Getting plastered

Getting plastered

by | May 22, 2015 | buildings, natural building, off grid

After two weeks of hard graft, our latest wwoofers,  Brodie and Molly are on their way, but what a difference they’ve made. We promised them building work, and our first task was fitting out battens and wood-wool board in the little cottage.  Then they moved on...
Month of Mud

Month of Mud

by | Feb 20, 2015 | buildings

Thanks to the amazing generosity of both our crowdfunding backers, and a small army of volunteers, we have made great progress with our classroom space over the winter, and now we are on the home stretch, with the aim of completing it this summer. The majority of the...
The rock

The rock

by | Jan 8, 2015 | buildings

  Looking out at the wonderful sunny, still day, it is easy to forget what the weather can bring. Last night for instance, as I lay in bed, the wind got up, and I realised I could hear flapping plastic. Above me. Which is where flapping plastic ought not to be....
‘Proper’ plastering

‘Proper’ plastering

by | Oct 31, 2014 | buildings

  We were visited by Lauren and Phil this week, who were very modest about their earth plastering knowledge but turned out to have considerably more experience than we do. They rustled up some plaster test patches on a couple of spare bales, and we (well Phil)...
Earth plaster update

Earth plaster update

by | Oct 27, 2014 | buildings

  Stage one of our earth plastering is now complete,and all the bales have a coat of clay slip. Some of the holes have been filled with clay slip mixed with a generous amount of finely chopped straw, and it is looking a little less undulating around the edges...

Strawbale rendering part 1..

by | Oct 26, 2014 | buildings

Yesterday we began the process of rendering the strawbale walls by applying a coat of clay slip (just a runny clay and water mix) to the surface of the bales. Messy work, as transferring it from bucket to wall involves about half ending up on the floor, but it will...