Office Duty

This weekend, I had office duty. Common intern thing. I've been checking people in for their classes, cleaned the chicken coop, answered the phone (many times), cleaned the lobby, organized the "YesterMarket," cleaned the bathroom, gave a tour to a perspective student and fixed the printer. Somewhat uneventful, but necessary.

It's interesting to sit in the middle of things. You get to see and talk to everyone, and they tell you all about their class. Apparently, one of the courses that is ending today wasn't all that wonderful - "Redesigning Waste Water." The instructors were focused on large-scale waste water treatment instead of home-scaled. For a weekend class, I heard, they spent too much time talking about non-applicable topics. I start a week-long class this evening with these same instructors - "Constructed Wetlands for Waste Water Treatment." Hoping for the best.

My classmates are arriving. They seem friendly. Everyone around here is friendly.

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.

Lawnmowing, Maple Creamie and Stupid Bugs.

Today was dedicated to grass and weed cutting, but involved a few other fun tidbits.

I woke up really early and served breakfast to the students. (It was cold breakfast, so not a big deal at all, but somebody had to make the coffee and unlock the building.)

I weed-whacked all around the building and gardens and trails. This took the majority of the day.

Around lunchtime, Heidi called me into the kitchen to help finish preparing lunch. We have a lot of students around now so she needed an extra set of hands - the core class has 19, the NBI has 10 and there's a weeklong Carpentry for Women class of 3 (these numbers might not be accurate.)

Dave, who is in charge of the interns and hasn't been introduced in this blog yet, received a complaint from the last person who drove the van for a field trip - said it was shaky when stopping. Dave wanted to check out the problem for himself, but needed a full van, so all the interns (except Kendall - she was already working on a roof) hopped in and went for a ride.

There was nothing wrong with the van.

I worked late today mowing the lawn. I used a riding lawn mower, which I've never done before. I was really jerky on it at first and left a few patches of tall grass behind, but I got used to it and now the lawn looks so much nicer. As we were playing hacky-sack after dinner, a few people commented on how much nicer it was to play in short grass. Makes my work feel appreciated.

Stephanie went on a town run and brought back maple creamies for some of us. (We ordered them in advance.) I've never heard of creamies before, but it's the same as softserve ice cream. Maple flavored though! It's from a local place that I always sit next to when I go into Waitsfield to use the phone - I've eyed it before but just have never acted. I have spent very little money up here. This creamie was totally worth the money, and may have to become a weekly occurance.

Tim (1) and I were talking at dinner today about how the weeks are better than the weekends here. Granted, weekends allow sleeping in and staying up late, but the sun wakes me up in my tent early every morning anyway, so sleeping in doesn't really happen. This weekend went by really slowly - lots of sitting around, reading and talking to people, but nothing compared to a busy day of good work. It just feels better to have something productive to do, which isn't always how I feel. I think the atmosphere here just encourages and inspires people to do something. Days go by so fast during the week. I was just antsy all weekend.

There are tiny bugs that bite here. My arms and legs are covered in bugbites. I haven't been this bitten since my childhood, for sure. I am incredibly itchy, but trying very hard not to scratch.

I'm not carrying my camera around as much as I used to. I need to fix this.

Lazy Weekend Update

Yesterday, I spent my morning helping to deconstruct "The Cube." The Cube is a demonstration/example tool for classes trying to play with different natural building techniques. The most recent class was working with different plaster applications.


We took down all the straw bales and the pins holding them in place. Then we took the walls apart, but in a way where they were still whole and could be stacked. Now, the quansit hut is empty and ready for the timberframing class next week.

I was also on kitchen duty in the evening - cooked dinner for about 30 people. (The core class came back from their field trip and there's a weekend class, in addition to the Natural Building Intensive.) Delicious eggplant wraps.

I am being trained in every area of the school, which I really like. I feel like it makes me a more knowledgeable, valuable player at Yestermorrow. And I'm enjoying myself.

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...