When my partner and I bought our acre in the mountains nearly two years ago our first task was to fence most of it with chain link to keep out the free ranging goats. Despite the months of effort and a bit of criticism from hippie friends I am so glad now to see the native plants bouncing back after years of overgrazing by our neighbors herd of 50 or so goats.
With the chainlink in place the plant life is safe and our future gardens from goats, cats, and chickens are protected from ferrell dogs. But, in the last few weeks we have another worry. Our closest neighbor paid a man to deforest their lot for some reason, leaving most of our land open to intense wind and totally visible from part of the road.
It is sad to see the bare ground eroded by the wind and even more disappointing to see the man who cut down the wildlife while he works. We could hear him at his work before but, we didn't see him chopping down trees and throw his cigarette butts on the ground previously.
There is really nothing we can do about it now. It is their land not ours. All we can do is create harmony within our own little forest. And so, we have been working hard to create a visual barrier that will also serve as a wind break from the intense gust that come from the east.
At the moment we live about a mile away from our land and work as caretakers on a 10 acre farm. There are some fruit trees and gardens and lots and lots of bamboo! On warm mornings my guy and I have been cutting down the bamboo shoots that are over 2 meters long, cleaning them up, and storing them along the garage.
Winter is an ideal time for this kind of work. It is said that wood and bamboo cute in the dark moon or during the coldest months of the year last longer than at other times. Also, the tall bamboo is blocking the sunshine from hitting our house. And as it is winter here in Argentina and the sun rises so late we want as much sunshine as possible!!
Ideally we would let the bamboo dry for months but, our desire for privacy is urgent. As the framework of the fence is already in place we are weaving bamboo with recycled wire at our current home and will be transporting section by section once we can find the transportation. In the long run we hope that roses and wild vines will creep over the fence and that the neighbors will allow their side to naturally reforest. For now this layer of bamboo will look quite nice and, hopefully, create a bit of harmony between us and them.
Now all I have to do is drop my grudge at the man who cut all the lovely habitat down. Living in harmony with neighbors is a challenging!