...while the sun shines

2 weeks into my WWOOFing now & it feels like I’ve been at this farm half my life! I arrived just after lunchtime last Saturday and was shown straight to the field where the hay was being baled. September is very late for bringing in a hay crop but it was the first 5 days of sufficiently dry weather & there was a mad rush on to get it all in and under cover before the forecast rain set in. After a lightening fast round of introductions I took my place behind the antiquated baling machine pulled by an old Fordson Major tractor to hand delivered each bale to a spot where it wouldn’t be in the way on the next pass through the field. There were regular stops to untangle birds-nests of baler twine after the machine had decided to keep hold of it and pass out loose hay instead.

I’m beginning to learn that Ben, my host, is a bit of a collector of ancient bits of kit & it is fascinating to see what appear to be rusty & apparently abandoned pieces of machinery tugged out of hedges & put to work, sometimes enhanced by a replacement component from an equally forgotten looking item near-by. I’ve always been a fan of low-tech machinery on the basis that it requires low-tech solutions to mend and keep running, which in turn means its lifespan is limited only by the skill, imagination and creativity of the operator – attributes that are enjoyable in themselves and discourage any separation of the worker from the work.

Despite the pressures of time there was a great atmosphere of people pulling together. The hay is of course the winter feed for the animals and highly prone to rotting when wet, so it was of vital importance that the job was completed before the rain came in – and it was forecast for Sunday. Normally this would have been a job for two shire horses but the critical need for speed tipped the balance in favour of the tractor and 4x4. 700 bales were transported off the field & stacked in the barn in the near pitch darkness. Plus another 500ish on Sunday, with the first spots of rain landing on the front of the tractor as we reversed the last trailer into the barn. The sense of relief was enormous. Levels of tiredness maxed out all-round, but at the evening meal conversation & jovialities flowed as freely as the cider…

There is much cross-over between my nature conservation career & work on the farm, and my tractor, chainsaw & general practical skills are in high demand. It also looks as though I will be writing a management plan for 20ha of woodland next door & advising on sources of funding for carrying out management work. Ha! – pretty much what I was getting paid for a few weeks ago! I thought that woodland and habitat management consultancy might be one of my income streams in the future so I’ll be using this as a practice run since the practicalities of doing it freelance will be very different to writing for, and from within a professional organisation. Also this woodland will need to produce usable timber for craft, saw milling and sale and be viable without an army of volunteer labour. Managed correctly this commercial aspect is entirely compatible with the enhancement of wildlife habitats, & combining these two elements is something that I find massively exciting since it promotes the value of our native woodlands in a way that is more likely to be recognised by the powers-that-be than their ecological value alone.

I am happy that I can provide a specialist service, and in return I am grateful to receive training in working with horses – which is equally specialist, and hopefully will be a skill of great value to me in the future.

More on horses in the next post…

So, what next then?

OK, so the plan is to spend time with folk who are doing it already. Living aspects of the way I would eventually like to live that is. I have listed skills and experience that I feel I need and am going to concentrate on acquiring them over the next few months by living & working with folk who are using these skills to make their living. I want to see how they make it work, & whether it seems to be worth it (are they happy & fulfilled or toiling long stressful hours to make ends meet?)

The first of these placements will be in Devon on an organic farm & woodland powered by 2 shire horses. More on that as & when.

For now though, 2 things of relevance have happened during the last week:

1.  Spoonfest 2012– the first festival dedicated to the carved wooden spoon! - No, really!!

I’ve been an avid spoon carver for a number of years & certainly see wood-craft as a potential string to my bow in terms of earning money. What a joy it was to share skills, techniques and approaches with 250+ fellow spooners (if you'll excuse the expression) including one of my all-time greenwood heroes Robin Wood http://greenwood-carving.blogspot.co.uk/, and other master craftsmen I was unaware of such as Fritiof Runhall, Jogge Sundqvist & many others… Rather than reinvent the wheel I’ll direct anyone who is interested in such things to Sharif’s superb write-up here: http://woodenway.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/spoonfest-2012/  

  

2.    I’ve just returned from a straw bale building course with Barbara Jones of Straw Works (formerly Amazon Nails) http://strawworks.co.uk/.

Barbara is the don of straw bale building in the UK. She began her career as a roofing contractor & took a year out to investigate the use of straw bales as a building material all over the world. She then set up a not-for-profit social enterprise aiming to empower ordinary people in the construction process. She has put straw in the picture for building inspectors and planners across the country, proving that this readily available (usually locally), cheap and generally sustainable building material can be used instead of energy intensive bricks and mortar in most situations. She has built barns, roundhouses, semi-detached houses, rows of terraced council houses and multi-story buildings from straw.

I would very much like to build my own house from this material one day. I particularly like the fact that I will probably be able to source it from within a couple of miles (or meters) of where I intend to build, rather than having bricks driven by lorry hundreds of miles to distribution centres & then out again… And also the fact that it is more than twice as insulative as current building regulations require, is fully breathable, and pretty much rodent and fireproof once compressed. Actually, when comparing the stats bricks & mortar begin to look like wholly unsuitable building materials!

For more info on this I can do no better than recommend Barbara’s definitive book: http://www.green-shopping.co.uk/build-w-straw-bales.html

We built an open fronted barn to store old agricultural machinery at Bulmer Brick & Tile works nr Sudbury, Essex. Bart, who's family have owned the business for most of the last century decided to undertake the project & use it as an opportunity for Barbara to run a course. He had done the prep work including the foundations & wall plinth. We have left him to construct a roof over the next few weeks.

Dressing the bales to make the ends square, minimising the gaps in the joints.

Timber base plate construction. The straw is raised to 18" above the ground on a plinth to ensure it stays dry. in this case it is brick & lime mortar (flexible & breathable). This was already in place prior to the course and not Barbara's first choice of plinth material. The timber keeps the straw away from any condensation in the brickwork & allows efficient anchoring of the walls

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Off-loading bales so that they can be measured & dressed. They're all different lengths so a bale plan needs to be drawn up using the 'average' (mean) bale length. Otherwise all the long ones - for argument's sake - would get left till last & then won't fit on the wall.

Initial anchoring of the bales via spikes made from hazel coppiced from an adjacent hedge.

Checking it's all square & level

Adjusting wall straightness by whacking it with a wooden board!

2 long pins per bale made from the coppiced hazel are driven vertically through the wall.

At the first sign of rain the bales must be covered to prevent any ingress of water which would cause them to rot.

Wall-plate under construction

Due to time constraints the logical order of construction was abandoned so that we could fit in a bit of everything. The wall plate is in position (anchored by more hazel spikes) & the walls await compression, which would normally happen before any clay plastering. The clay applied here will probably crack during wall compression but this shouldn't be a problem for the first coat - it will actually help the next coat to bond.

First coat of clay applied. This reveals all the crevices & holes that need to be filled with a mix of clay & straw.

Final re-adjustment of any protruding bales with a big hammer (they can shift a bit when the stakes are driven through).

Compression using 5ton ratchet straps. The wall dropped by 10cm & immediately became rock solid. Nylon packing straps hold it down until the weight of the roof can be applied.

2nd coat of clay plaster.

 The plan was to lime render the outside wall but unfortunately we ran out of time. The next pic is of a straw bale studio we visited a few miles away. Designed by Amazon Nails & built by the owner on foundations of old car tyres rammed with gravel.

What's this all about?

Writing a blog is the last thing I ever thought I’d do, so for my first post I'll outline what this is all about:

 In August 2012 I quit my job and dream career of the past 12 years to seek skills, knowledge and first hand experience of living a low impact lifestyle and in a way that better reflects my sense of right and wrong.
My aim is to re-prioritise my quality of life, my ethics, and develop my connection with the natural world to to allow me to partake in a self perpetuating give-and-take relationship with the earth.

I am ultimately seeking a way of living that is:

• Not dependant on limited supplies of non-renewable resources
• Does not rely on exploitation of people, animals or the earth
• Does promote interaction between people, animals and natural systems so that through listening to the needs of each we can adjust our methods to serve all in synergy.
• Is generally based on Permaculture principles.
• Promotes the sharing of skills and preservation of crafts as a meaningful contribution to society in terms of material production and psychological well-being.
  
• Is entirely self-supporting, meaning that it must pay its way in an ethical manner
• Does not involve excessive discomfort, living in squalor, or a return to the days of rickets and smallpox...

I’ve received vastly different reactions from the people I’ve told about this journey, from stunned silences followed by mockery, through to euphoric congratulations and elevation almost to hero status. One of the most 'memorable' responses was "What, you mean you're going to go and be one of those hippies that don't pay any taxes?"

I’ve found communicating about my journey very difficult. Partly perhaps because what I see as 'the way forward' is such a multifaceted, interwoven web of ecology, sociology, spirituality and practicality that it is extremely difficult to concisely articulate anything close to what I actually believe. Especially when talking to people who have never given serious thought to the way we live in western society and exactly what kind of abominable practices prop it up. I often find myself in a completely different paradigm when trying to communicate this which usually results in having to make a choice between conflict or keeping my opinions to my self – the latter feeling totally unsatisfactory but by far the least worst option.

So I am trying this as an attempt to communicate in a different way. I intend to present an account of my journey as it happens for anyone who feels inclined to read it. I do not intend to try to change others, rather to be open about how I am changing myself. I don’t claim to be ‘right’ or wish to promote a ‘right way’ of doing things – this is my journey of exploration and learning, and will naturally come with mistakes and contradictions which will need to be identified and overcome. I hope it inspires debate and discussion to aid that learning process for everyone, and most of all I hope it inspires others to overcome the fear of the unknown in the search for a fairer, kinder and more sympathetic way of living.