Ok, so we've been super busy here lately, building an Earthbag home takes a lot of self labor.  We decided on this 'green' building when we were thinking of how to best insulate our new home.  The walls will be 18" thick, so by the time the extreme summer heat has penetrated to a 12" depth it has completely dissipated, meaning it will not be able to seep through the walls and heat up the house.

To those of you that have no idea what an Earthbag home is it is made of earth filled polypropylene bags that have been stacked and staggered like a block home would be built.  Going further it can have an earthen floor, earth plaster, and even counter tops, shower stalls, tubs, and sinks made of stabilized earth plaster!  Now most people would balk at the idea of having an earth floor, believe me  I did too when my husband first proposed the idea!

They are made with a thick layer of gravel laid first, then a thick mixture of cob (earth, clay, sand, and straw), and finally topped with a thinner layer of finishing mix (earth, clay, sand, and a colorant).  When those have been laid and cured then you seal with a few hot coats of linseed oil and a coat of resin.  All in all they look as beautiful as a stained concrete floor and are just as durable.  See pictures below:

They can be any color that concrete can be made in, you use the same color packets.  Anyway, we've been busy with the footers and preparing the house pad.  Were finally done with that but now the hard part comes, filling and building the bags for the walls.  For those of you interested check out the book: Earthbag Building: the tools, tricks, and techniques by Donald Kiffmeyer.

This is the start to finish instructions book for all you beginners out there.  I'll keep you posted on all that stuff in between my normal posts.  Here are some really great pictures of Earthbag homes!

A Means To an End

So, tonight we're trying to finish up chores before bed and the usual noise level is raised a bit, so tuning in my ears I hear this:
"Yeah huh, Bean!  It is too red!"
"Noooooooo! Mr. Man it's black.  I know 'cause I saw it last time!"
"I did too! It's red! You're wrong!"
So I had to intervene.  You should know that my older two children, just 22months apart, seem to love to argue about incredibly pointless subjects.  The more pointless the better, I believe its part of their secret; never talked about; invisible plan to drive me absolutely crazy before my 35th birthday. Which isn't too far off, and that would explain the seemingly doubled effort lately.  Anyway I asked my daughter what it was they were fighting about, and trying hard not to roll my eyes, I am told that she 'knows that Sean's DS is black, and my brother is wrong.' just before he blurted out with full force 'It's red and she's wrong!'.  Then I remembered that Miss L would know so I call her and what does she say?  Black, but I think he has a red one he brought over once.  Leave it to my son to only remember the one in the color he likes best, and being the most stubborn arguer in all of history to make his point.  So then he tells me that Miss. L must be mistaken!  Well, try as I might the eye roll came out and I told him they were both right.  To redirect the problem I had to take a weapon out o the mom arsenal: "Ice cream anyone?"  I got three yeses, one emphatic yes from the toddler in the comfy chair who's been completely glued to the movie through out this whole debacle until the mention of her favorite treat comes out.  Since the day she could say 'Keem!' I've never heard the end of it.  But tomorrow the older two go to school and me and the noodle will be in peace for a few hours. I'm hoping to work on my newest "let's see if I can do it" projects: Wine Bottle Cork necklaces!  I drew up some ideas for making the pendents and am going to try them when the noodles takes her nap since i have to use things like dremil bits, drill bits, and a fine toothed saw.  But if everything  comes out alright, I should be posting a picture of the finished products. I have a lot of these project pop up in my mind an a shallow folder has been filing with them for years now and is near to bursting with things I want to try or make. And I may even get to some bottle work.  I have a Generation Green G2 Glass cutter for bottles and saw some great ideas on how to cut and shape the pieces to make all kinds of beautiful things.  But until then I am going to bed to grab a few extra hours of sleep for the day ahead of me.

First Ever Post!

Ok, so here I am at ten o'clock at night trying to figure out how to publish and post a blog site.  And after about two hours I have successfully done it!  Wooo! Hooo! I have little computer knowledge and this is like taking a step that could span the grand canyon, at least for me. :D The kids are finally asleep, and their constant getting up for: a glass of water, a hug, can't find my silkie, a hug, I'm not sleepy yet, a hug, and yet another glass of water, probably didn't help the set up any. I have read so many awesome blog sites, mostly while looking for neat tutorials, and have wanted one of my own.  Hopefully the next first for me will be posting a tutorial on how to do something cool.  I think that's how most people stumble upon a really great site.  Their looking for a tutorial on something they have to try...Right Now!...and their not willing to give up the search until they figure it out.  Ooooor, maybe that's just me.  Either way, I hope to have some belly rollers of some tales to spice up the monotony that is part of a moms' weekly routine.  Like this morning when I took the kids to Miss L's house, she's the daycare lady as my oldest calls her, just so my husband and I could work on the new property without worrying about who would inevitably be the next rattle snake bite victim.  The Noodle (my three year old) begged me to "take me wiff you!" while I'm trying to separate her from my leg without success as Miss L watches on in amusement and offering absolutely no help at all.  All the while my son is chasing the poor cat under the table...again, you'd think he'd learn they have claws for a reason, most likely being to teach the annoying little boy who chases him a lesson...and then has the incredulity to look shocked when he gets a paw full of ouch.  And last, but most certainly not least, Bean, my oldest, is laying on the floor doing her best impression of a plague victim and insisting that she is "Really, really sick mom. I mean reeeeaaaallly sick!" and asking if she can stay home, "But it would be ok if Josie comes over cause she wants to see the puppies and I wont go outside, promise." "Yes," I tell her "I can see that your so very sick." (insert flat voice and raised eyebrow as I ignore the cough disguised chuckle Miss L is hiding behind her hand from the corner of my eye.)  This has become my new weekend escapade since the nice spring weather has come out and brought the arrival of newly awakened snakes with it.  I look forward to the nicer days, smelling of warmed earth and blossoming herbs from the patio pots, but not so much the early morning snake hunts around the house to make sure the play set is good to go for the day. We have a few different types and have at least three sightings a year within our two and a half acre fenced lot, that's not including the many snake skin smears on the roads from the frantic driver seeking to eradicate them from existence. But as the year wears on my focus shifts toward the thinning of fruits on the trees, weeds to pull from the garden, and hundreds of sweet smelling buttery yellow roses to clip for the house.  So with that, here's to the first of many to come posts.  Thanks to all who may enjoy my musings! :D