EDSET hooks up the cistern

Albany High School EDSET interns Jamie, Xian and Sareena finished their Fall semester at Blake Garden last week. They helped to hook up the cistern in the Australian Hollow to the seep via a bamboo aqueduct. The water from the seep will be used to water the new grassland planting. Water flow rates into the cistern were measured at 12 minutes for 1 gallon. The capacity of the cistern is 1400 gallons. At the current flow rate this means that the cistern will fill to capacity in 11.5 days.

EDSET students work on HUGELKULTUR project

Last Friday our Albany High School EDSET interns Jamie, Xian and Sareena worked beside the new wetland putting in a new field of native grass, Elymus glaucus. They planted on top of  a hugelkultur (or "wild compost") bed that is made of rotting wood cut from the area several years ago, composted weeds and grasses and soil and silt from the wetland.