Hard work, just like Grampa used to do.

At last, we've had some decent weather! I've never seen so much rain in August, it was really unexpected. I only wonder what fall and winter will be like this year, if spring and summer were this messed up.

My friends were come and gone, and, unfortunately, I didn't get the entire project finished like I'd hoped to. We had one and a half days rained out, and we really could have used a cement mixer! We were mixing cement plaster for the walls by hand, in a wheelbarrow, which is tiring work. With a mixer, we could have one person mixing a batch while the other two throw plaster on the wall with trowels or shovels.

This was my last day off of this week, and I spent almost the entire day doing plaster! I mixed it in a wheelbarrow, only this time it was just me doing it. I still managed to get a lot of plaster on the wall, probably about 300 lbs of it in total. I have to use a lot more plaster, because the wall is so thick at the bottom. It has to support the weight of the earth behind it, and some of the building weight, so I'm not holding back on plaster.


When my friends left, we had about a foot of plaster at the bottom. I added everything else, almost to the top, just today by myself. Needless to say, I am very tired! If you look closely at the bottom of the picture, you can see that the excavation has about 6 inches of water pooled in it. We have a piece of plywood under the water, which makes work much easier, but it's going to be difficult to get the plywood out later, especially with all the water over it! I used the water on the bottom to mix the cement with, saving me from using the hose.

This is how much we completed before the rainy day spoiled our fun. I've almost run out of sand, which is quite amazing, since I had an entire truck box full!

Going even further back in time, before any plaster was placed.


When we get a mixer, I expect to be able to plaster around 4 times faster, even by myself. The local hardware store sells an electric mixer for about $350, so I will purchase one tommorow or within the next week. Renting one is $32 per day, and I need this thing a LOT, so buying it just makes more sense! I might even advertise myself out to do small cement jobs in town, if the demand is there. Cement is really quite easy, when you have a mixer!

Once we get a little financing from the bank, we can really take off with this project. I haven't been able to get going without any money, unfortunately. I still need a lot of gravel, and about 3 yards of concrete to complete the foundation, as well as a Bobcat and another day with the excavator. I'm looking forward to starting the framing, which I can do anytime now. The framed pieces will simply sit around and wait for the foundation!

On the garden side, my broccoli just LOVES this weather, and recovered quite well from the hail, but the cucumbers did not do very well at all. Some of them will produce a few cukes, but nothing like they could have! I do have about a dozen little tiny tomatoes, which ought to mature by the end of August.

Testing some crazy ideas

Well, just a short while left in our Alberta summertime, but progress has been made! After many rotten delays, mainly due to very unseasonable rainfall, we had pushed ahead with construction of a unique building, that will hopefully demonstrate the wonderful buildings that can be made with local, inexpensive materials, and not only meet, but exceed the current building standards in every measurable category!

After racking my brain, and making a dozen or so designs on paper, we started construction of our strawbale workshop. Because of the quickly approaching wintertime, and our financial constraints, I elected to use some unconventional techniques to build the foundation and overall structure of our workshop. As it stands now, we have more time and labour than we have money, so we're opting for labour intensive, yet, inexpensive techniques, which I will describe in this blog.

First, a funny story: We rented a small excavator to dig out our foundation, but we could only afford one day's rental, so I needed to really make it worth-while. I had a few projects that I would have like to get to, but the foundation was primary! Unfortunately, there was a horrible turn of events that led to the excavator being trapped in a deep trench (not completely my fault). Only through the wonderful grace of God, and my way cool neighbors with big tractors did we manage to free it! Unfortunately, time was lost doing that, and I spent the next day from 7 am trying to catch up. I managed to get the foundation done, but it was pouring buckets of rain, and I had to stop now and then to scrape off accumulated clay from the bucket. Washing off the excavator took me $40 and almost two hours at the car wash! Then, I broke something on the trailer, which cost me $100 extra too. Even so, I consider that it went well, considering everything that was stacked against me!

My good friends came out to help me slave away, and put in nearly two days of solid work to build an earthbag wall (pictured below), which will serve as the bottom of a rainwater cistern, and will also double as a portion of the foundation.
The Hole. Doesn't look like much, about 5 1/2 feet deep, 11 feet wide at the top. I dug this in about an hour and a half with the backhoe.
Earthbag construction: Literally, filling bags with excavated dirt, placing them on a stack, and ramming them down. Includes barbed wire in between layers to keep them stable. The dirt was simply hacked from a spot on the wall that will become the staircase to the half-basement. One side (seen in picture) is the cistern, the other (off camera) will be a root cellar, and will house the pump and pressure tank.

Twelve layers high forms a good foundation. The wall is curved to give it strength, and will be reinforced with rebar, and wire mesh. The plywood on the ground helps us work in the mud. It rained twice, and is raining right now. In the middle of August...sigh.
I left to purchase cement and sand, and return to find that, not only have my friends placed the rebar, they bent it to fit the shape. With just their hands. I was very impressed!

We left off by placing many tall rods in place, and putting wire mesh against it. This will provide the strength needed in the cement to withstand not only being filled with water, but also the pressure of the dirt and some of the building weight as well. I believe it will be fine, but I'm not taking chances. I'm simply over building as much as possible to avoid any failures! The corner of the cistern that will be under the most strain is curved, which gives it tremendous strength over a flat design. The bags, rebar, wire and cement plaster should hold up better than conventional techniques, yet uses less cement, which is very expensive!

Tommorow, I rent a big 'ol compressor, which will power my plaster sprayer. I bought a truckload of sand for peanuts, and my cement bags are rain-protected. My friends will be back to assist tommorow, and we have two days to get the job done!

I'd like to point out lastly, that we are doing something that has NEVER been done before (as far as I know)! I have never heard of someone using earthbags to build a water cistern, especially not below the ground! When we're finished, hopefully someone will be able to see this, and either use it, or possibly even improve on it.

Just to give you an idea, so far I've spent less than $1500 on the entire project. The entire building will cost around $8000 (or less), and will be more than 800 square feet inside! This is a building that could easily be turned into a small home, or scaled up and made into a bigger home! In fact, if anything were to happen to our main house, I would move my family into this building until more permanent arrangements could be made.

Stay tuned for more pics in a few days!

PS - We're having another baby too! We just found out! We're ECSTATIC!

Hail!!!!

I was educated yesterday, regarding severe weather in Southern Alberta. A couple of days ago a person was killed at the Big Valley Jamboree when a massive wind gust blew down the concert stage. The wind that caused the damage was called a "plough" wind, and preceeds a thunderstorm. It's basically a powerful downdraft wind that spreads out in all directions like water pouring from the faucet when it strikes the sink. It can reach speeds of 100kph, which is almost hurricane velocity, and 1/3 tornado velocity. The same downdraft blew through downtown Calgary, and tossed plywood sheets off of construction towers onto the streets. A 3 year old girl was killed when she was struck on the head by a piece of metal flying off a building!
A friend of mine was on the Bow River when the downdraft hit, and Calgary Fire Rescue pulled him and his family to safety. So, these downdrafts can be deadly, even though they don't last very long.

We experienced this twice over several days. No major damage occurred from the winds, but the thunderstorm last night brought hail, which basically pulverized my vegetables. Some of them look like they might make it through, which is encouraging, but all of them sustained pretty severe damage, except the tomatoes, which were getting out of control anyway.

I have come to the conclusion that I need a permanent system to deal with hail, which is a constant presence out here on the flat prairies. We very much need a shelterbelt around our house area, which of course takes time to establish. I also plan to build a metal framed mesh around my garden tires, made of bent 5 foot rebar with chicken wire stretched over it. The chicken wire should deflect most of the hailstones and reduce the damage significantly. It's also inexpensive, and lasts a very long time. The rebar will be bent in a curve or two bends (whichever works best), and tied to the chicken wire. I could also stretch plastic over this and make a very decent mini-greenhouse in the spring, perhaps starting the seedlings a week or two early.

I really pray that my plants will recuperate from the hail, which will surely knock them back in growth by a week or two.

The workshop/shed/barn project is progressing well, with tommorow being the excavation day. I staked out the 42 x 24 foot area and cut all the vegetation down to make it easier to see. I purchased some thick cable for the electrical circuit, and ran it out to the edge from the house. I want to be able to just dig the trench, bury the wire, and rebury it right away. I only have the machine for 1 day, so I have to be completely prepared!

Look for pictures as I complete the digging.