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A Busy Weekend...
Feb. 12th, 2007 03:15 amSaturday we covered Buildings and Energy in my Permaculture class. We heard from Kirby Fry, a local natural builder, about several natural building techniques including straw-bale, cob, timber-frame, and light-straw. We did a small cob workshop, which was definitely a highlight for me, since I've been very excited about cob since reading The Hand-Sculpted House but hadn't gotten sufficiently off my ass to actually, say, MAKE any cob. Although I've realized that straw-bale is probably much better home choice for our Austin climate, I still think cob would be great for walls, fences, and an outdoor cooking area. We heard from Dick Pierce about green building, which is closer to conventional stud-and-frame techniques usingCasa Verde Builders as an example. Case Verde is an American Youthworks project that Dick administers where at-risk youth run their own house building business. They've build over 90 houses in the Austin area so far, all using green and permaculture techniques. Finally, we got an intro to Design so we'd know enough to bring a Base Map of our properties two weekends from now. Next week we'll be visiting two local farms for Farm and Rural Permaculture, which I'm also excited about.
On my way to class Saturday and again during our lunch break I assaulted a big pile of abandoned, broken concrete with a sledge hammer to get some rubble for landscaping.
Disproving the immortality of concrete with a simple hammer is very empowering. *SLAM*!
Saturday night Kat and I went to see the first installment of Throws Like a Girl Rocks with Gretchen Phillips. Gretchen put on a great show and was very funny and entertaining.
Sunday I went to help with a trellis-raising at the Windsor Community Gardens, a neighborhood garden in Selwyn Polit's 'hood. Scott Harris from Tree Folks gave a fruit-tree pruning workshop, after which we proceeded to dig 2' holes for the trellis posts. We really seemed to accomplish more with hand-tools than the power auger, which was interesting. I learned about using ground granite instead of concrete for setting posts in holes. Afterward I proceeded to Hoovers for dinner, then home to unload the probably 1/2 ton of concrete from my poor CR-V. The load pushed the ass end down far enough that I had to adjust my mirrors.
Finally, I did walk-through of a new housing development going up in a nearby forest. I hate to see the forest developed, but there is limitless free limestone and some creek gravel that will soon be gracing my wheelbarrow. I also asked the developer for info about purchasing a lot for use as either a community garden or possibly as a build-site for my future straw-bale home. I'm going to actively engage this new community about permaculture as people move in and see what positive effect I can have.
On my way to class Saturday and again during our lunch break I assaulted a big pile of abandoned, broken concrete with a sledge hammer to get some rubble for landscaping.
Disproving the immortality of concrete with a simple hammer is very empowering. *SLAM*!
Saturday night Kat and I went to see the first installment of Throws Like a Girl Rocks with Gretchen Phillips. Gretchen put on a great show and was very funny and entertaining.
Sunday I went to help with a trellis-raising at the Windsor Community Gardens, a neighborhood garden in Selwyn Polit's 'hood. Scott Harris from Tree Folks gave a fruit-tree pruning workshop, after which we proceeded to dig 2' holes for the trellis posts. We really seemed to accomplish more with hand-tools than the power auger, which was interesting. I learned about using ground granite instead of concrete for setting posts in holes. Afterward I proceeded to Hoovers for dinner, then home to unload the probably 1/2 ton of concrete from my poor CR-V. The load pushed the ass end down far enough that I had to adjust my mirrors.
Finally, I did walk-through of a new housing development going up in a nearby forest. I hate to see the forest developed, but there is limitless free limestone and some creek gravel that will soon be gracing my wheelbarrow. I also asked the developer for info about purchasing a lot for use as either a community garden or possibly as a build-site for my future straw-bale home. I'm going to actively engage this new community about permaculture as people move in and see what positive effect I can have.
