Day 5

The gazing globe has arrived! After an hour spent on the phone with FedEx, I was assured it would arrive Monday. A few hours later GiGi pulls up to the plot with the fork lift and a crate that appears to be a meter wide. Sure enough, the globe. What a welcome site! This last piece completes the ordering of materials and now we have everything we need.

Bench framing continued today. We did a few mockups to test the seat height and width and in doing so realized that the bench faces directly towards the Chateau! I couldn't have planned this if I tried. Though there is a beautiful view now,  unfortunately come summer it will surely dissapear behind the adjacent tree. 

We experienced our first rain today. The temps were variable and we kept layering  and  un-layering our jackets all afternoon. Construction on the small berm began today as well. We roughed in the side slopes and cut the ramp surfaces. Though seemingly simple, the angles on the small berm were causing us fits. Good thing our team has patients of steel!

We worked until 6:00pm and then decided to take a tour of the festival site to see other gardens. There are approximately 5 other teams here right now (from France, Russia, England, and Italy), most of which have been on site for roughly 10 days. There is such a range in designs and materials used, from recycled coffee cans to welded steel canopies. Some plots clearly have a lot of sponsorship--material costs alone surely exceed the $15,000 budget. It's very exciting to be participating in this truly remarkable event!

Meals are not served here over the weekend so we ventured off site and down the hill to the local village. With three choices for food, we settled on a cafe that served Kabobs. A nice way to end and amazing week. The climb back up to the chateau left us nearly breathless, but we were anxious to get to bed and call it a day.

Other plots that have been completed and/or that are still under construction:

(The plot 22 crew heading back to the rooms)

Day 4

Framing and turf cutting operations continued throughout the morning. One of the fun challenges of this project is that you must do all the construction within your given plot. This has required us to move, re-move, and move again our lumber supply to make way for new tasks. Luckily, because the turf rolls are too large, we have been given permission to work outside our plot on the adjacent lawn area.At 11:00am GiGi arrived with three loads a load of sand/gravel scree. We had to quickly clean up our job site, move the lumber out of the way, and make room for the delivery. He brought us three loads, which we spent several hours pushing around the plot to make it flat. Today was also the warmest day since we've been here. Sand and sun made for an exhausting workout. 

In the afternoon we setup the small berm. I am still undecided where it should align. Our plot is a bit larger on the left side than I had anticipated. This may allow for the small berm to move back 1m and increase the center area. It is difficult to decide without seeing the gazing globe. Ah yes, the gazing globe. It was supposed to be delivery prior to our arrival on Monday, but I had to delay the shipment from China because I was told I needed to be here in person to pay duty charges. Fine, delivery was supposed to arrive on Wednesday. The day came and went, then it was supposed to arrive today. No sign of it. Tomorrow we will keep our fingers crossed for its arrival, but based on the way things seem to go, we will likely see it Monday. 

Progress update: large berm is all framed out, including the bench, and the small berm is up and standing. 

(load one)

(grading begins)

(watering the scree for compaction and to minimize dust)

(small berm framing)

(the bench gets mocked up)

(testing out the turf pattern)

(The two minute nap)

Day 3

Day 2

Another whirlwind day, despite the damp chilly air. We started by assembling the second ramp of the large berm. We then framed in the middle portion, which will eventually become the bench. In order to test our method for the turf application we made a little mockup. Measure twice, cut once...with any luck.

While Rod, Tom and I  were busy framing, Natalie and Katie made forward progress on cutting the turf squares. They had to cut off 6m of squares in order to make the roll light enough for all of us to lift and turn it around. By doing so we were able to unroll the remaining portion, which was long enough for us to cut the seamless ramp pieces.

We also cut all the pieces of OSB for the top of the ramps, and were we able to lay down the turf. Things are really starting to take shape now. 

No sun today, by the end we were all frozen and very much looking forward to dinner.

Progress update: large berm ramps nearly completed.