Pressed Earth Blocks: Make 'Em Yourself!

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Dirt: the raw material... The soil is screened through 1/4-inch mesh... Add the proper amount of water... Four hands speed up the blending

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Several seasons ago, my wife and I were looking for a place of our own where we could fill our lungs with clean, fresh air, keep ourselves in good physical shape, and-- general-live the good life. We found what we were looking for when we bought a small ranch near Nogales, Arizona, right on the Mexican border.

Unfortunately, there was one small catch. "if you want to live here," the former owner advised us, "you'll have to get used to the idea of scores of animals-cows, burros, horses, coyotes, dogs, and rabbits-going across your land every day en route from feed to water."

We certainly had no desire to harass any animals ... but when we heard that the land we'd bought (including the site of our future garden) was situated in the middle of a veritable expressway for wildlife traffic, we knew Immediately that something would have to be done to reroute the local critters.

A chain-link (or comparable) fence would have done the job, of course ... but would have been too costly to erect and ugly once it was up. We also ruled out the Idea of erecting a massive wall as too expensive land too confining: who wants to live in a prison?).

Ultimately, we arrived at a compromise solution: We decided to put up a combination wall/fence made of alternating sections of pressed-earth blocks and ocotillo poles.

WHY THAT COMBINATION?

We chose to go the compacted soil and transplanted ocotillo route for three reasons. First of all, with a half-plant/ half-brick m barrier we could enjoy the security afforded e by a solid wall . . . yet (thanks to the 1 ocotillos' "see-through" sections) not feel "walled In". Second, the "raw materials" for the enclosure were close at hand and available in unlimited supply.

Third, you can't get many building materials that cost less than dirt and ocotillos. Our do-it-ourselves compacted-earth blocks (which contain a small amount of portland cement "stabilizer") set us back no more than 3/10 of a cent each (versus 32Q apiece for cement blocks) . . . and the tall, spiny ocotillos (which grow thick and wild around here) were free except for a $1.00 fee thatunder current conservation laws-must be paid to the state each time one of the thorny plants is uprooted. (Even at the rate of $1.00 per shrub, however, the ocotillo portions of our fence cost only about 30C per lineal foot. That's a far cry from the $3.00 per lineal foot we'd have had to shell out for cedar fencing!) Of course, we didn't count the cost of our labor in building the wall: The physical exercise involved was a net benefit land was one of the main reasons that we moved here to begin with).

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