The whirlwind of April activity has resulted in the little cob and straw bale building emerging from the ground.
On April Fools day, Randy and Greg had an all day core work out building the urbanite (aka rubble) foundation.
April 8th was the first official Hart’s Mill cob mob for mixing and applying cob and straw baling. This theme continued on the 9th, 22nd, 29th, and 30th, such that we now have one wall complete and 3 more substantially along the way. We were rained out on the 23rd, but it was a minor delay in the bigger scheme of things.
By the numbers:
To date, 16 people have helped out with a total of 296 hours of on the land effort. HUGE SHOUT OUT!!!!
Important machines that have helped out include the infamous blue pickup truck, a mini excavator, and a mortar mixer
Over $500 has been donated towards the project (many thanks!) ANOTHER HUGE SHOUT OUT!!!!!
54 overnights in the building (once it’s finished) and several dozen buttons have been earned/sent out into the world
About 70 cob mixes have been made, about 60% by foot/hand and 40% by machine
15 straw bales have formed the better part of a wall and 3 more bales have been turned into cob
About 30 tons of urbanite, gravel, clay, and sand have been hauled/excavated by human and/or machine or wheelbarrow
An undetermined triple digit number of photographs have been taken, and something probably approaching but not quite as great a number of emails, text messages, and blog post views realized.
By the end of April, the net result of this amalgamation of elemental materials and human mucking around has resulted in this little shelter, which has been officially dubbed “Cob Haven”, getting this far along:
For a sneak preview, later this month the roof will get framed, and then on May 28-30, as part of the Memorial Day weekend gala, spontaneous cobbustion is anticipated. This means that conditions will be set for activity on the project as part of the festivities, we’ll see spur of the moment what wants to happen.
After that, it is looking like there may not be another push until the first week of July-stay tuned.
Respectfully submitted,
Randy
