Can Brain Matter be Composted?
Many people wrongfully assume that because we're building a home out of tires, dirt and other "junk" that we must be hippy-dippy. While we certainly ascribe to many such values and beliefs, we are both a far cry from being laid-back. I actually wish I could have a lobotomy performed to remove the nugget of my brain that is so concrete, task-oriented and neurotic. While this portion of my cerebral matter was integral in the planning and organizing process, I feel it is no longer useful and causes more stress than it's worth. Logically, I know that we'll tackle each task as we have the time and that we will one day live in our Earthship home but I find myself fighting to remain calm and relaxed throughout this process.
Fellow Ohioans, isn't it entirely unheard of to have three such beautiful weekends in a row during an Ohio Spring? And yet, the impossible has occurred and we have indeed had a string of gorgeous weather! Perhaps this warm and sunny weather is contributing to my mounting frustration that we haven't been able to progress as we'd like with our build. All of the tasks to be completed are all tightly balled up and so it is difficult to isolate one task to complete and then move on to the rest. Case in point: We have to dig the space for our drain tile to be laid but have to wait on exactly the right weather and time for the contractor (who is awesome, by the way!) to come out to dig it for us. We cannot move on to the next course of tires until this drain tile is laid because we must begin to build up the berm over top of the drain tile and compact it as we go; waiting until we have compacted it up to the third course before we can begin the fourth course of tires.
And because we've been so fortunate to have such perfect weather each weekend and can only make serious headway on our home on the weekends (since we have jobs during the week), I find myself feeling as though each weekend that passes is being wasted though this is so not the case.
The first weekend of our build we had nearly 35 people show up and the past two weekends, we have had a handful of people come by to hone their sustainable building skills and help us build our home. As I've said in past posts, this building of community is just as important, if not moreso, than building our home. Thus, even though we may still be on the third course of tires for the 4th weekend in a row (this upcoming weekend), we have begun to build a sense of community we've always felt was lacking in our lives. We have met more like-minded people in the past three weekends alone than we have in all our years alive thus far! One can only imagine what the next string of weekends have in store!
We would love to re-create the first workshop weekend and build up a good size group to work on the tire foundation portion once we have our architectural drawings more hammered out. If we're able to pull this off, our hope is to have everyone bring something to share and have a potluck style lunch each day of that weekend. We'll be sure to keep everyone posted (via this blog and through Facebook) of what upcoming weekend stands out as being best suited and we so look forward to having anyone and everyone (over the age of 16) out to help us build our home and to pass on skills we've learned along the way!
This upcoming weekend, our tentative goal is to level out the third course of tires and hopefully begin the french drain on the north side of the home. We have a handful of people set to come out which will be lovely! If you're interested in coming out to help out with these tasks or are interested in being a part of a potluck weekend, you can send me an email or give me a call at 937-478-2379. Again, once we have our drawings more hammered out and have met with Greene County, we hope to have a better idea of our short-term goals for the build and will be sure to post updates as we get them.
I suppose I'll forgo the lobotomy for now and will continue to focus on the positivity that has come our way since we began this Earthship journey. We have had so much love and support tossed our way and we can't thank everyone enough who has helped us along on our journey thus far!
Fellow Ohioans, isn't it entirely unheard of to have three such beautiful weekends in a row during an Ohio Spring? And yet, the impossible has occurred and we have indeed had a string of gorgeous weather! Perhaps this warm and sunny weather is contributing to my mounting frustration that we haven't been able to progress as we'd like with our build. All of the tasks to be completed are all tightly balled up and so it is difficult to isolate one task to complete and then move on to the rest. Case in point: We have to dig the space for our drain tile to be laid but have to wait on exactly the right weather and time for the contractor (who is awesome, by the way!) to come out to dig it for us. We cannot move on to the next course of tires until this drain tile is laid because we must begin to build up the berm over top of the drain tile and compact it as we go; waiting until we have compacted it up to the third course before we can begin the fourth course of tires.
And because we've been so fortunate to have such perfect weather each weekend and can only make serious headway on our home on the weekends (since we have jobs during the week), I find myself feeling as though each weekend that passes is being wasted though this is so not the case.
The first weekend of our build we had nearly 35 people show up and the past two weekends, we have had a handful of people come by to hone their sustainable building skills and help us build our home. As I've said in past posts, this building of community is just as important, if not moreso, than building our home. Thus, even though we may still be on the third course of tires for the 4th weekend in a row (this upcoming weekend), we have begun to build a sense of community we've always felt was lacking in our lives. We have met more like-minded people in the past three weekends alone than we have in all our years alive thus far! One can only imagine what the next string of weekends have in store!
We would love to re-create the first workshop weekend and build up a good size group to work on the tire foundation portion once we have our architectural drawings more hammered out. If we're able to pull this off, our hope is to have everyone bring something to share and have a potluck style lunch each day of that weekend. We'll be sure to keep everyone posted (via this blog and through Facebook) of what upcoming weekend stands out as being best suited and we so look forward to having anyone and everyone (over the age of 16) out to help us build our home and to pass on skills we've learned along the way!
This upcoming weekend, our tentative goal is to level out the third course of tires and hopefully begin the french drain on the north side of the home. We have a handful of people set to come out which will be lovely! If you're interested in coming out to help out with these tasks or are interested in being a part of a potluck weekend, you can send me an email or give me a call at 937-478-2379. Again, once we have our drawings more hammered out and have met with Greene County, we hope to have a better idea of our short-term goals for the build and will be sure to post updates as we get them.
I suppose I'll forgo the lobotomy for now and will continue to focus on the positivity that has come our way since we began this Earthship journey. We have had so much love and support tossed our way and we can't thank everyone enough who has helped us along on our journey thus far!
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| Copy of the flyer I've posted throughout the Dayton/ YS/ Cedarville area... please feel free to pass this on to anyone who may be interested! |
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