The Evolution of a Sustainable Farm: August 2009

Monday, August 10, 2009

Barter for Life

At the end of the market I always trade with other vendors for my food for the week. Last Saturday I traded some of my raw chocolate and one of the sprout salads for this cache of cukes! They were incredible. I pickled half of them with some ripe chili peppers from my neighbors front yard, caraway seeds, fennel which I also bartered for and alaea salt from Hawaii. The rest were used in gazpacho: The abundance of tomatoes in my yard and my neighbors has allowed me to make gazpacho a daily treat for the past two weeks!

The North Asheville Tailgate Market

The income from my minibusiness - Avens Organics - funds this project. I grow microgreens for local restuarants and the public. I sell them at the farmers market at UNCA campus, Parking Lot C every Saturday from 8am till Noon. I also make organic raw vegan chocolate, sprouted buckwheat energy bars and flax crackers which are sold at the market and at Greenlife Grocery (Merrimon Av.), French Broad Food Coop (Biltmore Av) and the Grove Corner Market (West Asheville on Haywood Rd.).
Photo by Kristen Stanton

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Micro "Cruck" Timberframe

This will be the first livable structure to be completed.

"This is an 8’x10’ Cypress English style “Cruck” timber frame. Cruck framing began in Europe when all the straight timbers were saved for use in ship building. People began using the bent or crooked trees that grew along rivers and streams for the main beams to support the roofs of their small houses. This is a very “Green” and organic type of construction in that the curved trees are not wanted by sawmills. These trees are often left to rot in the woods or burned after they are cut. All of our wood for these structures come from local forests and have minimal processing so they have a very low carbon footprint. Our work is done by hand and not by a computer driven machine, so again it is a very environmentally friendly form of construction.

This frame was made for display in a local Home and Garden Show. It has a 6” overhang on the sides with a 14:12 Roof pitch. Construction is mortise and tenon connections fasten with wooden pegs. The Cypress timbers are Roughsawn with a wire brushed finish, surface applied Sodium Borate (Borax) for a preservative, and 2 coats of Penofin Cedar Oil applied for a sealer. While Cypress is fairly rot resistant, the sodium borates add additional protection and will work as long as water repellent finish is maintained". www.timberfab.net

This frame will serve as the second floor of a microhouse; the basement will have three cinderblock walls built into the hillside. The south facing wall of the basement will be made of slipstraw (clay slip mixed with straw) and several windows:
Slip-straw is another good use for straw. It is the combination of clay and straw to insulate wall cavities. The straw is hand-tossed with slip, which is watered clay, then packed into the walls that have temporary forms up. Not all the seeds are removed from the straw before it gets bailed so seeds start sprouting from the walls days later. What’s really cool is that we won’t need a moisture tester to tell us when the slip-straw is dry inside because the sprouts will tell us when they die. Once that happens, in at least 3 weeks, it’s time for lime plaster.
http://www.sustainablebuilding2009.ca/2009/07/12/animal-tracks-and-slip-straw/
A french drain will surround the three side of the structure. Wire mesh will cover the outside of the block walls and several inches of gravel will separate it from the earth.

Macro Timberframe South Wall Elevation

Drawing by Ira Friedrichs

Macro Timberframe Bent Elevation

Drawing by Ira Friedrichs

Topographic Map

Ortho Map

Contextual Map

Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Source-Tapped

After cleaning out the gravel, clay and sand I allowed the sediment to settle for one day before pouring a layer of clean gravel on the bottom, where I placed the perforated end of 3/4" PEX tubing with a plug in the top-above where I drilled out holes to allow the water to pass, I covered it with a piece of screen and a rubber band. The dam rests on top of the PEX. 200' of tubing was laid in the creek bed where water still flows. At that point I connected a T connection to flow to the tank near the shower and to the tank near the tent. When I measured the flow in March it was 1/2 Liter/Minute. In this photo the pool looks nearly dry because most of the water was filling up the empty tube since I had just laid it into the pool. This water tastes Alive & AMAZING!

The Source

Although difficult to see, the water is coming out just above the sandstone rock. This rock (to the lower left) is very soft and could likely be drilled into. My desire is to tamper as little as possible with the spring and the creekbed it feeds. A few days ago as I dug out the small pool the spring head feeds I found a salamander who rested in my hand for a bit, seemingly relaxed. I dug out the pool by hand and used the gravel and clay to build a small dam.

Nearly complete

The exterior of the shower will be covered with the debarked exteriors of the milled trees from on site. The walls will be insulated - either with styrofoam reclaimed from bike shops or with mylar coated bubble wrap I reclaimed a few years ago from Whole Foods Floral and Produce Department. The braces will be removed once both doors have been hung. To take full advantage of the extra height and to add stability, a pull up bar will be hung inside the shower. This will help use up all remaining energy at the end of each day.
In the background, to the let you can see one of the 260 gallon water tanks, which we places on a shelf we dug out of the hillside-we used a trunk on the downhill side which we packed with dirt, clay and rocks to form a solid foundation. As I write this the tank is being filled with water from the spring.

The Hightower Shower gets Covered

This reclaimed piece of plywood will serve as part of the roof, it will be bordered by two smaller pieces which will cover each door-that's right, two doors for semi-open-air showers on those warm days. The roof will be topped with a rubber membrane, possibly the type used in ponds and living roofs. If anyone knows of a reclaimed material we could use let me know.