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.

Kitchenette and kBtu's.

Today was a rainy day, with no chicken coop to keep me entertained. Instead, I tackled the kitchenette, where students who opt to skip the meal plan store and prepare their food.

(Jessa, my boss from last summer, is on the "Intern wall of fame" above the cabinets.)

(This room was originally designed to be a men's restroom. Hence, tile-art.)

There are several design issues: not enough room for everyone's junk in the fridge, lack of storage space for dry goods, and poor dish-washing system and storage for clean dishes/cookware.

Before I could deal with any of this, the kitchen needed to be cleaned and organized, so I could see what we had to work with.

The fridge was the biggest issue. When the kitchen has a lot of leftovers, they will often put them in containers and send them to the kitchenette as freebies. But since they don't belong to any one person, nobody knows to look for them and they are forgotten. I filled a five-gallon bucket with rancid, rotting, smelly, moldy food. I sorted the rest of the food and gave each person their section of the fridge, with cute labels and everything. (People should label every food item they stick in the fridge. I left a section for unlabeled food, which will be marked as "free" if they aren't claimed by Thursday.)
Now, while the fridge still looks crowded, it is a much looser pack, with obvious room to stick new items in. People have been thanking me all day for taking on this task.

After sorting dishes, tupperware, pots and pans, I came up with a list of things that needed improvement and a few suggestions. I browsed the library for some helpful kitchen/storage design books and got some great ideas for cabinetry and dish storage.

One thing I decided would help the flow of the kitchen would be drying racks that were the final storage destination for dishes.
Pretend this rack is metal and has a gutter-system for drainage. This would be an appropriate way to dry and store plates, as opposed to the artfully (and dangerously) stacked drying racks we use now. Cups can be hung on pegs (as the majority are mugs with handles) and pans, strainers and skillets can be hung. This takes out the middle step of the drying rack that needs to be unloaded. It also provides better storage for dishes than what is currently available - underneath the counter. There's no real solution for bowls at the moment...

I'm also hoping to retrofit a couple of the cabinets under the counter to be pull-out drawers, for better storage of tupperware and any cookware that isn't hung. I would like to build a few more cabinets to go above the counter for extra food-storage space.

I worked with Dave a bit in the afternoon to brainstorm and evaluate some of the ideas I had come up with during the day. He gave me some helpful hints and liked what I had to offer. Soon, I will have to post an entry describing our morning meetings, which will include a better overview of Dave.

Cool thing: There's a youth design/build class coming up, so I'm going to pitch the idea that they design and build some sort of storage system for the kitchen, whether it be the drying racks with proper drainage or cabinetry for more dry storage for students.

I sat in on the core class's evening lecture after dinner - it was on energy usage within a building, with a particular focus on natural lighting (although still a broad overview.) Some key points, but certainly not all-encompassing:

• I have a better understanding and appreciation for the energy measurement kBtu. A kBtu (a thousand Btu's) is a standard energy measurement. 1 KWh of electricity is 3.14 kBtu's and 1 therm of gas is 100 kBtu's.
  
• A group called Architecture 2030 is setting targets for building construction. Everybody on the planet should build to at least these standards to offset/reduce greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global climate change. Right now, the average house uses 44.7 kBtu's per year. The average multi-family housing with more than 5 families (think apartments) use 48.5 kBtu's. The average mobile home uses 72 kBtu's. Architecture 2030 says that all new buildings should be designed to use half the energy, which is entirely possible. Each year, the standard number should drop 10% (so the average house would be limited at 22kBtu's starting this year, fall to 19.8- 10% of 22 - the next year, 17.8 the year after that.) By the year 2030, buildings would be using a tenth of what they use now.
• I'm in the north. Foundations for houses require basements. Insullation is far more crucial.
• The speaker suggested that people choose between passive solar heating and radient floor heating for the wintertime. The reason is this: radient flooring can take anywhere between 12 hours and 2 days. In Vermont, it's pretty warm/mild during the day and chilly at night. If someone were counting on passive solar to heat during the day, they would want to turn off their floor heating (or be overheated,) but then the floor would not be ready to heat during the night-time. In order to have the best control, it is best to rely on one way or the other. (Again, in Vermont more than Kentucky or North Carolina, because there is a more extreme difference in temperature.)
• A girl from Hungary thought that electronics were creating "vampire loads," which made their electricity usage go up.
• I have a better understanding and an interest to learn more about heating converters and ventalation systems.
• I should look up the book "The Ecological Engineer."
• Even with light shelves, light can only travel about 30 feet from a side window into a building. Good thing to keep in mind, for large buildings.
  

First Weekend in Vermont

Saturday morning, I decided to explore. I borrowed a bike and headed two miles south into Waitsfield. The gears on the bike were terrible, so the ride wasn't entirely pleasant, but it was moderately short and there was a good reward: the biggest farmers' market I've ever seen.

I couldn't see all of the market at one time - so this picture is only a corner of the activity. There were tons of people milling about, lots of dogs. There actually weren't many veggie-vendors, but it's still acting like March here. (There were reports of snow last night.) There were plenty of local craftspeople, jarred goods, and baked treats. While I was there, I saw and spoke to three people that I knew, which is impressive for someone who has only been in town for a week.

All Saturday, the core class presented their house designs that they had been working on diligently for the last week. The project was huge and very rushed, so they organized a after-presentation celebration. Jim, one of the teachers, invited me to go along, so I did. We went out to Dave Sellers' workshop and project house.


The workshop, pictured twice above, was amazing. There were lots of tools, but also many experiments. One of my favorite elements in the workshop was a giant fireplace.

The thing was massive and made from cement. On a few or the columns, you could see what forms Dave had poured the concrete into. There were insanely twisted stairs, many levels and platforms to walk on and odd collectibles at every turn.

The photo above is one of the walkways above the studio. The cubbies on the left each had something unique in it, like a pair of shoes, a camera, a doll, a baseball and glove, an iron, or whatever else Dave must have thought was inspiring at the time.

Just up the hill was the cement experiment house, titled "The Archie Bunker."


While I'm not a huge fan of concrete, I did find the design of this house to be amazing. Again, there were tons of lofts, lookouts, peep-holes, hidden cubbies and neat tricks to the house.

This was the best photograph that I could get of an amazing wall. Why amazing? It opens up! You can see, behind the chair on the left, a track outside. The wall slides along that track, leaving the inside of the house completely outdoors. And, of course, the cement on the right is a future pool. Just down the hill is Dave's own personal golfing green, so he can stand in his living room and try to make a hole. (Not a course, by any means. Small, mowed, and oddly, home to many toy trucks.)

One thing that I think I should note is his stow-away bed:

There were other bedrooms in the house, but he kept a spare sleeping place under his dining room. The wooden "drawer" that Gorgiana is pulling out is a bed! I note this because in my Sustainable Architecture class, I wanted to put a bed under the living space. It's not entirely the same, but I've never seen that idea anywhere else. So cool.

After exploring, sausages and mushrooms were grilled and beers were drank. The lights above the table came on, laughing ensued. It was a good evening.


Sunday was slower, although I hitchiked for the first time in my life (just to the neighboring towns. Both of them. I hitched multiple times.) I also read a little bit more about Dave Sellers and his work with Patch Adams, the famous "clown-doctor." I admire the work that they are doing. I feel the need to watch the Patch Adams movie again. I do wish Sellers would design more efficiently at times, but have to remind myself that Yestermorrow, and therefore the majority of the people I meet through the school, are focused on the design-build process, not necessarily sustainable building. It's not all strawbale and cobb here...

Another Rainy Day

No pictures for you all today.

I spent the beginning and end of my day in the wood-shop working on the chicken coop. I learned how to use a planer, which can make boards thinner by shaving off small amounts at a time. Tim 1 and I were planing one side of each board for the siding - smooth on inside, rough on outside. We made a significant start on the roof.

I spent my early afternoon in the gardens preparing beds. It's odd - Vermont is definitely behind Kentucky as far as seasons go. I was taking straw off the beds so that they could warm up some - right now it's far too cold in the dirt and the straw is just insulating it. There were some tough beds today; they weren't as cared for as some of the others, full of weeds and rocks.

After dinner (sauteed chickpeas, kale, onion, garlic, potatoes and braggs. Yum) I sat in on the 3-week core class's evening lecture. David Sellers, who worked on many of the buildings on Prickly Mountain as well as structures around Warren, including the Pitcher Inn (see this entry if you don't know what I'm talking about.) He was hilarious, had random slides and spoke very quickly. It wasn't the best lecture in the world - very disconnected- but it was a good way to spend an evening. His ultimate point was one of design: build something so beautiful, nobody will ever want to take it down. Don't build for trends, no matter how excellent they may be. (At one point, he seemed to be implying that aesthetics took precidence over efficiency, which is not an idea I subscribe to. He did say, however, that the best option would be to combine the aesthetics and efficiency - I agree.)

I experienced my first "beer-thirty."

The Beginning of the Mystic Seventh

After the longest Greyhound ride ever, I managed to land in Warren, Vermont. This is where I will be spending the majority of my summer - in a tent on the campus of Yestermorrow Design/Build School. Here, I will play the role of the "Mystic Seventh."

There are six Yestermorrow interns who all have very impressive resumes. They were hand-picked from a competitive bunch of some of the coolest grad-student-aged people in the nation. And I, a to-be Junior at Berea College in Kentucky, am their "mystic seventh." I have just enough knowledge of natural building and friends who know important people to be the unofficial seventh intern.

I will be doing all the jobs that the interns here do. Which is a lot. From morning chores cleaning up the classrooms and bathrooms to making repairs to managing the food gardens to preparing for workships, I will be doing it all. Over the summer, I will be taking four classes: Green Development Best Practices, Constructed Wetlands, Invisible Structures: Strategies Beyond "Going Green" and Community Design/Build.

There are a lot of interesting people here. A three-week building intensive course is starting today, so there are a lot of people who are just getting to campus. I met several teachers and students, many of whom are working to get their certificate in Natural Building. There are many interesting backgrounds - a lot have their own environmental businesses/non-profits... Ages vary greatly. Currently, I'm sitting in on their first class - sounds great! I'm sure I'll be around these people a lot in the next three weeks.

I'll let you guys know more when I know it. Tomorrow is my first official day of work. I have to meet up with the group at 8:30, which is not a problem, except that there is no cell phone signal out here and my cell phone is my alarm... I'm going have to find a form of alarm.

Looking forward to this summer!

Waiting on the Greyhound. 8am, yesterday.