So what happened to the usually diligent Inner City Farmer? He is currently suffering from a ruptured disk in his back that occurred while he was digging a hole in the front yard. Until this thing gets better, updates will be sparse.
I just got back from a long weekend in New Orleans. One of my many goals in this life is to build a structure that makes me feel the way the architecture in New Orleans does. Here are some random shots of houses and doors and balconies throughout the city.
A nice-looking door in the Marigny neighborhood:
The stairs leading up to the Balcony Bar on Magazine Street:
The front door of the Auld Sweet Olive Bed and Breakfast:
A tall shuttered door in the Marigny:
The Design Build Live Earthen Floor Workshop I hosted this weekend was another great success. It’s amazing what a difference having a floor in the Man Cave makes! At this point in the long process I’m exhausted so I’m going to walk you through the day using more pictures than words.
In the morning we assembled around my fire pit to discuss the history and uses of earthen floors. Our instructor Frank Meyer talked about the differences between various kinds of clays and gave some anecdotes about his previous experiences making these floors.
Next we mixed up some batches. Initially we used a ratio of two parts coarse sand to one part sifted clay, using the clay from my back yard.
Then we hauled it inside.
And dumped it on top of the bed of gravel I had brought inside, bucket by bucket, over the course of the weekend.
Then we tamped that layer down into the bed of stones.
The next layer we added some red clay added to it. We started smoothing this layer so that it was perfectly level.
Some clay slip was added to ensure that the layers bonded together nicely.
And at the end of the day we’d made a nice-looking floor.
It’s not entirely done. I hope to finish the penultimate layer this weekend with the help of Diarmuid and Aaron, two budding natural-building superstars. The floor will then need to dry for several months before I can slap on the last smooth layer and seal it with linseed oil. I’m hoping to be able to start using the room as early as next week altthough the space will still be quite rustic. No matter. I already love hanging out in there as has every single person who has entered it.
Only four days remain until the final plastering workshop and I still have a few patches on the ceiling to, but all I can think about right now is how sweet it is that winter is all but over and spring is firmly ensconced in my backyard. First, my lemon tree started flowering and now it is starting to bear fruit. Then my Mexican White Oak started sprouting leaves. And now one of my pear trees, the Ayres Pear, has started flowering. Check out the pretty white flowers, which hopefully presage the bountiful harvest of fruit to come (most likely in a couple more years). I am so happy about how all my fruit trees are doing I am tempted to go to the farmer’s market tomorrow afternoon and get some more. But I really should be plastering….
One of the things I hate most about our consumer-driven society is that so few of the products we buy can be fixed. In fact, most of them are designed to break down and be thrown away. It’s called planned obsolescence, and it just might be the single worst thing about our culture.
In response to this abhorrent practice I do my best to buy things (when I actually do go out and buy something) that will last. So when my electric coffee grinder broke last week, the third one to do so in the last six or seven years, I decided that no matter what I wasn’t going to replace it with another cheap electric model designed to die before 2010. Instead I did a little research and discovered the wonders of hand-cranked coffee grinders. They’re quiet. They give you a little exercise. They don’t require electricity. They look fairly stylish. And, yes, they are built to last. I chose one made by Zassenhaus, a German company that produces the Mercedes Benz of coffee grinders.
After several days of use I am happy to report that I am 100 percent satisfied with this product. It takes a little longer to grind my beans in the morning, but that’s a slow time for me anyway (after all, I haven’t had any coffee yet!). I really don’t mind adding three or four minutes of “work” to my day in exchange for the knowledge that I own something that’s guaranteed to last at least 25 years and doesn’t require me to be attached to the Grid. My hand-cranked grinder did cost me about five times as much as a cheap electric one, but I figure it will soon be paying for itself. For anyone interested in buying one of the these beauties I would suggest you get a “knee” model, which can be wedged in between your legs while you crank. I neglected to do so and it’s my one minor complaint.