Mini-dam

Last weekend, I visited the farm again, slept in my treehouse and got a really long and peaceful sleep, from 9pm to 5:30am, 8 ½ hours of peaceful and deep sleep. Prior to that, I was so tired I also slept from 5-7pm, until Nong Endring woke me up for dinner. Our viand then was one of our free-range chicken who tend to free range a lot, they do not go back to their chicken house in the evening anymore. Either they will be stolen by other people, or some wild animals, especially monitor lizard (“bayawak”) will get them.

Here’s the front view of the mini-dam that we started building a few months ago. As of July 11 this year, 3 layers of stones.

And this is the front view last weekend, July 25, we started building the 4th layer.

Top view, as of July 11. New layer of dried leaves brought down by a small flood the previous weeks deposited at the back of the stones.

Top view, as of July 25. More stones added at the back, more weight, more stability, in case huge and strong flash floods will come in the next few weeks.

Back view, late June this year.

Back view, last July 25. The 3rd layer of stones at the back has been covered by dried leaves already.

This is the gully that we hope will be covered by soil and organic matter brought down by rainwater and flash flood in the coming months and years. Several cubic meters of loosened soil from the higher elevations are expected to be impounded here.

This will be our first experiment at impounding eroded soil and organic matter brought down by flash flood. I personally chose this site because the volume of flash flood here is not so big, unlike in other waterways in the farm.

A wider view of the mini dam plus the stairway going up to my treehouse.

More updates and photos in the coming weeks and months.