While this noble plan is a testimony to the eightyish acres of forest on the site, it also pays homage to the stark reality of living in a time and place where land and money are “part and parcel” (pun intended). One way this reality is etched into law and local government administration is through the ability of private  landowners of 20 acres or more of forest to enter their forested land into “Present Use Value” status.  Doing so hugely reduces their property tax burden.  So it is with the Harts Mill forest.  The Forest Stewardship Plan is the document that lays out the road map for what needs to be done from a forest management perspective to keep the land in “PUV” status.

Plan implementation has been on our collective radar over the past several years, but the myriad of other activities to launch this ecovillage enterprise has, at least to date, made it a bit difficult to stay on track.  We have managed to check a few items off the list, like building trails and a worthy if not entirely successful foray into helping the Tree of Heaven gene pool understand that this is not the right place to further evolve.  But, on the big ticket items related to making sure that this is, societally speaking, a “productive” forest (i.e., for timber, pulp and paper, other valuable manifestations of cellulose, and spin offs such as edible mushrooms), there is more to be done.  So, a 2018  conception that has been gestating in the Land Stewardship Circle is to catch up on a few of the plan’s action items.

The plan identifies 10 or so different parts of the forest, known as “stands”, that each have their own requisite implementation actions.  A careful read of these has led to the decision to move forward with some actions in the coming months for Stands 6 and 8a.  Namely, we’re planning to cut down some trees (a very high majority being pine and sweet gum) and turn them into some combination of timber,  mulch, mushrooms, perhaps horse stable shavings or pulp and paper.  This will dovetail with village and farmstead development plans, as clearing will be required in both of these stands as part of preparing to build, and our farm soils need more organic matter. The “thinning”, as spelled out in the plan, will also help the trees that remain thrive. There will be workday opportunities in the coming months, so stay tuned, and check out the Plan to learn more.  Volunteers are also being recruited to adopt and take leadership with invasive plant management areas.  If potentially interested, please contact Randy.

The main emphasis has been on installing a “rocket mass heater”.  It’s the cob enthusiast’s version of an integrated wood heater and furniture dynamic duo.  For a few decades, those interested in this somewhat enigmatic creation turned to Ianto Evans, the founder of Cob Cottage out in Oregon, and a more recent collaboration between Ianto and Laura Jackson.  I went ahead and got the third edition of their book to prepare for this part of the project, which is a worthwhile read.  Greg shortly thereafter passed on “The Rocket Mass Heater Builder’s Guide: Complete Step-by-Step Construction, Maintenance and Troubleshooting” by Erica and Ernie Weisner which was my inspiring evening reading for a week or two, and resulted in a more detailed plan and shopping list and some additional details and practical/expert advice on how to pull this invention off.  I’ll spare you the many details, other than to say assembling the parts and tools is rather more involved than a trip to Lowes or Home Depot (although a few items did come from each).   It also seems that building the RMH requires a decent dose of on-the-fly learning and improvisation.

First up was a couple barrels found on Craigslist.  The barrels basically serve as the shell around the heater, which is made of fire brick.  They need to be free of paint so the paint doesn’t off gas when the heater is fired; a non-trivial amount of head scratching and effort has been pursued in figuring out the best way to achieve this.  As a result, I have less hair, shorter fingernails, and a new torch.  Here they are after their first torching. To date, there have been three torchings and an hour or two of mechanical abrasion, and there is still a bit of paint to remove.  So next up is engulfing the barrels in a bonfire.

This photo shows a mock up of the guts of the mass heater.  The part of the fire brick in front is where small pieces of wood are fed and the tall part in the back is the “heat riser”. The pile of brick and pipe to the left is the beginning of what will be a bench that will provide much of the mass for storing the heat generated.

Here’s what it looks like a bit further along as the combustion unit is being set with clay slip.

A key part of the whole system is called the “manifold” which is the transition between the wood burning part and the mass heater/ furniture part.  Here’s Greg working on the custom fabrication.

Eya took special interest in the lunch part of  the day, but for the most part, saw it as an opportunity for a nice long nap in the sun.

When all is said and done with the mass heater, it will look (and feel) something like this.

Randy, Greg, Matt, and Tain all pitched in this past weekend on to make this happen.  Kudos to all for the many collaborative elements that came together, including good humor, flexibility, masonry and steel cutting expertise, and perseverance, dedication, and willpower.

Dig up red clay and mix with water to create clay gumbo

Pass gumbo through hardware cloth screen

Mix 1 part gumbo with 3 parts sand, adding water as needed as you would if making cement. 

When sand and clay gumbo are thoroughly mixed, add wheat straw chopped up with a weedwhacker.

Ta da.  A low carbon/high beauty plaster.

However, the plaster doesn’t jump on the wall, so next is the fun/frustrating/ meditative/….. part; finding the right trowel and technique to get the plaster to stick to the wall and not slop to the ground, slump, be uneven, or done in a way that risks future cracking or falling off.

The next level of craftsmanship involves composing the little details around windows, rafters, and foundation and smoothing out the bumps and undulations in the wall.

Next up this coming Saturday we’ll be doing the same for the inside walls.  After that, we’re looking at scheduling a weekend in October to put in a rocket stove and bench. Stay tuned, and by all means, come join in if such activities are calling you!

Good news: the moist spot in the straw bale wall (a remnant from when the tarp rain protection failed before the roof was up) seems to have dried out and should be good to go for the long haul.  Another, and possibly/hopefully last day of cob wall work (possibly some living roof work, too) is scheduled for July 15th (all welcome, RSVP appreciated but not essential). After this there will be a lull to let the cob dry and for me to take an August vacation). 

After that, a work/play weekend is tentatively scheduled for September 2nd and 3rd (maybe 4th, too?) to plaster the exterior and interior walls and paint the windows and door, maybe more depending on who shows up and what wants to happen. If this sounds appealing, pencil it in; more details forthcoming in a few weeks.

The home stretch approacheth!

Friday morning, Greg, Matt and Amantha showed up with a trailer load of cedar boards. Over the course of the day, a roof was framed with pine rafters and the cedar, completing the “good hat” part of the outfit.  The idea is that a solid, high and dry foundation to protect from “wet feet” and a rainproof “hat” are essential to keeping a cob building from eroding back to its origins.  Plaster is the third part of this equation, but that will come in a few months….Chris, Hope and Paul joined in later in the day, and by late afternoon, the roof deck was up and some more cob had been added.

Over the course of the rest of the weekend, spontaneous cobbustion was observed, with Bailey, Gaius, Carol #1, Tain, Amy, Marilyn, and Ben providing the spark on Saturday.  On Sunday, Carol #2 and one of the natives, currently known as Cobberhead (photo  below), were coconspirators in the process.

Randy came out on Monday morning and threw on some of the cob remaining from the cob mixing completed over the previous few days.

Friday in 4 seconds can be seen here.

 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

Follow these links for a good sense of what transpired:

Saturday morning build

So while the wealthy and famous part is up for debate, the phrase “such as” lends  credibility to designation of April Fool’s day 2017 as an Official Harts Mill Day of Cobknobbing, at least for Greg and Randy.  There was a lesser amount of cobknobbing with Paul as he delivered a load of straw bales.  Greg and Randy heaved and hoed a few hundred pieces of urbanite onto their new place on the planet, where it is envisioned they may now rest for a few centuries.  Oh if this lesson in staying rooted could spread more widely.  

Hopefully the time lapse below captures the results, if not the cobknobbing spirit…..(click here for a fast version).

On a related note, plans are taking shape for the long awaited series of cobknobbing days  starting this coming weekend.  Any and all are welcome to join in the fun, (and be part of a cob mob).   RSVP to Randy is much appreciated.  More info can be found here.  

A couple months ago, I was perusing the Carrboro ArtsCenter winter/spring course offerings.  One caught my eye, “Make a Documentary in Seven Weeks”. It promised to teach me “Final Cut Pro X”, and also offered access to computers, video making stuff, and knowledgeable people for a year as part of the tuition.  “Sign me up”, I said.

I pondered the many possibilities for the documentary I might make, and decided it needed to be about Harts Mill.  Beyond that, it was a big mystery.  So I took a rather meandering path over the course of January and February into both the world of the content for the video and the very technical world of video making.

The first roadblock was when I got all the necessary steps aligned to have sit down studio interviews with Paul, Hope, and Joe, did those, and then experienced the technology glitch of the itty bitty card holding those interviews getting mysteriously “corrupted”.  Whomever came up with that term could have done better.  But I digress…..

Soooo, I came up with Plan B, which involved using the  little narration I had cobbled together (thank you Hope for being the narrator) and then, somewhat Ken Burns style, attempting to hang some photos and perhaps video on the storyline.  I ran with that, and the Universe in its ongoing karmic balancing act matched the bad luck with the interviews with the extreme good fortune of Paul getting his friend Barry to join him on the land with his drone.  Low and behold this time the technology and Cloud worked splendidly and I shifted into the mode of cobbling all sorts of additional photos, graphics, and bird calls together and learning how to use Final Cut Pro and its own little language and world view of “libraries, assets, compression, and rendering”.  Jason (teacher) and Carter and Carson (Peoples Channel staff) were most helpful in holding my hand as I bumbled along.

The “good enough for now, safe enough to try” version of the video can be found by clicking here.

Respectfully submitted by Randy