Well, I think I am almost, almost done with the chicken coop! I’ve painted it, added laying boxes, put in a screened floor, screened in some of the windows, made a ramp, fenced in an area for the chicks, and cut myself numerous times! But, we are scheduled to go pick up the little ladies this sunday! I can’t wait! Monday they were 4 weeks old! Hopefully they will eat all the poison ivy first so that we can go and sit in the field with them without having to watch ourselves so much! Here is a link to the site our friends (who are currently raising the chicks) have.
On the herb front, I graduate this Thusday from my clinical program! Wahooooo!! My friend Nikki and I are thinking about getting an office in downtown Asheville to see clients in and make medicine a few days a week. I want it to be completely stress free, so we are only going to rent the place if everything feels good. The office is a two room place in a cool, renovated old building on a street in the middle of all the stores and restaurants. So, it would be a nice break from primative country life. (To bad it doesn’t have a shower:-) We would share it with a massage therapist who only uses the office a few days a week. It would also be a great place for me to study when I start up with Aviva’s course again. We’ll see…
Toby got back from NY this weekend. He was up at a cordwood conference and had a blast! We are hoping to have our house plans done and in the code process by the end of August. Building with cordwood takes a while because the wood has to dry for months before you can put it into the walls, but it is much cheaper than conventional methods, and it looks pretty cool. These pictures are from Toby’s adventure.
Here’s what a cordwood panel looks like. Toby and his dad worked on this section.
This is Toby’s dad.
Here is a finished house wall.
This is an inside corner with glass bottles in the wall
Here’s another outside shot.
Cool, eh?
I’ve been trying to use the solar shower up on the land, instead of going in to shower where Toby works. The shower gets hot enough, but I feel a litle, um, naked standing out there in the great wide open. Toby is going to build me a little enclosure to hang the solar shower in so I don’t feel so exposed. But, it was kind of nice sitting a few inches away from the Maple tree while I was trying to wash my hair 🙂
Our goals for August: Finish the house siding, design the house, and begin to tackle the “code” process.
Today’s recipe: Sumac “Lemonade”. Use fresh or dried ripe sumac berries (not poison sumac) and simmer them in water for ~20 minutes. Strain out the berries and add honey to taste. Pour over ice and enjoy! It’s that easy!!
The cordwood walls look really cool! Should we start saving interesting colored bottles for y’all?
Oh I loved those photos. I want a house like that. I would be happy with a wall haning like that. Simply beautiful! Glad things are going good for you. Yep standing naked in the wide open does sound a bit naughty lol. Take care, I’m looking forward to the next post.
For a half a second I thought the finished cordwood house was a patio. Could the cordwood method be used for a patio or walkway? Or would moisture from the ground be a problem?
And does this method use any type of scrap wood or particular types?
And do you think using this method on the ground would not be very earth friendly or do you think the wood would let moisture pass through to the earth?
Ok, I’ll stop pestering you with questions. 😉
Thats exciting about the chicks and the cordwood looks really neat.
June:
It would not work well to use the cordwood for a walkway or patio, as water would collect on the surface (and be absorbed by the logs from below) promoting rot in the wood. The logs do not rot in the wall because they are not kept constantly damp – they may get wet in a rain storm, but dry out quickly.
Technically you can use any wood you have, but lighter woods with a low tendency to shrink as they dry are better. The lighter woods have a higher insulative value, and the low shrink woods pull away less from the mortar over time.
The 3rd and 5th pictures above are of outside cordwood walls that are almost 25 years old. The only damage they have taken is just weathering discoloration.
Those cordwood walls are amazing! How would they stand up to high humidity (I’m thinking south Texas humidity!)? Would you have to keep mortaring the walls in time?
The 25 year old cordwood are quite a testimony. But I would imagine that the right environmental conditions would be required to keep it up.
I’d be interested to hear about your experience with the code/permitting process with the cordwood home.
Well, I know that there are some cordwood homes in TX. So, I imagine it would be fine. Here is a blog that I found with a cordwood builder in TX: http://www.daycreek.com/dc/HTML/allthingscord
The cordwood walls look terrific — I saw a great design for a cordwood-walled sauna at one point — in Mother Earth News maybe? Good luck navigating the code process and setting up your outdoor shower. I’ve seen some wonderful ideas for outdoor showers — I wonder if you could build one that could use the solar shower for now and could be converted to running hot water later? Something out of cedar lattice maybe? With a stone floor? It would be great for post-gardnening showers (no mess in the house!) and I think if you found just the right spot with a great view over the modesty panels, it would be nice to start or end the day getting clean outside while looking over some beautiful parts of your land. I’ll bet that the birds and butterflies would appreciate a wet stone floor to drink from when you’re done, too.
Wow that looks fab. i love the light shining through the glass in the walls. How amazing. I’ll be back.