It’s been the wettest spring, wettest summer, and perhaps it will even be the wettest fall on record here in Missouri.
Last week we got a whopping nine inches of rainfall, totally separate from anything Hurrican Ike delivered elsewhere. (Thankfully, Ike merely skimmed this part of northeastern Missouri, so we were spared any extra rain.)
It’s really been messing up my building schedule, as I’ve had to delay re-building my reciprocal roof frame. There’s just not much one can do when it’s raining all day and night, and the ground is completely saturated. Thankfully, this week’s forecast is looking solidly sunny thus far…
(Climate change = changing weather patterns? Huh? Who said that?)
Note: Please find all of my cob building related content at my new blog, The Year of Mud: Building a cob house. Thanks! See you there!
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Recently, I got a new blogging job. I have been doing freelance blogging for over two years now. Previously, I’ve been writing for various video production blogs, but now I’m doing something a little more personally rewarding and more relevant to my everyday interests.
My new position is at Green Options for their blog Planetsave, which claims to bring you “green news, commentary, and services”. (Services? Eh? That part of the tagline kinda throws me off…)
Anyway, my first post was just published. It’s a kind of introductory post about living off-the-grid at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Expect to see more writing about life off-the-grid and living sustainably. Hopefully I’ll now have the opportunity to share my interests in natural building, permaculture, local foods, and all of that good stuff with a wider audience.
You can view my Green Options author profile here, and keep up with everything I’ll be writing.
If you are a StumbleUpon or del.icio.us or Digg or other social bookmarking user, I would love it if you shared my posts using these websites.
Thanks.
This was a tough week.
Bad weather, a tired body, stress, and some other bad spells and downers spilled over me in one week’s time. I had a bad case of fatigue that lasted a few days. At some point I slept nearly 36 hours in two days. I was essentially bed-ridden.
Significant rain delayed the raising of my reciprocal roof (which probably wouldn’t have happened anyway, because I was so fatigued), and put me in a generally sour mood. Then, a bad case of indigestion and a lack of appetite continued beyond my spell of fatigue. But during that, the reciprocal roof went up anyway. Which was a positive thing! But. Now I am planning to redo it, since it’s a bit short of perfect. (But I’m not too sore about that one.) Afterward, more rain came through, harsher indigestion, some bad luck, and other personal things took any kind of potential zap outta me over the rest of the weekend.
This is a new week, however. I’m focusing now on cutting trees for my roof. I can’t worry about the weather, and I can’t try to stick to a non-existent construction schedule. The roof will get re-done in due time.
But damn if it doesn’t feel like the whole world’s pissing on you at times. I rarely get so bleak and bummed out, but last week was my definitely my time to do so.
Time to move on, though.
Yea!
Lately, I feel more inspired and creative and all of those positive things moreso than ever. I’ve been thinking quite a bit about “the future” and what it might entail and things I want to accomplish, things beyond building this cob house.
I want to plant fruit trees and shrubs and grow lots of food. I want to make an earthen bread oven. I want to have crocks full of fermented food experiments. I’d like to start carving spoons and simple tools. I want to help raise goats and milk them and make cheese. I want to build more: maybe a root cellar, an ice house, an outdoor kitchen, maybe all three. I want to make more short videos, maybe another actual short film. (It’s been a while since I’ve made one, but images linger in my brain that seem to demand being captured.) I want to write more - write a book about building a house, even.
Many of these things will undoubtedly happen. I can usually sense when an idea is not just a crazy wish and something I will eventually act upon. Though there are some things that could just be a dream. But I feel potential.
This weekend, I had a strong urge to do some cobbing after dinner, during the sunset hours. So, last night we (myself and Dan and Danielle [my two work exchangers], later joined by Liat) ate dinner and stomped a batch of cob as the sun went down. By the time we were done stomping, it was super dark and pretty dang difficult to actually get the cob on the walls, but we managed.
After that first batch of cob, we figured it would be a good idea to make a campfire inside of the house. Ted and I set one up, and the house glowed like a giant woodstove. It looked great from the road, with a bright orange aura.
There was a full moon that cast a great light on the walls as it rose towards the sky later that night.
Fun stuff.
Tomorrow I return to Dancing Rabbit via the train. Well, lemme correct that: tomorrow I leave for Dancing Rabbit, but I won’t get back until later the next day. It’s a day and a half trip by train. It’s pretty grueling, but I prefer it to flying, mostly for environmental purposes.
It feels strange to be away for so long in the middle of summer, when most of the action is happening. I haven’t seen my house in weeks, and I can’t wait to get back to work, although I know the heat is pretty intense by now. I anxiously await finishing the cob walls and getting that roof up. I feel like once the roof is up, it will be pretty smooth sailing. (Not that the work will be so quick after that, but at least more familiar to me: plastering, making a cob bed, the earthen floor, etc.)
Here we go!
On Wednesday, I learned that my grandfather died, and before I knew it, I was on a car/train/subway/plane to New Jersey in order to make it for the funeral.
It was a dizzying experience learning about my grandfather’s unexpected death and then suddenly making new travel plans. (I originally planned to leave for a trip to New Jersey next week.) Needless to say, I won’t be working on my house for a few weeks.
Perhaps I will bury one of his possessions (maybe a watch or something - my grandfather loved to buy watches and clocks at the local flea market and then to hawk them to other people - ha!) in my cob wall as a memory. He will be missed. The more I think about it, the more I feel a certain connection to him and his personality. He grew up on a farm in Poland and eventually made to the US during World War II, settling in New Jersey. When he visited Dancing Rabbit with my parents last year, he was amazed by all of the open land and he insisted that he could be happy in the local area (which I didn’t doubt.) He never lost touch with his past and his rural roots.
Rest well, Chet.
At some point over the winter, someone from TCNJ Magazine interviewed me about living at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. (TCNJ was the college that I attended).
Here’s the article: Alumnus finds fulfillment living in a sustainable community
The end of April through early May is the peak season for hunting morel mushrooms in this area. Morels are delicious little mushrooms that are short-lived and notoriously difficult to pin down to a specific environment. Generally, they pop up near dead or dying elm trees in cool, shady woods, or especially in recent wildfire areas. There’s not a huge amount of wooded land here at Dancing Rabbit, but there are a few sweet spots to find the elusive morels.
Last weekend, I went out for a walk with two of the kids here to try and find some, and after a good 20 minutes of searching, we finally struck upon a productive area. We walked away with a few good handfuls. Later, I went searching in another spot (where we found last year’s giant maitake mushroom), and found another dozen morels of a different variety - I think they were morels. Not sure, though.
Needless to say, they were delicious, sauteed in oil with a little bit of soy sauce.
I need to start looking into getting some willing work exchangers this summer for help with constructing my cob cottage. Hopefully, with the assistance of a few work exchangers throughout this season, progress on the house will go much more quickly. Plus, it’s always more fun to work with other folks. Anyway, I’ve written up a rough draft for my “call for work exchangers” that will go on the Dancing Rabbit website sometime soon. Here it is:
- - - - -
Interested in learning about natural building? Looking to get some actual hands-on experience building a cob cottage? Want to experience community life in an off-the-grid, sustainable ecovillage?
I am looking to host work exchangers during summer 2008 during the months of May, June, July, and August to help with the construction of a small cob dwelling. The house is a spiral-shaped structure composed entirely of cob (a mix of sand, clay, and straw), complete with a reclaimed urbanite foundation and a living reciprocal roof. Cobbing is largely a hand-built process, with walls that are sculpted into shape by hand.
Other than gaining valuable natural building experience, you will have the opportunity to experience community life here at Dancing Rabbit — partake in community events and activities, eat seasonal and organic meals (largely vegetarian or vegan whole foods) in a food co-op with Dancing Rabbit members, and enjoy a beautiful summer in rural Missouri. As a temporary resident of the community, you will also be expected to partake in community responsibilities, such as weekly cook shifts and cleaning.
Prospective work exchangers should have some previous construction, natural building, or carpentry experience, although it is not mandatory. If you are responsible, have a strong work ethic, and are capable of regularly doing very physical work, you will be fit for this role. As a work exchanger, your cost of living here at Dancing Rabbit will be covered in exchange for 35-40 hours of labor per week. Non-building labor responsibilities will include cook shifts as part of a food co-op, and occasional cleaning shifts.
Host Offers
o Food: Full food stipend. You will be part of a vegetarian/vegan food co-op during your stay.
o Accommodations: Tenting space provided and shared facilities available for use (Common House with kitchen, showers, humanure system)
o Fees: Payment of all residency fees
o Transportation: No coverage provided
o Education and skills: Hands-on experience building a cob cottage, community lifestyle experience
You Provide
o Weekly hours for host: 35-40 hours per week
o Money/Fees/Food costs: None
o Other: strong work ethic, skill, responsibility, attention to detail, desire to learn, enthusiasm, and a good spirit. As a temporary resident of the community, you will partake in community responsibilities such as cooking and cleaning.
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Today, I’ve officially acquired my warren (read: space, plot of land). It was formerly leased by another member here who only gardened a couple of beds on the entire space, so the land is in very good shape. There are several garden beds at the north and south ends, and a single apple tree towards the back, as well.
The plot is longer than it is wide, with a maximum width of about fifty feet at the center, tapering to something like twenty feet up front. There is a very slight slope towards the north in the rear. I think that the entire space is something like 2,500 square feet. (Fun fact: this is roughly equivalent to the average size of the American house.)
(Here’s a view from the front of the warren, looking north… [yea, can't see much])
I am very excited to finally have my own land, but of course it’s been very rainy and wet lately, preventing me from doing just about anything of purpose on the land. Rain is in the forecast for the next few days, so it might be a while before I can even start moving some of my lumber to the warren. We’ll see.
Can’t wait to start digging.
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