Originally we intended to backfill only once, about half way through and then at the end when we bury the structure. But, the structure is going to be a bit higher then expected and working higher up becomes trickier, especially for two people … so … after finishing level 16 we decided to backfill again.
Work started yesterday when we pulled up the plastic cover and scanned it for tears and wholes. Most of it was in good shape (it got buried in some soil which protected it from the sun). We replaces one section that was torn and brittle.
Florin arrived at 10am and started by clearing a path (we cleared most of it by peeling away soil as we filled the tubes):
He brought soil into the tight corner with the front loader then used the spoon to move / push it into a place:
Then he came around the top of the site and started filling behind the structure
And with a bit of manual labor we the first corner was full
And moving gradually along the wall … until is was all full
… bringing us to the other side which had better access so that the front loader could be used to bring soil in
then we went back around to the first corner (which we left slightly exposed in case we needed to bring in more soil) … and buried it:
… it was done in 3 hours … and now again we get to work at “ground level” … this time all the way to the top:
It is amazing to see how quickly wild grasses and weeds went to work healing the soil around the site … and now, after the excavator, how bare everything looks again … we are already looking forward to bringing in plants to heal the site and help nature take over once again.