Earth, Wind, and Water

We definitely made some decent progress with Oz, our earthbag shelter, over the last few weeks. We're on course 11 (more than half-way finished) and as the bags move inward the number of bags per course decreases. Unfortunately, it's been so dry that our clay, road gravel, and water fill has been a nightmare to replicate & has greatly added to our mixing time. Luckily, it's been raining all afternoon here in the Driftless!!!! Here's to a new week...



8 courses


So when you live off-grid (we're not hooked up to the municipal water, electric, or gas), you become very attune to simple changes in Mother Nature that you previously took for granted. Although, we don't have running water in our cabin, we are able to secure some liquid gold from our landlord's house spigot which provides water via an Amish-installed windmill. No wind & empty well = no H2O. The process is pretty simple & quite amazing--here's some photos of the whole system. Windy afternoon also = clean dishes!

Lever to turn windmill on

Cement Well cover

High-tech measuring apparatus to measure depth of water in well



YIKES!

It's been quite sometime! So we had about a month of a building hiatus due to some work and personal obligations. But, we're back on track working diligently on our earthbag shelter, "Oz". Yes, there are days when I have wished that someone would drop a house on me & probably deservedly so. Mostly, during the 2 weeks that it took me to mattock and shovel the area out! (Header pic on top of blog.)

It has an 8ft (interior) diameter and will end up having a beehive shape when completed. The bags are filled with a hand mix of road gravel, clay, and water. Approximately 6 gallons of the mix are added to each bag & are tamped level while gradually placing each bag inward in the circle. (We've added an additional 6 courses since these photos, but haven't updated my pics yet.)

Photo on right shows door frame with joists in place.

Been quite the physical process considering it's just the two of us--the husband figures that we move over 1 ton of mix a day. Maybe exhausting right now, but will be incredible to know that we hand built a shelter on our land!

The alfresco shower had been a life saver! Finally, a proper hair wash! Simple design that uses the fact that water will always try to find it's own level. Five gallon bucket attached to neighboring tree with hose and actual shower head (reused from our old house) attached to the "tipi"above the height of the bucket. When you take the hose off the hook and lower it below the height of the bucket we get a shower!!! Lovely! Will update photos soon--along with some day-to-day living adventures in the country.

 

 

Progress

Took a few days off last week to regroup and relax--here's a progress pic on the Mudpuppy. The area has been leveled, tiered, and backfilled. We made a fence from downed trees and branches. The 2 rock walls are finished and we only have one more course of earthbags (polypropylene bags filled with 6 gallons of 1/2inch crushed rock) to lay for the cob wall.

The Mudpuppy

Since our house will eventually be a hybrid of natural building styles (cob walls, timber framing,earth bags, living roof and straw-bale walls) we decided to "practice" each of the techniques before we committed  any of them to a permanent house. One thing we both have learned about DIY projects is that they are almost always better the 2nd or 3rd time around. We decided that since we have plenty of land, but will only have a tiny 200sq ft house, why not develop a usable outdoor living area.

It will include a rubble trench foundation with an earth bag stem wall topped with cob walls. The living roof will be supported by a timber frame structure (trees felled and peeled from our land). Just for fun, my husband is building a Rumford fireplace and beautiful rock wall:) It will eventually be fenced off with downed trees so that we have a comfy place to relax with the dogs day and night.

Tree Peeling

Since our 2 Boston Terriers are already supervisors on the site we decided to name it after them--hence, The Mudpuppy! Lovely coincidence that it is also the name of my new favorite beer;)

Rubble trench dug for The Mudpuppy

A High-Strung Raccoon & A Road-Side Eagle

Before we settled on Midwest country life, we fell in love with the Colorado Rockies in all her magnificence. The magnitude of the landscape coupled with the regular appearance of graceful deer, massive elk, black bears, & mountain lions both humbled and invigorated me. Unfortunately, the lack of rain, clay, and soil out weighed the excitement of mountain wildlife. Back to the Midwest we went...

But, lately, I have found that I just didn't give country animals the respect they deserve. Take for example the country critter who decided last week to stage a rebellion to promote his belief in renewable energy.To the horror of many residents, a rogue raccoon demonstrated the fragility of our municipal power supply when he chewed through the cable and prevented all of us from getting our morning locally roasted, fair-trade, sustainably grown coffee from the co-op. People were hoping that furry beast would have just shut-down our big box store and chain fast-food establishments--but no luck. Our sweet local-owned businesses in all their socially responsible glory were victims as well. He wanted to show us that NO ONE connected to the grid is secure! Elk may sound intimidating during mating season, but let's see them take a stand against fossil fuels once in a while.

Lady Slipper Native Plant

Just yesterday we had another (truly) amazing encounter on the rural road about a mile from our land--this time with a bird of prey that must be seen in person to totally appreciate. As we rounded the bend on a 55mph farm road--an EAGLE sat on the side and displayed her impressive wing-span as she rose up about 15 feet so as to give us a full demonstration of her abilities. Just as exquisityly as she took to flight; she landed in a field about a 100 yards away and allowed us to stare in amazement. It was as if she had been reading my mind all week & needed to prove to me that nature is astonishing beautiful wherever you are living!

"200 square feet--You must really love your husband!"

Surprisingly, this is most people's first reaction when I reveal our dream of building a tiny earthen off-grid home. They are not shocked by the fact that we are literally using our own 4 hands to dig the trench foundation and using the clay from under our feet to build the walls. They are not (totally) appalled by the thought of using an outhouse. They can even over look the fact that we may not have indoor running water. The thing that really gets their goat (sorry--we're in the country now) is that we are choosing to live and work together in such close confines.

The popularity of this observation has lead me to believe that this little eco-adventure will be much more of a social experiment than I ever thought. So I figured--what the heck--since I'm going to share all the exciting events that go into hand building a home and growing our own food and providing our own electricity; why not also share the juicy pieces of what a home really is--personal, intimate relationships.

Hope you enjoy the show!

By the way--I do really love my husband;)