Chicken tractor I built

Over my time at Pun Pun I built a chicken tractor from recycled teak.

I had a number of challenges, only able to use parts mainly already around which was limited and tools were like ghosts.  Tools existed and were around but you never knew where or when you would find one.  Even when you had something someone would borrow it back and not say anything.
Result is it took a couple weeks to build, they even bought a brand new drill for me to complete it.:-)

I learned to exercise patience.

Basic frame 3 M long, 1.2 M triangle.

All joints checked in for extra strength

Nesting platform at the back and roosting poles in the middle.

Kids worn out from helping with the netting!

I made bamboo gate to close off at night so you the chickens stay in the upper roosting place to allow the chicken to be shifted the next day.

Some thatching to keep the rain and sun off them

Like checking out the door to refill their water and food.

First day in use. 5 chickens resident. Grass and weeds at least a foot high.

One returning from laying an egg.

Mud, nesting hippies

Mud, Glorias Mud.
Lola and Ben living ay Panya the neighboring permaculture community whom are due a baby in a couple months are nesting.
Nesting hippie style.
They are building a home from earth bricks at Panya and we spent the morning helping them.

We mixed clay and sand to the right amount in a big pit beside the building site then added 4 bags of rice husks.

My legs quickly grew tired as the mud thickened and stuck like cement. We were making mortar for the first layer of mud bricks to put in place.

Breaking up the clay

Mixing with the family

Deep in the mud

Laying out the mortar

Placing the bricks. Not string line or spirit level in sight!

A few people have asked more about the construction.

There was an existing roof shelter which is what the concrete poles are for. It's common in Thailand for a shed to just put some posts in and put a roof on the top. 

Since it was here they decided to build underneath as it would allow them to build during the rainy season.

They dug out a trench for foundations with drainage trench beside the bank etc.

Filled the foundation with concrete. Then a layer of black plastic.

1 bag layer of course stone. 25mm broken

1 bag layer of clay sand mix. Lightly damp

All rammed in place with small wooden post.

Metal mesh laid over the top for binding to with shook barb wire between them all for added strength.

The bricks are large approximately 100x250x400

Made from clay and sand mix with rice husk for binding.

Monsoon

For monsoon season its been as dry as a New Zealand summer.  A little rain every 5 days.

Today was particularly hot and dry. The medical thermometer read 35.1 in the shade of our balcony at 4pm. I was wishing for some water to drink when it started pouring.
Sun still out in full force and water pouring from the sky.
I did what any foreigner would do. Run out in it. The family didn't wait either.

For the next 30 minutes we ran and played like it was the first time experiencing full warm rain.

Boyd

Running in the mud

The feeling of water

Making Tofu

Then it got late and the kitchen got dark

Coffee and a Green Chicken

Pun Pun, Ban Den, Northern Thailand.

Its 9.30 Tara is driving to England in a motorbike made from a stack of cushions. Lukey  is completely focused  on holding with utmost care a 3 day old green chick.
" My chicken, Mummy?"
"No hun." I smile  as the concept of traveling through Asia raising a chicken flashes through my imagination "The chicken belongs to Bush"
Its Monday and the chick was bought from the Saturday market by 9 year old Ping. She purchased it for 10 baht (40 cents} and chose its colour to be sprayed: a teal-green.. Ping gave it to Bush, a lucky fate as
Bush is the most caring a gentle man you could wish to meet. Bush brought the chick to breakfast. Lukey found the chick and Bush disappeared.  So now we have a chick to care for for the morning..... Chick in the coffee shop. Chick in the garden, chick whilst washing our clothes in the bath... an interesting lesson on only handling chicks with dry hands and why we don't balance jumpy chicks on the edge of the bath. :-)

Tara's motor bike breaks down .
"Mummy!"
"Lukey can you help her?"
Lukey leaps into action full of ideas. He sparks up his train and drives to New Zealand to pick up Grandpa. He's sure to be able to fix Tara's motorbike.

Tara is caring for her doll now. Since Luke persuaded her to change his nappy in Chang Mai her nurturing side has become awakened. "Mummy, you can have three more babies. You can feed two with your boobies and I shall feed one with a bottle."
She has created a babies sun shade from a hospital mask and wraps her baby in  a cotton cloth.  When we need a little nappy cream we say to Tara. " Tara may we have a little of your babies spew?." And she unwraps her baby tenderly, unscrews his lid and gently squeezes some cream out. Then wraps him Up quick before he gets a chill.

Pun Pun

This morning I was chomping at the bit to get into the gardens. I could hear Boyd in the kitchen  after our communal breakfast in the eating hall.

"Make sure you work her hard. She's like a race horse...if you don't exercise her, she gets a bit ya know, grumpy."
And I have.  There is 15 areas of beautiful gardens, interplanted orchards, ponds,  tens of adobe buildings. There are so many creative minds to  investigate, experienced gardeners to work alongside that I  struggle to fit it into the couple or three hours a day that Boyd takes the children in the morning. And, though, in many ways, the children open doors and personalities, its hard to focus on a conversation on fermenting effective microorganisms for inoculating garden beds, in broken English, when the kids are fighting over who gets to eat the remaining fish eye ( I'm not kidding:-))

So this morning Boyd took the children to visit Om at Earth Home Thailand. Nang took me to collect Chillis for seeds.

For awhile there was quite a crew of westerners and so our family began integrating into the community  with the help of the  western long termers like  Sheena, Jessica and Wyat, and some other short term volunteers. When Jessica left for a 2 week holiday  we really felt the gap as  she was soo special to our family. A former primary school teacher she quickly became Tara and Luke's super special person and they could be found trailing after her on a mission to feed worms or chickens or plant seeds.

And then, beautifully, Tara found her confidence with Wyat and could be spotted chatting with him about Indian Weddings and gardens and such. And  for me, some of the Thai personalities began unfolding. And then the  gardens  became a manifestation of those personalities. Moat's garden; immaculate, regimented vegetables producing in ordered rows. Doa's  gardens; extensive and  beautifully carved from the landscape, filled with rich compost and wriggling with  microbacteria. Wyats gardens:  always different , experimental, raised, layered, keyholes. Jessica's garden; an effusion of flowers, rambling sweet potato blurring the pathways and beds. Cucumbers scrambling into the fruit trees in a delicious confusion.

Jessica with the newly created worm farm

Jessica helping Luke to share his food

Tara and Wyatt with PAC man garden.