Building a new pond at Jiwa Damai
/Our volunteer Shoshi from the US and our intern Andreas from Germany are working close to our parking lot on developing a new pond on our premise. They were digging very hard and now they are preparing the pond lining which should prevent the water from being re-absorbed into the earth.
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For that purpose a lining of newspapers and green banana leaves are left for a few days. Then this is covered with earth tightly compressed on top. The underlying layer will then create a water resistant lining.
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Building a natural pond by using the old Russian method of 'gleying':
The different steps:
- Dig the pond and compact the soil really well.
- Clear the pond of stones and rocks.
- Cover the bottom and sides with a thick layer of organic material (fresh grass cuttings and bananas leaves) and waste paper
- Spread out EM all over to add the bacterias which are necessary for the process
- Add a layer of soil and press down firmly all over.
- The soil keeps out the air and allows a biological process known as ‘gleying’ to take place (its an anaerobic process)
We shall see how well that works. Lets hope for the best ;-)
