No Worries Concrete at Asabas Permaculture Garden

The secret to laying concrete seems to be this:
Don't worry.

Just like making a cake

Living here and running workshops with the incandescent Asaba-san, I started seeing that most of us worry INSTEAD of acting.

Asaba never worries. She just gets into action, doing whatever preparation is needed for whatever festivity she has freely chosen to dive into.

Today, it was cement.


Plus stringing up some Summer Vines, and a practical lesson on reppotting orchids. Happy Participants, happy plants, Happy Asaba, watching her garden transform itself. Just ask Cecilia over to Run workshops, teach her 'Don't Worry', and it all happens.
A few adjusments, compromizes and mistakes will be made along the way. Don't worry.
That's the deal with creativity, after all.

Tempting gourd and cucumber vines

onto the bridge with a tasty ball of string.

Guests came from around the corner, and around the country.

Mrs Morimoto and the gang collecting Fuyoudo soil from our mountain.

The wonderful Morimoto family drove the 7 hours from their old farmhouse in Gifu to attend, all on their tempura-oil powered vehicle.

The elegant Nishibayashi Family drove 5 hours from Nara.

Guys, that is such a complement!

Bento lunchbox lunch in our back, back garden at Shyomyoji Temple.

No Chairs, no wrappers, no bills, no worries. So long as you decide to enjoy cooking your bento box lunch the night before. Inspiring company and settings help.


We started the morning with a presentation introducing the wonders of Permaculture, and how it can make life riveting.
We saw David Holmgren's ingenious passive energy house,
the beautiful universe of Rainbow Valley Farm,
and the inspirational story of Famer Iwata, who really doesn't DO anything to his kiwi orchid now - he set it up to care for itself. And we can do that too, with our lives.

After lunch and garden creation time, we ended the day with a presentation on balcony garden design - tricks to get yourself into action, get rid of the uglies, and surround yourself with only things you love. Without designing love into it, balcony gardening is just too hard to be worth it, or to succeed.
Just like life, maybe.

Ready to build on the foundation we created in Workshop #4 last week - the Daku wall.

This wall solves a few problems

• How to get rid of the unattractive yet useful cinderblocks
• How to keep Daku the dachshund out of the edible garden
• How to keep the raised beds raised.

Don't cry Daku. Weve planned a special little digging spot for you, where all the interesting composting and hidey-holes will be happening. You will love it.