Skeleton Houses - Wednesday 28/09/11

Emma joked that a Pole Shift must have occurred due to the unseasonably good weather. High temperatures of over 27 degrees Celsius are forecast to last until Sunday.
I made use of this sunshine and the morning dew to finish off some scything I started for Jude. She was most grateful for my help. Allegedly, she is now being denied the help of volunteers due to her honest reply to questions asked by participants of the 'Low Impact Experience' week. For many reasons, she is not a happy hippy. Well, for starters, she's not a hippy...nor is anyone else here for that matter...
Just before lunch, I  switched to polytunnel tasks and bolted braces along the top of the frame to the cross members. It was after doing this and gazing at the frame that I was struck by how much like a giant rib cage the structure looked. A whale skeleton. Hit by its natural form, I then pondered if, by planting trees instead of poles, it could be grown. Then a better idea hit me. How cool would it be to not build a house, but grow it! A truly natural living house! In my minds eye, it's possible and somehow, someway, I resolve to do it. When I mentioned it to Jude, she said she'd heard of such and idea being done in Ireland.
The mind can be most entertaining when not torturing.

Americans - Wednesday 04/08/10

Todays building involved various aspects. Drainage, footings and the poles. Our two American volunteers, Dan and Bree, worked really hard and were most impressive. I finished off the extension of the perimeter drainage ditch and then worked with Bree and Emma digging the footings. Dan broke up the soil with the digging bar, Bree and myself scooped it out onto a sieve where Emma sorted out the rocks from the top soil.
Around 12 Em & I went off to Crymach for some lunch supplies, which we ate in the polytunnel. When the sun comes out that thing gets unbearably hot!
After lunch work resumed however Emma stripped the bark off one of the supports, I tamped slate into the footing for foundation, whilst Dan and Bree worked some more on the drainage ditch. Ayres busied himself with various tasks but wasn't at 100% on account of suffering from man flu.

M Jones