Eco building, Garden, Permaculture design, Travel

Goodbye earthships

March 16, 2014 5 Comments

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Last day in New Mexico

While Jerry and I finished off the retaining wall, at the SS3 site most of the interns didn’t bother to show up, slackers. Our work hard was paid off though in delicious gourmet pizza ordered by Judy. We sat in her living area wreathed in cigarette smoke amongst her knickknacks from the middle east and India, dog begging at the table, loom glistening in the sun, the perfect end to the adventure.

As we head off to Colorado in Sam’s truck I’ll leave you with some photos of the visitor’s centre, the most edible and well maintained garden that I saw on the site. Towering lale, capsicums and tomatoes in winter, if I get anything from this it will be the power of the greenhouse, earthship or otherwise. We’re lucky in Melbourne to be able to grow outside all year round, but with our short but stiffeling summer season dreams of eggplants and capsicums are swirling for next spring! I had a great chat with Danny in the visitor’s centre about his permaculture plans for the site and then Ron burst in all smiles that he had been put in charge of EVE where they would really get stuck into edible gardening. I was so glad to bump into these two in my last hours at earthship HQ, it felt like all the loose ends were neatly tied up and I was ready to go. I wish Ron and Danny all their best with greening the Mesa.

Eco building, Permaculture design, Travel

The twins

March 15, 2014 2 Comments

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That lived in feeling
The Greater World community, New Mexico

Heather pointed at me, I was a deer in headlights. “This girl can do bottle walls, she did this one all by herself”, she dropped me in it, I was been taken off-site. I grabbed my bottle buddy and without as much as a word to Dylan I was whisked deeper into earthship country. To be honest it was a relief to be going somewhere new, Survival 3 was getting old. Damien was another earthship builder who I hadn’t met before, half Mexican half Swedish he had arrived some 20 years earlier from California to do a build with Mike Reynold’s son and never left. As he said Taos just sucks some people in and spits others out. When we arrived on site I had a moment of mental confusion and I saw another Damien outside the truck, he didn’t mention he had a twin. Of course hijinks ensued, they liked a joke, one at someone else’s expense was their preferred M.O., it was refreshing hanging with people who really didn’t take anything too seriously. I felt at ease to ask questions about the cement, the cans and the good production. Regarding cement they said that the Simple Survivals really weren’t all that simple and the global works far better with less cement and even Phil the head builder has questioned the cement use, good to know. In regards to using the aluminium cans, in New Mexico when earthships were first created New Mexico did not recycle them at all, he agreed that perhaps now they are recycling an alternative should be considered. In regards to the food, the greenhouses and black water systems could produce quite a lot of food but you can’t force people to grow food, and with inexperienced gardeners the greenhouses can get overpopulated with bugs and disease. Interesting stuff, it made me feel relieved to see that people were not just blindly following the cult of Mike Reynolds and it was in some part a more collaborative effort, although it might be better if it was even more so. The bottles the New Mexican government just crushed and put on the roads in snowy weather.

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Judy, who lived in the global model home with a portly golden retriever called Shasta. Seeing an earthship that was actually lived in was brilliant, a pleasure few of the interns would have experienced, it looked so much cosier than the rentals. She said she was growing a lot more edibles than her neighbours and was using her outdoor black water botanical cell to grow a lot of deciduous fruit trees and even a mini lawn for the dog. She was also trying to revegeatate the surrounding landscape with tough natives.she had installed shades to control the heat as even in winter it was too much for her plants. She had had a bug infestation and recently had to rip everything put including the soil, but now was growing a mango, lemon and olive tree amongst other things. It was lovely to see someone excited about their garden.

Jerry and I got really stuck into the bottle wall, slapping down the mortar without fiddling with it as the twins advised and went through barrows and barrows of bottles. I was good naturally accused of being a convict and Jerry happily seemed to take my bossing and teasing. Then we breezed back into earthship HQ to discover certificates and group photos had been handed out and taken without us, thanks guys. We didn’t miss out on pizza though, everyone piled into cars to head to happy hour. This time the owner was hovering around and suddenly all the bad reviews began making sense, he was a right piece of work, but once he left us alone the wait staff seemed even nicer than usual to make up for his grouchy presence. Spirits ran high for our last meal as a group, we wouldn’t see the majority of them again, there was a finality about it all. Then waving the big group adieu seven of us headed to the hot springs, it was much more pleasant with a small group and a lovely relaxing was to pass the evening chatting, a slow goodbye to my sweet earthship boys.

Eco building, Garden, Permaculture design, Travel

The Phoenix

March 14, 2014 1 Comment

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What is possible

And finally we saw it, what is possible when a earthship greenhouse pushes the boundaries. Of course the Phoenix is a million dollar home, the finishes alone how years of painstaking work, but if instead of a single family rental with a mostly ornamental garden, it was a multi-occupancy model for communal living the greenhouse would be feeding 4-6 people fairly well. The blackwater botanical cell (the leach field of yesterday;s post) is actually inclosed in the greenhouse and there re a lot of thriving plants in the actual interior as well. With such a lush garden the greenhouse is beautifully humid rather than baking hot and with birds and fish in a pond with running water it feels more like an ecosystem. Perhaps these elements, as well as the hours put into this rental by the staff, are what help it thrive and remain pest and disease free.

It was truly heartening to see such a paradise after all the scraggly, unloved looking gardens of the intern housing. I don’t believe there was a single intern who wasn’t struck dumb by what they saw, of course there were the classic Mike Reynold excentricities like a fireplace that became a waterfall, raised bedrooms, underground walking in robes accessed by a spiral staircase and another bedroom screened by plants rather than a wall, it was rather playful and fun.

After the day was ended I visited Sam and Jason both tucked in bed for a nap, then heard Griffin and Joe drop by, after chatting with them, other Dan and other Jason with his infectious high pitched barking laugh arrived for a chat and a look at the Tower’s W.O.M. and stayed for a nice little rant I had bottled up about food security. They left and Reid came to take a photo of the bottle wall at sunset and we chatted about banana plants and permaculture and Briz arrived for a photo of the wall as well. Meanwhile Dylan was making surprisingly good camp stove pizza to share. It was all rather lovely, and made me realise as much as I felt ready to move on from this dusty place I would miss all the lovely interns I have shared the experience with. Two days to go.

What are your unforgettable experiences? Have you stayed in touch with the people you shared them with? Or were they a moment in time that burnt so bright then faded away?

Eco building, Garden, Permaculture design, Travel

Leach field hijinks

March 13, 2014 1 Comment

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Down in the pit

Finally it was time to be done with aesthetic finishes and get involved in something I was really interested in, the leach field, I’m not your average gal. For me food and water are the keys to sustainability, a super comfortable and pretty stained glass bunker is all very nice, but in temperate Melbourne unnecessary to survival. Wouldn’t you agree? Most people I’ve talked to on the Mesa are more interested in the novelty of food growing with the ubiquitous banana plant and habitually take the 30-40 minute drive to town to stock up at CID’s. It just seems a little strange to me, a eco house with a greenhouse full of tropical ornamentals. It’s just the attitude to food of people everywhere I guess, but I didn’t expect it here. I’ve heard there is a guy called Danny here who is knee deep in humanure production and permaculture so I need to hunt him down.

Just because people don’t, doesn’t mean they can’t though.In the middle of the desert, the earthships can collect enough water and heat to grow year round. The black water system is not dissimilar to the grey water and they’re surprisingly simple so whilst I’ll refer you to the earthship website for particulars I’ll talk you through what we did.

The leach field is really as long as you can afford as materials and the price of excavation can be limiting. 40 feet long and 3 feet deep below the PVC pipe inlet from the septic system. We used the site level to ensure it sloped 6 inches from one end to another so the black water didn’t just pool at the inlet end.

We lined the pit with used plastic to prevent the EPDM waterproof membrane from getting holes. the membrane was cut so it was only a foot or so below the top of the hole. (Excuse the imperial, I’m not in metric land anymore.) We folded over an inch of the edge and nailed it to the pit’s earth walls making sure it was not too tight to avoid the nails ripping the membrane when it is weighed down with gravel and earth.

the inlet brings in the blackwater, the solids have been separated out by the septic. It is very important that the overflow on the other end is lower than the inlet by at lest 4 inches to prevent blackwater flowing back into the building. The holes in the pipe allow the water to enter the leach field. It must be level and the “rock bulb” of river rocks holds the pipe in place.

In the grey water botanical cell the water from the basins and shower are filtered through the inlet by what use to be a woman’s stocking before entering the botanical cell, once it has gone through the rocks and plant roots it’s used to flush toilets, a pump is required for thisat the outlet end.

The perforated pipe is covered with plastic so the gravel doesn;t block the holes.

The waterproof membrane must be above the outlet pipe and when the whole is made in the membrane a clamping collar it fitted so water doesn’t leach under the liner.

Then 2 feet of gravel for the black water to drain through.

Then straw and sand to weigh it down. Then after this you can pretty much fill it like a no dig garden bed with compost, straw, etc. then when it’s finished they plant deciduous trees due to the harsh climate. It’s funny that if you don’t use enough water this system actually gets into trouble, people really need to know their house to have it working right, as it should be. Don’t flush too much without washing your hands or having a shower! That’s why the system would have to be modified for commercial use. Anyway that’s enough about blackwater, what of the intern shenanigans of the day?

Do as the weeks wore on the interns got tired of sand and dirt and there was a lot more hijinks on site between wheelbarrows full of mortar. When filling barrows with dirt stopped being fun Joe wheeled Jason around between breaks, Ron knew exactly the right time to deliver donuts to keep up moral and rocks became juggling balls.

Then after a hard day in the dust we let our hair down at the Alley Cantina. Dancing to a live band and an introduction to shuttleboard; wordplay duels with a cowboy and rocking out to RESPECT by Aretha. Then home in high spirits with a slightly worse for wear Jason coming out of his shell and speaking in an Irish accent he didn’t have before and a penchant for touching people’s faces (how the hell did he keep his fingers so soft in this dry climate, tell me your secret!). It was all a great time, one of our best nights, but all things must be tempered with a little sobriety. Poor old “Minnesota, you betcha” Jason fell asleep in his chair at the Towers and clonked his eyebrow on the floor. Woken by a sheepish Sam we checked him for concussion and then when he checked out left him be too his incoherent grumbling, Good luck Sam. It was funny once we knew it wasn’t going to end in tragedy. Ah youths.

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Last day in New Mexico

That lived in feeling The Greater World community, New Mexico

What is possible

Down in the pit

That lived in feeling
The Greater World community, New Mexico