The outside area (north side)

We've already started shaping part of the area around the building 🛖. It's nicer for everyone and will mean we'll have a bit less work to do next autumn 🗓️! Some stages were done at the same time as the construction work on the building.

Step 1 (December 2022): with our favourite mini-excavator, we diged the soil 1.20 m wide on the north side to give us private access from that side and also limit the humidity close to the building, on the side that will never see the sun.

Step 2 (February 2023): felling trees (Austrian black pines 🌲 only, this is an invasive species that was introduced to our valley in the mid-19th century). We selected them according to their size and straightness. The branches 🌿 were shredded directly on site. Then we had to create a small temporary trailer 🚜 to bring the trunks down from the mountain! These trees will enable us to create a retaining wall to hold back the earth.

Step 3 (May 2023): Vacuum 🧹 the top of the drain to remove site residues: concrete, wood, insulation... and close it up with new geotextile, which will be covered with crushed ⌀10/14mm gravel to hold it in place.

Step 4 (May 2023): Make the holes with a crowbar and plant the acacia posts, taken from branches recovered during pruning (carried out in February with the cherry picker) and pointed with a band saw 🪚. As the soil was fairly dry, we watered 💦 the base of the posts one evening so that we could drive them in deeper the next day.

Step 5 (May 2023): Install the trunks 🪵, more or less straight... backfilling the soil behind as we went along to hold the trunks against the posts.

Step 6 (May 2023): Finish by adding soil - lots of soil! - on top to level out, recut the stakes to the same height and add 2 trailers of gravel across the bottom width.

December 2022 to May 2023