Stone Terraces, Part 5

I went back to the farm yesterday. My favorite place to work is here. It used to be a gully that becomes a creek during the rainy season. We -- with caretaker Nong Endring Paragas, and his son Danny Paragas -- slowly put stones to block all eroded soil and organic matter that are brought down to the nearby creek during heavy rains and flash flooding.

We re-arranged some stones on the upper deck, added more dried leaves, newly cut branches at the back, and after two hours, its slightly new look, front view, below.

Top view, behind the stones and organic matter deposits.

Side view.

Another gully. The stone "stairs" going to my treehouse.

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Meanwhile, the other stone terraces near my treehouse, newly re-arranged as of February 10, 2013.

This area is under the big mahogany trees  near my treehouse. Hence, there is big volume of dried leaves and branches as the trees change their leaves every year, usually from January to March. Constructing these stone terraces will minimize if not control these organic material from falling into the drain where rain water and flood will simply carry them down to the creek, the river and ultimately to the sea.

Another view of this same area and the dried leaves and branches put behind the stones. From there, nature – termites, earthwork, insects and soil microorganisms will convert these litterfall into rich topsoil.

The stone terraces right behind my treehouse.  Without them, the soil here must have loosened and been eroded since a few years ago.

During heavy and prolonged rains though, this part gets damaged as the strong rainfall would really loosen the soil where these stones lean on. But without these stones, the erosion must be larger and wider. After the heavy rains, we just repair the damaged part.

Loose and eroded soil exposes the roots of the trees in hilly areas, the trees will fall down someday.

See also:

Stone terraces, Part 3, February 11, 2011

Stone terraces, Part 4, April 10, 2011