Fenstigation Underway

Greetings from your friendly neighborhood Fenstigator.

The community fence project has already begun! Last Sunday the 4th, Annie, Rob and I (Although I had the honor of ditching) rented a Ditch Witch and dug the trench for the new fence, running south from the shed to the native grasses patch, and east to the Whole Earth Festival compound. From the opposite corner of WEF, the fence trench continues north under the silk tree and ends at a path. The current goal of the fence project is to fill these trenches with an attractive, functional, and above all community-built barrier for non-human mammalian pests.

On the more recent Sunday, the 11th, We had our first Fenstigation. We had four participants, myself included, who combined their fenstigation powers to yank posts out of the ground and scrape them off, and install six pre-painted (thanks to Annie) gate posts in the ground, and de-fenstigate part of the short length of fence built next to my plot last year. As a matter of fact, it was not so much a fenstigation as it was a funstigation! When you get a chance to come out to the garden, take a look at what has been accomplished!!

Fence Design

Okay, so you know where the fence is going to go, but what is it going to look like?

We're installing redwood and pressure-treated DougFir posts for gates and corners. Each of the different gates can be themed differently. There has been talk about building a big arch from post to post next to the shed, and between the two posts that reach across the path down by the native grasses, It has been suggested that we build a Shinto Torii, follow this link to a picture of what I mean.

Four feet from each gate will be a 2x4 serving as a fence post, with a 5-foot long diagonal 2x4 going from 3 feet high on the gate posts to the base of the 2x4 post. These will act as braces that will keep the fencewire stretched tight and prevent the gate posts from being pulled over.

After the diagonal brace/first 2x4 post, we will alternate between metal T-posts and 2x4 posts, each of them 8 feet apart. Each of the posts will be painted different colors

Now for the wire. We will use 3-foot tall aviary wire for the fence. The openings in the wire mesh should be no bigger than a quarter (1 inch) so as to prevent the baby squirrels from being able to get through. The fencewire will be sunk six inches into the ground, and so the fencewire will stand at 2.5 feet tall.

We've been talking about lining the top with wooden strips and/or aluminum cans strung on a wire, perhaps even electrically charged wires to keep the squirrels from climbing. But for now, let's get the fence up while we discuss what to put along the top. Not until there's a fence with gates installed will any of these additions do any good!

Things you can do

• - Paint posts. South of the shed, we have a painting station set up. If you are looking to fulfill work hours this is the thing to do. We have 4x4s and 2x4 posts that need two coats of paint each before they can go in the ground. Just make sure they are scraped clean (with the wire brush you use to scrape tools) and are completely dry. There's a 5-gallon bucket of beige paint, a paint roller, and roller tray out by the posts. Just remember to clean up the equipment when you are through. We can add the pretty colors to the fence posts as final coats of paint before or just after we put them in the ground.
• - Scrape off the gate that is leaning against a tree near the four fence posts next to the native grasses. It will need to be painted just like the posts.
• - Paint the above gate.
• - Donate paint. Exterior latex paint, any color. We already have beige, light blue-green, and a dark blue-gray. Reds, yellows, purples, anything that could make the fence look nice would work!
• - Donate fence wire, any length and width, but keep in mind that the holes in the wire have to be 1 inch or less. If we have enough wire we could later add an extra foot to the fence to make it higher!
• - Donate Wood. We could also use more redwood and pressure-treated Douglass Fir 4x4 and 2x4 posts, as well as metal T-posts. If you see any T-posts stuck in the ground in random places in the far reaches of the garden, pull them out and bring them next to the shed to add them to the project. If you have pine, or wood of an unknown species, feel free to donate it, but put it in the big pile of wood out in the corner of the field past the native grasses. We can use pine for components that to not touch the ground, but not for fence posts - DON'T put pine boards with the posts to be painted - an unwary gardener might paint them by accident and we'll have fence posts rotting out in random places in a couple years. That would be difficult to deal with!
• - Mention this to your neighbors, especially those inside the fence. We have enough materials within the future fence to build the fence itself, and they will be redundant once it is built so it only makes sense to donate them!
• - Think of ideas for how we could make a wooden arch between the fenceposts by the shed. Something that would look smooth and nice, and would last!
• - Come to the next Fenstigation!

That's it for now, feel free to leave fence ideas in the comments, I will keep everyone updated on the progress of the First EC Garden Fenstigation.

You're Fenstigator,

Karl J. Mogel