Inner City Farmer

What started off as a long, drawn-out process has suddenly turned into an all-out sprint for the finish line. This weekend I hosted a Design Build Live workshop that concentrated on how to make and apply a finish coat of earthen plaster. The instructor was the patient and talented Tempe Sikora, who is quickly amassing an impressive portfolio of projects, which can be viewed on her Rarest Bloom website.

The morning started with a discussion and slide show about earthen plaster and then moved on to demonstrations about how to make the mix itself. Participants were able to get their hands dirty, preparing the three basic materials needed for the job. I finally had to abandon the clay I have been using from my backyard in favor of a caliche that’s far less expansive and a lot prettier to look at as well. The clay had been soaking in a trough for several days but still needed to be worked through a sifter and stirred with a mixer.

I was pleased that we were able to make a bit of a dent in the large pile of sand that’s been sitting in my driveway for the past year. As fine as this sand is compared to the coarse sand I obtained at a local fraternity house, we still needed to run it through a screen to remove any rocks or silt.

The final ingredient was chopped straw, which we ran through a leaf mulcher two times in order to get it to the proper length.

Once all the materials were ready to go we started making batches of the mix. Elena and Aaron proved to be Most Valuable People when they cranked out four batches in under an hour, a new world record as far as I can tell. The rest of the participants started slapping the mix on the walls using hawks and trowels, and suddenly the dark and broody Man Cave began looking like the inner sanctum of a church. “D,” an abbreviation of the indecipherable Irish name Diarmuid, shocked us all with his proficiency with the trowel. As it turned out, he has worked as a professional plasterer on and off for the last ten years.

With such an All-Star team of natural builders assembled, we managed to get all four walls done when we only thought it possible to do two! It was an incredible effort and an enjoyable and instructive day, and I am still blown away by the energy created and the knowledge that was shared. It was a special convergence of people that helped bring my old dusty garage that much closer to being a work of habitable art. Thank you, one and all!

And now there are only five more days to go until we do the floor. There may still be room available in that workshop.