Mowing/Chopping preparation

Reasons for neccessity of mowing and chopping:

• better overview and easier maintainance of plants which are used for alimentation
• HIndering snakes of settle down in the area

1. The whole property is divided in Areas: Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, Northwest. Each of these areas is divided again in four pieces, called fields. Therefore, we should have 16 fields. But by interchanging one piece with the rainforest-association we got one more field, therefore we take care of 17 fields now. The seventeenth field belongs to the new area south and is the only one in there.

There is a list with that areas in the open office. There you can see which one the next area is to be mowed/chopped. When one area is finished being mowed/ chopped/ maintained the responsible Volunteer enters a date in the appropriate column of that list. The corners of the boundaries of these areas are marked with metal sticks. They are painted orange at the top if they are in a corner or blue if they are in between to orange marked ones.

There is a plan in the open office where you can orientate and find the next field where you can work on. In case you don´t understand the next steps, you can always ask Stefan, Yule or experienced volunteers.

2. After it is clear which field is next to be mowed it needs to be prepared in order to have a undisturbed mow-flow. You must be aware which plants are not to be mowed or chopped. These are usually plants which are used for alimentation, decoration or because they are so big and old that therefore they have a “right” to stay. The procedure how they are marked or have to be marked depends on the following parameters:

We have single plants:

a) We mow around plants which are taller than 2 meters not coming closer than 30 cm (10 inches).

b) plants which are smaller than 2 meters need to get marked with 6 bamboo sticks around them in an area around the trunk/stem in the same distance 30 cm (10 inches).

And groups of plants:

a) These groups need to be marked with appropiate amount of bamboo sticks around them in an area around the trunks/stems in the same distance 30 cm (10 inches).

We need to check the field if all plants in question are marked or taller than two meters. If not we need to clarify this with Jule or Stefan. It would be very unfortunate if good plants that are needed were removed, so please be mindful of which plants you are cutting. If Stefan and Jule want some plants to be pulled out altough they are higher than two meters they will inform us. In this case we cut them with appropiate tools and proceed as described further down under “procedure with death plant material”

If some bamboosticks are missing or rotten we can replace them. They are located in the old pigsty. If you enter from the East entrence they are located in the first box at the right side.

Those plants which grow directly next to the trunks/stems will be pulled out manually. Those who are located not directly next to the trunks/stems but which are Inside the Bambus-circle or 30 cm around the taller plahnts will be cut off with garden shears or with a machete. If you use the machete you have to had a machete trainig and also be very cautious by using it. Always work away from the trunks/stems, not towards them. The pulled out plants remain in that circle in order to nurture the plant when they rot.

Tree- and plant-stumps we dig out if they are not too big. Depending on their size we eventually bring them over to the closest fire pit

Procedure with dead plant material.

• Branches and roots thicker than approximately 4 cm at the thickest point go to the dead wood pile. We have two of them. They are marked in the plan. Go to the nearest. If you don´t find them ask. At the dead wood pile you place them in pieces not longer than 150 cm (6 feet). Do not make the pile higher than 120 cm (4 feet). Do place the new material always only at one end of the pile which is marked with a bamboo – stick with a orange top.
• Woody pipas coconuts. If Jule and Stefan want some of them to remain, they will let us know. The others or if they don´t say anything we collect in a box and store them next to the closest firepit. We have two of them and they are in the plan. If you don´t find them ask.
• The thick, woody parts of palm fronds must be chopped off and taken to the fire pit. The rest can be chopped and left directly on the ground to avoid interfering with the weed whacker.
• Smaller branches and greenery may be chopped up with a machete and left on the land so that it does not interfere with chopping from the weed whacker and will therefore directly nuture the soil.
• If you still find old construction woods you can bring that to the south firepit. Since the ashes from the north firepit will be used for compost and the old construction wood might contain toxic paints and nails, screws etc. the north fire-pit shouldn´t be used for that.
• If you still find trash bring it to the old pigsty. There are seperated boxes for metal and plastic and debris