Refreshed After Vacation

I took a week-long vacation to visit Boston for a cousin's wedding, family and friend visiting and general relaxing and escaping from the day-to-day. The time off was appreciated and wonderful, but I was very excited to get back to Yestermorrow.

And now I'm back. I've been back for a couple of very busy days.

There are two new interns - Anna and Ashley (male.) Tim (1) and Kendall are no longer interns. Kendall is gone and Tim is playing the role of resident builder. The new interns are nice - haven't gotten to know either extremely well, but am comfortable. The chickens grew quite a bit while I was gone. I almost couldn't tell which one was Betty Davis.

There is a push to get a building site (on campus) ready for a fabric-cement cabin. I don't know much detail about the actual structure - it will be built by several classes, I believe - but I have been helping a bit with getting the site prepared. Yestermorrow now has a giant brush pile that will be the source of an epic bonfire. We're also moving a building that a class constructed to it's site, which involves some tree-cutting. Perhaps I will write more about that this weekend.

I have been working closely with Dave, overseer of interns and grounds committee. This morning, we walked around campus identifying tasks that needed to be done. I am now in charge of making sure they get done, directing work-traders when available. The list is long and random. Today, I worked on getting some of those smaller tasks done.

I look like an unhappy tree hugger in this picture. I am marking potential camp-sites. I have identified several tent-sites and one excellent platform site. I am hoping to head up the building of the platform.

The tree house needed massive cleaning. The pine needles were getting clogged in the cracks of the walkway, which can lead to rotting. While clearing them out with a pocketknife was a slow process, it was fairly easy and relaxing. I worked clearing the pine needles for a while, but then turned the assignment over to a work-trader so I could work on projects that required a little more skill or knowledge of the campus.

I thought I had gotten a before picture, but apparently, I did not. This ladder had a broken rung that needed replaced. Upon further inspection, I saw that the rung above the broken one had some rot issues happening. (These rungs are old - the tree is obviously growing around the rungs.) I spent the later part of my day repairing the two rungs using hardwood that had been cleared out of the concrete structure's site. The poplar rung (white) and the rung below it were my new additions. I'm actually extremely proud of myself for being able to do this without any guidance (other than what kind of wood to use.)

Anna, Ashley and I all went to visit the NBI project today. Last time I saw it, timbers had just been raised:

Today, it looks like this:

They started strawbaling today. It was a very exciting time.

In the picture above, Mike and Bryce re-tie bales. I apparently don't know the name of this mechanism, but it's very tight and precise. When I straw-baled for the studio that I worked on last summer, we used twine, tightening it by twisting it around a stick, then shoving the peg into the bale. Different approaches to the same problem.

The class notched out a corner of that bale and set it upright against a window frame. The notched corner fit the post.

Normally, bales are not placed vertically, but for lining the windows, it is appropriate.

The last two evenings for me have been lecture evenings. Yesterday was one of the Summer Lecture Series, which are free every Wednesday. Deva, the NBI instructor, spoke to us about natural building compared to green building. The room was packed.

Tonight, I sat in on the NBI's lecture on moisture content and heat flow in an earthen (primarily strawbale) structure. Took lots of notes (click to expand):



I am completely exhausted, but feel great. I've been running all day (I had breakfast duty this morning) but am very proud of what I'm doing. I've said it before, but I love being independent with projects - I love having the know-how to take on a project by myself. I feel confident with this list of things to do.

I start my Invisible Structures course tomorrow.

Frame-raising with NBI

I think the date on my last post was off. I had started writing it on Wednesday, but it was finished on Thursday. So pretend like Thursday was the last entry.

Friday was another day of landscaping. Nothing highly remarkable, except that I don't believe that weed-whacking the cracks of a paved parking lot is a worthy way to spend time.

I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen with Heidi lately. A few of the NBI boys and I hung out with her late on Friday to help her prepare for yesterday's dinner - serving about 75 people (board members, families and people coming for a slideshow presentation.) We get a lot of prep work done so that yesterday could go as smoothly as possible for her. (I also helped her during the day on Friday. Not just landscaping.)

Yesterday, I went with the NBI class (Natural Building Intensive, as a reminder) to raise the timber-frame that they had been preparing all week. The NBI class will be here for a total of 13 weeks - we'll be leaving around the same time. Their class project is a jam-type studio/garage for a family in Warren. Lots of pictures!


Chelsea Green Publishing Company is making/supporting a documentary about the class and their project.

When we got out to the site, the concrete foundation had just set. The timbers were marked, cut and waiting on us. (If you look beside Dan and the scaffolding, you'll see some orange pipes under a sawhorse - those are the connections for the radiant heating. We had to be careful not to knock them. If one of those tubes busts below the concrete, there's just about no way to fix it. I don't like this about radiant.)

The class preparing to set up the first bent. They had connected all the pieces, pegged them into place and were receiving some last minute safety instruction reminders.

First bent up.

There are two levels of concrete - one side is about two inches shorter than the other. The lower level is the garage. The upper level is the studio. They were treated differently when it came to protecting the beams from water.

The studio area, which will have more protection from natural elements, has flashing attached to the bottom of each post. We found as we raised the posts that the flashing needed some extra nails to keep from crumpling. (Here, Nick repairs crumpled flashing.)

The area in the garage needed more protection, so an entire two-by went under it. Theoretically, this will keep the post from absorbing moisture from the concrete, which would cause warping.

When we set up the second bent, we noticed that the middle post wasn't quite flush with the ground, but decided that it was just a settling issue. Nobody payed much attention to it.

However, when it came time to put the first beam up (attaching the first three bents), we could not get the pieces to fit.

We worked on it for about half an hour before we figured out that one of the side posts from the second bent was about an inch too tall. So it all had to come back down.



Josh, the instructor, sawed the bottom portion off. It was thin, but enough to make a difference. A good reminder why it's important to measure twice. (At least it wasn't too short.)

When we tried the second time, , after the trimming, the piece fit perfectly.

Around noon, the excavator came to the site to help get the heavy timbers onto the posts.
This was much easier than using a bobcat.

The operator was a little concerned about reaching his crane so far away from the machine with such a heavy log, so students stood in his bucket (opposite the crane) to provide some counterweight.

The brothers (good guys) and the first tractor-raised beam.

The second beam, going up.
Skip, one of the instructors, helping to line up the second beam. (For the record, the mortise is the hole, the tenon is the peg.)

The second set of beams was a little trickier to set up. The connection between the two beams had to be set at a certain angle that didn't work very well with the angle that the brace needed. There was a lot of teamwork required for this one, as well as strong leadership.

After a while, however, the group got on a roll, leading themselves and working together well.

So good, in fact, that the instructors sat back and watched. I sat with them for a while - it was just the class working. The instructors were watching and yelling every once in a while for a student to watch their fingers, but mostly chuckling as the students figured out how to piece the building by themselves.

They jumped in where instruction was needed.

The last beam was a snug fit. It needed some "convincing" with the giant mallet. There was much rejoicing once complete.

And picture-taking with the finished frame.

The finished frame.

At the end of the day, the instructors presented the class with a cooler of beer, joined together and sang. It was a smooth, good day.