down the blue stone, fertilizer and compost with the shovel.

Hole is filled with blue stone, fertlizer, and compost.  Ready for the tree to go in.

I planted grass seed by broadcasting it on some barren spots.

Lunch was papaya, mango, avocado, banana, and coconut.

Karen and I sunbathed.  Today is Karen's tenth day to fast.  She will break the fast tomorrow to get prepared to go home on Friday.  She has seen much improvement while here, and she has a plan to follow when she gets back home.    No computer today, so I practiced flute and visited with Karen.

Supper was lettuces, tomato, avocado, sauerkraut, pecans and two dates.  Read and finished my Lesson.

I now weigh 54 kilos on the scales.  I'm sure they are not accurate.  That would make me 119 lbs, and I am not that small.  There is still plenty of fat on this body.  I was 136.8 lbs the day I left home.  I think I have lost 8 or 9 lbs, so I'm betting I weigh about 128 lbs.

In the book The Farmers of Forty Centuries the writer tells about going from the U.S. to Japan.  At that time, the U. S. had 20 acres per capita where Japan had 1-1/2 acres per capita.  The U.S. had exhausted strong, fertile fields in three generations where Japan's fields were still fertile after thirty centuries of cropping.   I'm trying to learn about there intensive production and the way they feed their soil.