Mason Bee block

It's been raining today, so to make my day worth something  i decided to build an Mason Bee block,I had this piece of  I think "Hinoki" wood for some time and I didn't really know what to do with it beside the having large door stopper.Couple days ago I stumble upon the post  from Ken Elwood , CLJ forum master,  he was offering two blocks for trade, and at the time I didn't have a clue what they are so I follow the provided link on what are mason bees are,It seemed interesting, beneficial and easy enough,so I gave it a try ,after a research on what kind of blocks are available and how to make them finally opting  for the simplest design.I mark a hole every 2 cm length and sideways and then drill them with 8.2 mm drill bit to about  8cm deep.I have some plastic straws that are 8mm in diameter,which should fit nicely and act as a liner so in the autumn bee cocoons could be extracted without damage.Also I'm going to place the block inside the larger wooden box for aesthetic reasons as well for the protection against the rain and wind.I post updates on this sometimes this week. 

Hugel beds

 I hate getting old , 3 days late muscle fever, it's just too painful, so after double dose of Loxonin hot shower and bunch of medical grade "Salonpas" patches, around 10 am I was finally able to get on my feet and start the day. Weather was perfect for outside work so i decide to tackle the bunch of logs and made some hugel beds,well... now I know why permaculturalists always come in bunch,on any video showing you how to build one  there is at least eight people doing it or use heavy machinery like Sepp Holtz,reason... It's too damn hard,Logs we have are from the large shed  we had on the property, but it was demolished  last may due to street enlargement, so the firefighting vehicle could have access in case it's needed.Each piece of wood weight from 60 to 100kg.You should see my wife's expression and that comment"You want me... to move these ....are you serious?!!" unforgettable.first 30 minutes we were piling wood ,here is word of advice start with pile that is farthest from you so you don't have to jump over already piled ones.next event was  two hours of shoveling dirt to cover everything properly and adding mix of soil and composted manure on top.that was first day due to another obligations.Another advice between first and second layer add either wet card board or wet news paper to prevent weed growth and to keep the core wet. I think that weed and grass that is getting out now is from the dirt layer,after couple of days we add lime and waited for the rain to dilute it ,put the wood chip on and transplant the zucchini's ,melons and other crawling plants.We still have a lot of wood left but not much of the soil for covering so I need to either get it somewhere else or find the another use for the wood,but that won't be hard my dad is going to make an rocket mass heater in our old weekend house in Shirakawa-cho.I hope to get that documented.

 

plenty of wood

covered with soil and composted cow manure

first one wood chip mulch added and veggies transplanted

both finished  and still lot of wood left

Coughing ,Sugar addiction and Spring festival ...

Sorry for not posting in a while ,Thanks to the sudden weather changes, For the past two and half weeks  I was sick as the dog,two trips to the doctors and I still cough till I almost faint.That and usual side effects of the medications are not putting me in a really creative mood.But on the bright side I lost almost 4 kg during this time. I know its mostly water and muscle mass and not really good way to lose weight,but it gave me will power boost, to try something I thought it's impossible to achieve and that is Quitting Sugar,beside my Narcolepsy and lack of Orexin, sugar is probably one of biggest  reasons why I'm obese,my daily intake was around 1000 calories of sodas,coffee and deserts, today is 10 days since I start, and to tell you the truth being Addict I was expecting more sweet cravings,anxiety and being irritated  in general,something I experienced while quitting Smokes some six years ago.Worst thing was getting used to drink unsweetened Coffee,but after three days of trying I realize it's drinkable and now it's enjoyable,instead of deserts I found that Fruits are tasting great.My only problem now is to find the right food that doesn't contain any of sugars or surrogates, and here in Japan that is quiet difficult task since it's one of the main ingredients in the traditional cuisine as well as most products on the shelf, so now I'm learning to read the labels and to my surprise there is more than 75 ways to say sugar,so it seems that best idea is to stay away from anything that is being processed and also means much more cooking for me and my wife.

*this was unpublished draft from about a week ago since that time i got much better and I still follow the no sugar path with no problems,I was really busy last week with all the postponed work plus preparations for the Inuyama City,Spring Matsuri,that was held last Saturday and Sunday April 7th & 8th ,my wife had a small taqueria set up in front of our shop and sold more than 600 of our "famous" burritos (before we got our first kid we used to run cafe bar here and this was one of best selling products). I'm involved in festivities as an member of ShimoHonMachi Crew,Pushing and lifting the 4 ton float (locally called Yama) throughout the city,this is the last year video of our float doing Don-Den Gaeshi,I hope someone will post this year video specially the Sunday night since we did some serious distance on two wheels.