The Green Working Group organizes a monthly Green Work Day for the maintenance of the communal outdoor area. This time there was a lot of pruning to, among other things, the row of willows that border the north side of the Earth Houses.

That offers a good example of the Permaculture principles that we put into practice at the Earth Houses in all kinds of ways. More than three years ago, a ridge of branches was constructed along the northern boundary of the parking lot. You make this by sticking poles or thick branches upright in the ground, between which you place coarse pruning waste in a zigzag. This creates a wall of roughly woven branches, which may slowly decay in that spot. It is also a natural separation from our terrain and hedgehogs are very happy with it as a shelter. Multifunctional and pure nature!

The willow branches, which were inserted vertically into the ground, took root at the time and after three years they have grown into large trees. Because we have now built our carport with a mini solar power station as a roof directly behind the twigs, it is high time that those willows were pruned back firmly. The solar panels will then receive optimal light again, and in the future maintenance of pollard willows will be more manageable than that of tall trees. So a catching-up effort that, although it meant a lot of sawing, cutting and lugging, also immediately yielded a lot of new prunings for the rill.

Hester, one of the neighbors present, sees another advantage: “Doing a job like this together means that the amount of work is manageable. And of course it's fun too!” That is why the Green Working Days are never short of helping hands.