The Alternative Lifestyle Site

Transition Projects #3: The House (part 4)

When owner building, the time can seem to simultaneously drag and absolutely speed by. By regular building standards we are taking quite a long time to build our home however this is not an off the shelf house, a breeding box as a friend of mine sarcastically puts it, it is custom made by us, for us and for the planet we all inhabit. So that takes care of the time dragging component but what about the time speeding by? Well, we look back at the end of each month and sometimes marvel at what we’ve managed to accomplish, there are some things that just make such a big impact. Despite beavering away each weekend (and during the longer summer evenings) we can sometimes feel as though no progress has been made. Then, as if by magic, one day something big happens and we marvel at the fact that WE are building a house and it’s beginning to actually look like a house!

To put things into context, neither myself nor my loving partner had ever constructed anything of great consequence. I’d managed to pull together a chook house (looked more like a shanty lean too) and we used to joke that Graham couldn’t even put up a shelf (well, only half joke really) and now we stand back with a nice glass of local red wine in our hands and smile with satisfaction and sometimes surprise at what we’ve managed to create so far.

The difference between our building style and speed was brought home to us recently when we had the roof put on. In our state you are not permitted to put your own roof on (don’t get me started on Industry Lobby Groups) so we engaged a local man to do that for us. During that process we also decided to engage some people to put up the framing for the roof as it was quite tricky and we wanted to get the bales covered before the weather got any worse, rain wise that is. What a LEAP! They were so organised, so fast, so confident. At the end of just a few days we had a roof on!

Now it looks like a real house! We’ve got a lot of prep work to do now to get it ready for its first coat of render but we know that it’s all going to make a big job a lot easier if we can get that done before the render team turn up. So it’s all stops out now to pin the straps to the bales to limit movement (and render cracking), filling up all the gaps in the bales with straw and cob, covering the straps with mud before the render goes on (as the nylon strapping doesn’t like lime apparently) and then hitting the walls with the whipper snipper (brush cutter) so tidy up all the loose ends! Noisy job but fun in a weird power tool kinda way

You know you’ve lost your marbles when this kind of thing is the highlight of your month – I’m looking forward to getting my life back.I got so excited about having a roof on that I made a little video, might as well share it with you – however I’m still struggling with the software…. hmmm, time for a mac?!

I’ll let you know when I finally get to post the video – hopefully not too long. Bye for now.

Transition Movement Explained

I just came across this video of Rob Hopkins (via AlterNet and TED) primarily speaking on our Transition to a World Without Oil.  It’s very thought provoking and may help get to grips with some of the big ideas we need to grapple with.

Enjoy

I’ve some personal projects on the go (see posts on this blog) and am getting involved with my local sustainability group. Would love to hear from others what they are up to in this regard.

Transition Projects #3: The House (part 3)

Now, where was I up to with this little project the last time I wrote to you? Ah yes, head down and tail up looking at the bottom of a stump hole. Well you’ll be pleased to hear that things have progressed quite well since then despite a few dramatic events.

The biggest drama was the discovery of not one but TWO old Chinese mine shafts at the bottom of a few of our stump holes! During the gold rush this area was full of hopeful souls from all over the world and the Chinese shafts stand the test of time due to being round, rather than square as the European shafts generally were.

We got the drilling rig in to determin the make up of the hole we had uncovered but they ran out of drill before they reached the bottom of the shaft so the engineers had to come up with a solution before we could proceed. This was duly done and work continued.

We are first time builders and have only the weekends to do our creative construction so progress is fairly slow but there are some days when it seems a milestone has been reached and we get quite excited. Laying those first sheets of flooring was one of those days (well weekends really) and the weather was so hot we just about expired! Having days like this really inspires us to keep on going, despite the heat or the frustration, despite the doubts we might have about our ability to do the task at hand.

Nothing prepared us for the next big event in our lives though and that was the bushfires which ravaged our area last Summer.

Still, once the danger passed and we recovered our spirit, we soldiered on and were elated at the next two big moments in our building adventure. We completed the construction of the internal framed walls and our straw was delivered!

Now it felt very, very real and boy were we excited that day! We arranged for a young man who lives not far from us to help us unload the truck (thanks Kai) and around 560 bales later our carport had become a haystack!

Of course, I began building our first load bearing strawbale wall that very afternoon – I was so attached to it, I felt like it was the most precious thing and had a very emotional afternoon. This had been a dream of mine for around 8 years and to be finally handling the straw that was to become my home just touched my heart in a really big way. I had no idea I would respond that way but I can tell you that the love has remained and we just adore what we are creating here weekend after weekend.

Every now and then, when we have a big task to complete – like constructing and installing a big thing like this recycled timber door frame we call on our friends and neighbours to lend a hand (thanks Charlie, Melissa and Matthew ) This has been a real joy for us and we’ve met some amazing people in our area just because we share something like owner building and strawbale construction as an interest. This was not something we had realised was going to happen and we feel such a bond with those who have helped us create our home. It’s wonderful.

Due to certain local and State regulations there are some things we can’t do ourselves like electrical (thanks Ron), putting up the roof (thanks Shady, Rob and Neil), and stuff we want someone experienced to do like earthmoving (thanks Tim), so we have used local trades people as a matter of principle – this has been an absolute delight and we are now able to make recommendations to others based on our experience. It’s a great feeling to be able to offer a good person to help someone just embarking on a building adventure like we are on.

If you would like to continue reading about our adventures in building, or any of our transition projects just subscribe to our list and you will receive notifications when we add something of interest to the blog. As a bonus, you will also receive the video series on Energy – maybe you will save some money as a result.

Transition Projects #4: Creating a Resilient Orchard

So now I’m working on yet another project to help us Transition from a high energy lifestyle, to a lower energy lifestyle. Transforming our old neglected fruit orchard into a resilient Food Forest.

If you’ve been following this blog for a little while you will have subscribed to the newsletter in order to receive the 20 video “Energy Series” (which are free by the way) that help you take control of your energy bills by giving you excellent hints, tips and advice on what to do to reduce your consumption, save energy and save money. Recently though, we’ve raised the bar a little and began sharing with you our other major projects.

Project 1: The Food Project – beginning with the construction of our shade house. This totally revolutionised our food production last year and this year it has morphed into a berry and herb growing house with our main potato crop and some soft summer salad vegetables planned for a few weeks time. There will be a part two shortly.

Project 2: The Chook Project – these are our wonderful animal companions and they do so much work for us, eating our scraps, weeding our gardens, eatings pests and they give us eggs and fertiliser in return. Not to mention the sheer joy of having them around. There are plans afoot to upgrade their lodgings but it may be a while before that gets done due to the next big project below.

Project 3: The House - this is our long term project to build ourselves a sustainable home. We are literally building it ourselves so it’s slow, but we are using recycled materials, waste material, natural materials, energy efficient design as well as new and old technologies and materials to create a healthy, efficient, welcoming abode.

Project 4: The Food Forest Orchard

Which brings us to the first steps towards creating a resilient orchard which will one day be a Food Forest. Now my definition of a food forest as it stands today is a food garden incorporating fruiting and non-fruiting trees, shrubs, bushes, ground covers and underground edible items. I’m a long, long way from being able to claim any such thing right now but I am making a start.

This picture shows some of our apple trees which are planted alongside the shadehouse. They are not particularly old trees but from my observation they were planted a few years ago and no-one has touched them since.

This small orchard contains apples, cherries, plums, nectarines, peaches and quinces. There are four rows of six trees in each row and many of these trees are old, overgrown, filled with dead wood, crossed branches and lots of pests and diseases.

Despite this horrid state, they continue to produce fruit.

Imagine what they will do when someone starts to appreciate and care for them.

I recently purchased a DVD from the Australian Permaculture Institute, on Food Forests and it was so inspiring but I found myself a little overwhelmed. Most of the projects were of such a large scale I just couldn’t see how I could do such a thing in my garden.

Then I got onto YouTube and typed in Food Forest and came across a couple of video’s by or about Robert Hart from the UK who has developed a forest garden on a scale that is very applicable to my circumstances. YouTube is an absolute gold mine for visual images and information on this subject so go there and get inspired … well it certainly worked for me!

In our garden we have a limited amount of time in which to work to create and maintain things due to most of our time being spent building the house. However, Spring certainly worked it’s magic this year here in Australia with rain turning our parched land into a green oasis in a matter of weeks and creating an irresistible urge to get out there and do some work of a different nature.

I chose just one tree, in this case a fairly mature plum that has been shaped and pruned in the past but is badly in need of some nurturing. I’ll admit right here that I’m new to orchard maintenance and the details of how to properly care for each different tree are not yet part of my knowledge base without resort to books. However, I do know that dead wood has to go – that is where I always begin. Then diseased wood and wood that is crossing other branches or which for some reason are just not where you want them. Pruning is hard work but very rewarding.

Using my spade length as a measure, I dug a circle around the base of the tree, pulled out all the weeds and grass (some went to the chooks and ducks and some to the compost bins) and gave the whole area a nice long drink.

As you can see from the picture, this kind of activity is like a beacon to the chickens who come from wherever they are to “help” – on this occasion, they gobbled up lots of lawn/grass bugs and unfortunately a few worms too but their scratching also dislodged a few of the weeds I had missed so it seems we make a good team.

This activity was followed up with a good few handfuls of blood and bone, dynamic lifter and cow manure (I used all my homemade compost on the vegetable gardens this year) and another good water in.

Finally, we topped the lot with straw as a mulch to keep the moisture in the soil and attract the chickens back to this spot over the next few weeks.

Why do I want the chickens to come and spend time in this spot? They love straw – mine find it impossible to resist – so they come and scratch about and in the process dig up any new weed seedlings which may be popping up and they drop their nutrient rich manure right there where I want it and I don’t have to do a thing!

At the end of the day this is what I had and the tree looked much happier. This is the first tree on the second row in the orchard and I’ve already given all the trees in the first row the same treatment. Hopefully this time next year all the trees in the orchard will be feeling this kind of love!

Our plan is to begin turning this orchard into a food forest and I’ve begun on the trees in the first row already by reading up on companion planting for fruit trees.

This is part of my pest management strategy and so far I’ve planted apple mint, hollyhocks and lemon grass under an apple tree. Chamomile under a nectarine, strawberries, rosemary, garlic, lavender and catnip under the remaining peach and nectarine trees in that row. These are my herb layer and I have to say they look very attractive, the bees love them and they make me smile when I walk through the trees.

There is a lot more work and learning to be done but already the rewards are showing me that it’s most certainly worth it.

Where ever you are, what ever the season you can do something similar in your garden. If it’s cold and dark right now, get out the books and start planning to plant a new fruit tree and it’s companion plants next season, if it’s growing season where you are right now, go outside and see what you can do to add diversity and complimentary plantings to what you already have in your garden or orchard. Watch some video’s, buy a DVD, read a book or two.

Your garden will love you, your food will be healthier and you will glow with pride and health. Go to it.