It seems like such a short time since last winter, when the ground thawed enough to get to work. It's now winter, again, and building has stopped, again.  This page reflects work from 2004, as well as from earlier this year. Jump to page 2. There were more breaks this year, and things that took time away, but most of it was for fun... so it doesn't count.  :o)

A foundation, a la Earthship, gets finished... Tires pounded with dirt, provide thermal mass (stored heat). It's a very tough job, but there are some nice rewards. The "pounds" one puts on during the winter melt off and muscle tone becomes more defined. It's also nice to see the structure breach the surface!

This practice-shed is an Earthship/Strawbale hybrid. Strawbale walls are load bearing and provide thermal mass as well. Adobe will seal the straw inside and out, yet it will be breathable.

Recycled materials are being used, as available. Tires, doors, lumber/wood, cabinets, aluminum cans, colored plastic and glass bottles, tiles, etc. Windows will welcome the vast southern sunlight during the winter months. I was fortunate to be on a remodeling site of an expensive home, where some top-of-the-line, glazed windows had been installed, but were not the correct ones. They were going to smash and trash them. In exchange for silence I got them free!

M&J's new arrival
Sasha
who learned of the pain of bees on her 2nd outing

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Bluebirds...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Diggin' It
Digging's such a muscle sport
when swinging heavy metal
Whichever end is used
the point may miss its mark
But blade end cuts a nick of dirt
the depth of which the force is made
Armed at left the height is slight
while right shows muscle's might
And rips the sage apart

A tire-d trench surrounds a fortress
of roots and shoots and clay
Pick axed to death the swinger hears the moan
From the earth the grasses fall
uprooted at the core
Paintbrush red finds moving such a chore
Unearthed without consent
it finds no neighbor it has known

Delicate piles rescue unforsaken life
Berm up the North a fortress
against the next big flow
Bunkered against the gales
that throw the pines to ground
Black ringed walls of dirt
makes earth a haven warm
A hollow shell is birthed
of sweat and pain and death and joy

New neighbors stomp upon a spade
transferring plants around
Digging's such a muscle sport
when mind attempts a change
Muscles may uproot a life
but mind cannot accept the death
that muscle makes again.

dHamm - 6/11/04

Trimming... only standing dead were cut down.

In the meantime... We're gathering the vigas. Two men I met while having lunch at Hog Heaven, let us come and thin his land of trees. 20 minutes away.