#67 Clearing a huge Mimosa patch (and building stuff with them) 

Drop your questions in the comments below for next week Q&A!

The border of trees that you left between you and the public road, you could use a traditional British technique called hedgelaying - its a way of creating a natural barrier of a living hedgerow and has been used here in the UK for centuries.

Wow, this update was excellent! Not only did you get a ton done and made so many beautiful and useful things with the mimosa, but the video was expertly produced! Keep up the good work!

I bet you could build a mimosa deck at the lake and ladders into the lake. They could make a great treehouse for guest to sleep in during the nice weather.

Now this is what I call Project Kamp content!

I love it all....except for the lack of clothing protection when you guys are working the landscape. My word, all I can think of is injury! I am a horticulturalist and landscaper that wears it all, even in the heat, to keep myself protected. Put some pants and long sleeves on people, haha!

Maaaaan!!! This is a great episode, a lot has been done, cleaning, research, prototypes, woodworking, stairs with earth, recycling, fireproofing... The works. And looking! Woooow, great work guys. New editor is definitely approved by my standards. Congratulations 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Been following since episode 1! Just commenting to say keep up the good work! All your efforts are inspiring!

WEAVING: This works for birch trees here in Canada but might work with memosa tree there. If you rip the green branches with a circular saw into 1/8ths, and beat the strips with a wooden mallet... you will eventually separate the growth rings and will end up with thin wood strips which need to be kept moist to remain flexible for weaving.

the mimosa wood looks so pretty when used for the steps! Maybe they could be used to make raised beds with the same method?

The mimosa might lend itself well to "spindel-type" mortise and tenon joinery. This works with a round tenon. The tenon wood is (oven) dried to shrink it as much as possible. The mortise wood is used in green condition. As the mortise dries it shrinks around the tenon creating a very strong glue free bond. This technique was used for building chairs. To create this joint efficiently you will probably have to get or make a tool called a "tenon auger/cutter", basically a pencil sharpener for a power drill. As the mortise is a simple round hole that can be drilled, this joint can be created in a very short amount of time.

Here in Chile we struggle too with the mimosa tree, exceedingly invasive and fire prone.

It's fun watching your channel. I sure wish myself and a couple of my logger friends from here in British Columbia 🇨🇦 could come over and clear your land. You are so inexperienced with tools and safety practices it causes me pain just watching!

The stool was an amazing project! Your neighbour's will love the gift :)

the mimosa video game bit was cute

The bramble heap can be used: cover it in a lot of soil and it will retain moisture and slowly decompose. If you do it in a clever spot you can catch some runoff water with it and perhaps plant something beautiful or edible on it (hugelculture)

I volunteer with an invasive plant eradication group in my local community and this was the episode I've been waiting for. Thank you for sharing your research and convo with mimosa expert and all the innovative uses.

You can try few hugelkultur beds here and there with all those woods and even use them for heating in winter. In our garden we use mimosa for mulching and composting.

Great mimosa bark weaving idea! love it!

You actually got so much done this episode. Well done!

I just realised one of the reasons why I like your work. You not only care about how humans can leave in harmony with the nature, but also use science to think about the realisation of this care, and act on it (don't just talk).

The Mimosa Stems would make a great Fence,too. You know,the " guard rail type". I can imagine to see some Porco Preto growing up in a paddock like enclosure made of the stems ;) Greetz from Azinhal in the eastern Algarve P.S. I really love how you are interacting with the local people there !

Worth noting that when you're chopping down trees, you should attach the line and puil away from the direction you do not want it to go ... pulling it in the direction you hope it will fall does not give you any control over the fall, the main thing is to avoid it falling in an akward spot. When a tree gets hung up, don't try to push it over, tie a line around the base and pull it away from the direction it's fallen in - that way you have less chance of it falling on you or kicking back into your face! If you're going to do more carving, then I can highly reccomend a Ray Gonzalez Hooked Skew ... once you've tried it, you'll never use anything else for detailed work ;) Also the logs look ideal for making charcoal, which is always useful ;~)

As precious plastic uses presses and extruders, maybe you could pelletize the mimosa wood chips into a useable fuel for a pellet stove?

Such varied content, which illustrates just how challenging it is to create this Kamp (many different problems to tackle)...you have the best resources, though - your dedicated Kampers!! Great work! Keep it up!

In Australia those mimosas are called wattle. The early English settlers used them to build the walls of their first huts. Sturdy wooden posts, with thinner wattle branches woven in-between created a wall, and then this was covered with clay or mud to make it solid. It was called wattle and daub. The thin wattle branches acted like the steel re-inforcing bars that are used in concrete these days.

What a jam packed, epic episode! Thanks so much Project Kamp! I’d love to see a follow up on the different things you make with the mimosa! The fist bumps with the back scratcher made me laugh hysterically 🤣

Whathever you plant as a replacement for the Mimosa, don't plant Bamboo!

I'd suggest charcoaling over chipping unless you have a need for the chips, the charcoal can be used for cooking and the ash for the soil - depending on your soil conditions ;)

Yeah. The advertisement is still going and I am happy to get a 30 minutes + video! 😂 Thank you for your work 😊

Love the baskets. You are probably going to have to remove the stumps or they will grow back.

This is so awesome! Love seeing the big-scale problem solving, and repurposing the waste usefully and functionally. Its really interesting content!

the weaving was beautiful

I was born and raised in Tasmania. You don’t hear much about tassie so it was interesting to hear about Tassie trees overseas.

Hi from Australia, I have been watching bushcraft from vietnam. They knit or weave baskets bowls, plates, back baskets, they have lots of ideas that they teach from childhood. I do enjoy watching all your workers doing lots of different projects. Good luck I hope you are saved from bush fire this year.

I've been addicted to your journey... Loving to following the project... Hugs from Brasil

This was a great video! I loved seeing you all reuse the mimosa wood. You might consider using the sawdust or even half split branches on the stairs so they don't get too muddy from the rains and help with walking on them as well as the dirt compresses.

Bless you guys! The latest updates are really insightful 🌈 You are doing great, I wish there were more people regenerating Portuguese woods like you are doing 🙏 Sending you a big hug

it will be great to get a variety of native trees and bushes planted in place of these trees. the native wildlife will be grateful.

NOW THIS WHAT WE CAN PROJECT CAMP.. ALL DONE BY PROFESSIONALS

My childhood home had an old growth Mimosa tree in the front yard. The diameter of the trunk was about 45cm. It's branches spanned over our roof, and across the street.

Hi. can´t stop saying and seeing what a nice job you are doing. Keep on going. Congratulations 👍👍👍

Great job guys and ladies!!!! I love young creative and intelligent minds at work in harmony!!!! Best wishes to you all!!!!

The chair building sequence was very funny although there were humorous parts throughout the whole video. Thanks for sharing.

This is the best Project Kamp episode since a long time ! Great content !!!

Really nice to see you all so much in action. Bringing back the wood chips on top of the soil is nice mulch material. In case you still have some wood chips remaining you could also carbonize it via pyrolysis and use the Biochar mixed with compost in your garden. Fixed carbon, improved water retention capacity, nutrient availability, and other soil benefits. Maybe something to consider.

Great projects with mimosa materials. The editing of this video is extra fun. Nice job with the music and assembly footage.

It was cool seeing not only the woodchoping, but also an informed opinion on the trees and how mcuh are they really EVIL (or not).

I am impressed with all you have made with the wood.

Excellent work guys!!!! It is extraordinary to see how your work is evolving and how respectfully you are taking care of your land. Thank’s for sharing with us so much and so important information. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 It's a pleasure to have you in my country! ❤️

man, this season have a lot of variety of editing, people, and jokes. lmao. i love it !

You can build a cabin with mimosa wood, it will be very interesting to see, and you can have another place to stay.

Way to go 👏 This is true sustainability with knowledge Love from 🇮🇳

I love Project Kamp! I see Portugal is rough, looks like a land of thorns, fire and hardness, besides its amazing people! You maybe need to take the Mimosa's roots, and replace them. Mean while you have a lots of fire wood there, so you guys can get a warm shower, after a hard day of working in the land!

Great video, so much work, I loved the basket, it felt like a look back in time. The stool and stairs were so cool too. My heart always feels happier after watching your video.

amazing to see everyone's creativity

Love the video, as always. I really appreciate these longer videos.

Question: Did you have enough water this summer? Or are you planning to create more water storage (to plant veggies or have a lager amount of people) next year?

Mimosa is a member of the Legume family of angiosperms. They have mycorrhyzal fungi living in association with their roots, similar to other nitrogen fixers like clover, beans & peas, etc. This means the soil is likely to be good for growing crops. Perhaps you could experiment with growing crops among the mimosa trees once you have thinned them out.

This was great, gave hope for this project. You actually did something original, creative and useful. Loved the basket and wood stuff in general.

Mimosa wood looks like an interesting wood to work with. I dont see much acacias in my country but the day i put my hand on something I’ll definitely give it a go to make a piece if furniture. Thanks for the video.

This video answers a question I asked earlier this year. Invasive plants and animal species taking over our natural environment, in North America we have an invasive plant called phragmites, I have been trying to eliminate its growth on a 2-acre pond for the past four years. The task of controlling the regrowth is endless. I wish you luck in your endeavour and, thank you for updating us on my original question.

I so want to be there and just do some cleaning work...it will be so therapeutic!!

Rita is a great narrator

Good work, a lot of wood for the pizza oven this autumn. Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪 😊

You arte so lucky to have youth and spo many friends to help. @ 70 Im finding it hard to do all the renovation and landscape work on a small suburban block :D

You could make some dugouts using all those logs, they're great for underground storage. Naturally climate reuglated. Your problem would be the amount of rain you get, special care needs to be tekan to make sure they don't become undergorund ponds.

All the projects you each made were wonderful and ingenuous. Totally enjoyed this video. 💕🙏🏼

By us, we call them black wattle. They are also abundant invader fire hazards. We use them to make wattle fences for chickens or gardens. They even sell woven wattle panels on the roadsides near the cities for people to use in their townhouse gardens.

Can you describe what the local ecosystem would looked like prior to the introduction of invasive species? I wonder specifically whether this area would have traditionally been oak dominated given their fire resistance.

I like the music! It helps set the pace and keeps viewers engaged. Nice!

Thank you for putting all the work into making a video for us.

Love it! Question for Q&A. How much is this project funded by Precious Plastics?

Fresh mimosa is way easier to chip as the dry ones. Chip the fresh and keep the dry for firewood for this winter.

Now what would be an example of a better forest? What are desired species? What is a fire-resistant landscape?

Great episode! Been loving the vibe of the videos!

I have not read all 500 comments and maybe someone has said that Mimosa will coppice. You need to poison [ yes I can hear the howls ] with herbicides that are allowable in your region. But to poison, it has to be done at the time the trunk is cut. As you have already cleared, the emerging buds on each stump will need to be treated. After that you'll need to deal with the seed bank by covering the seedlings with heavy mulch. Here in Australia we use wood chippers that are much larger than what you have available. You need to plant species that are not fire prone. It's so great to see you guys doing this. More strength to your arm !

it is easier to chip when cut than when it's dry.

Probably the best episode I've seen till now. Love the creativity and work with the mimosa trees.

This is my favorite episode so far. Love the different creativity among your group.

I love that bark basket, it is handsome!

I like the charcoal idea . There is so much of the wood that cold be turned into charcoal and used in the bread oven or BBQ . Possibility of selling some as well ? And general logs for camp fires

I enjoy your videos all the way from Kenya. Thanks all. My question is, Do you all have background in outdoor/hands on kind of life? Never seen people 'Yay!' before diving into a thorny vegetation... Yes, even here in Africa 😅 Keep doing the good job! Cheers!

From my experience with Mimosa in Australia, it will dry and be very hard, but brittle. It will split and crack easy. We would often snap it into short lengths for firewood by levering it between 2 trees, or leaning it against a log and jumping on it. The resin and oil in the foliage can be boiled out and extracted. There is some commercial application of this in Australia. You could use the trunks as fuel to power this. We would sometimes use the trunks as fence posts or posts for animal shelters. It was always easier to cut when it was green, when it dried it was very hard and difficult to cut with hand saws. The resin in the foliage was also very irritating if you had too much exposure, my Father developed an allergy to this. He would get a severe red rash, and lots of swelling, especially around the eyes.

Idea for the brambles - while it is labor intensive you could strip all the spikes off of the vines and use them for things like basketweaving, could also braid them and use them as a weak makeshift rope or even for decoration. I wonder about a wicker chair type thing done in bramble, if you could get enough strength in a weave to be able to sit on it, I'm sure with some different designs ideas you could do it. I'm editing this as I watch the video haha, an idea for the mimosa bark - love the basket weave, what about some kind of tile for a roof? if you could make sure it dries out perfectly flat you could maybe tile them in a water proof manner for smaller projects or over tents etc?

Hi there, I’ve been following along now for some time and so enjoy the content. I have built 3 of my own homes and many natural wood projects. I so appreciate this type of living and creativity. I live in Medford Oregon (USA) everyone is so talented-thank you all for all you do and post. The world is a better place, based on people like all of you! 😁👌👍🌴🌴

Furthermore: love that you decentralized the video production

I thought about area rugs with the mimosa bark. I love the basket well done. 🇵🇹🇺🇸

Great job! That was a load of work and now looks nice and clean. You can see through the woods while walking. Mimosa trees have been my favorite tree. They don't grow as tall as the trees there. They have a beautiful tropical bloom that lasts for months. I grew one in my back yard. Yes there are lots of seeds, we just mow them down. My tree became a shape of an umbrella with lots of shade. Everyone there is so nice and work like a team. Love your videos. Thanks for sharing.

After clearing planting with desired trees such as pine or chestnut oak Vss

This is my most favorite channel. Mostly I watch all your videos at 3am 😂lol. It's addictive.

i know that the bark of some trees can be turned into yarn, and yarn can obviously be turned into clothes. it would be a great to see mimosa turned from a dangerous fire hazard into comfortable clothing!

Might make some charcoal too. Not only for fire starting, but for medicinal and water purification

I like the idea of charcoal production. If you can use a gas tight container to make the charcoal you can collect the wood gas to use as you would use propane as well! I think acacia is a legume as and it enriches the soil with nitrogen. Also maybe investigate the edibility of the seeds. I also like the baskets. Good luck with your projects!

Totally dig the basket beautiful and used from nature Keep up the good work

Awesome episode. This is the content I look forward to every few weeks. You guys are awesome.

You over-delivered. Thank you!

Those stairs are like minecraft in real life so satifying to look at ! Great job ! :)

I would love to live here!

Great talent amongst you creating all the items from the felled trees