Strawbale Studio NATURAL BUILDING Program                       

 

  2008 Year-in-Review REPORT         

 

 

2008 has been diverse and full ~ with education on & off site through building projects and hands-on training, tours, presentations and exhibits. The story of our collaborative work is in the media, including an Associated Press video on the Kids Cottage, and photos of the Strawbale Studio carried in Mother Earth News, in an article on earth sculpting. It is an encouraging and transformational time.  One of local collaborations to create structures and practices that are sustainable and nurturing to all life. 

 

 

New structures in 2008 include the Oxford Kid’s Cottage with its beautiful round pole frame and thatched roof, the Spiral Chamber a small thatched-roof wattle & daub structure, & the frame of a year-round greenhouse.  The Strawbale Studio received phase one of a radiant hot water system which will warm both the floor and the benches, and on the land several Permaculture Garden beds have been prepared including a sheet mulching for a Mandala Garden.  Check out the inspiring pictures throughout this report !

 

 

  The Kensington Kid’s Cottage continues to impact thousands a year at the Kensington Metropark    Farm Center through programming and tours.  And In 2008 hundreds of folks have had an opportunity to tour the Strawbale Studio & grounds. Hands-on training has been shared with individuals, families & home-schooling teenagers ~ through, workshops, weekly programs, internships & volunteer activities.  Several off-site projects were assisted this year including the earth plastering of a sStrawbale tool shed at Tall Trees Community Farm.  

 

And within each week, each day, there are the ongoing “micro-events” ~ the that bring together conversations, experiments, consultations, phone calls and emails ~ each seeking to re-weave the relationship between people and nature.  A great way to do this is through the monthly Full Moon Potluck and Bonfire here on the land, each focused on coming into  “natural balance” …each exploring the sensibility and joy of being “directly connected” to nature.which brings together new-comers and old friends for an evening of community. This gathering provides an opportunity to tour the projects, discuss ideas, spend time around the bonfire and create local ties.  I believe that we are instinctively and profoundly being drawn to reconnect and reconstitute the “local”. The terms “Re-localization”, “lLocavore” and “lLocal lLiving” are swiftly coming into our vocabulary, our  and collective consciousness and our reality, (and reality) as we creatively respond to the challenges of our times.  

 

 

 

 

      

I am so blessed to be on this path with so many others who are also are on fire and eagerly learning and helping to and create the Great Turning toward a sustainable, restorative future.

 

 

                   I believe, and I hear others say with hope, “We have turned the corner”. 

 

                                Are we like the Caterpillar transforming to Butterfly?. 

 

The Kensington Kid’s Cottage continues to impact thousands a year at the Kensington Metropark Farm Center through programming and tours.  And In 2008 hundreds of folks have had an opportunity to tour the Strawbale Studio & grounds. Hands-on training has been shared with individuals, families & home-schooling teenagers ~ through, workshops, weekly programs, internships & volunteer activities.  Several off-site projects were assisted this year including the earth plastering of a sStrawbale tool shed at Tall Trees Community Farm. 

 

 

Public interest in “Green” has been increasing greatly and with the assistance of interns & other volunteers, numerous presentations & exhibits were made in 2008. Our presence at these events now includes our new Earth Oven called “The Turtle” and an expanded slideshow presentation updated with natural building projects in the Great Lakes Region. A sign up sheet is offered at all events, so that folks can receive email postings about our activities and other significant happenings, such as the Detroit Bioneers, and Natural Building Colloquium East.  The networking list now reaches out to over 1500 people. The strawbalestudio.org website is ever evolving, deepening. It lists our Calendar, shares information on sustainable living, and hosts the “Great Lakes Natural Building Network” a listing of regional natural building resources, including architects, builders, programs and

 

 

LOG LOFT   A round-pole loft is under construction in the main house in the East wing.  It will be a sleeping loft with storage shelves built-in underneath. Trees have been felled from the property, primarily dead ash trees.  It uses variety of joining techniques: notching, bolting, wooden pinning, and lashing. 

 

The TURTLE EARTH OVEN  was constructed in 2008 with help from Intern David Smith & Teen Builders.  It has been exhibited with demonstration cooking at the Detroit Bioneers, the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Fair, Manistique, MI and a Solstice Festival at Tall Trees Farm, White Lake, MI.

 

The ROCKET STOVE HEATED BENCH built five years ago, received additional sculpting with the theme of "Totem Pole".  A small barrel was incorporated over the burn chamber, and with the assistance of intern Bethany, a 3-Day Test Burn was successfully conducted to assess the system.

 

 

EARTH SCULPTING took place in the main house, and a strawbale bench was added in the East Wing, the hallway walls and sculptures were further expanded and developed during workshops and by interns and me.  Several areas were also sculpted in the Strawbale Studio as a result of the radiant floor retrofit.  I created a number of small clay figures this year: Faerie Earthlings, Moonface, Circle of Life, and Sunface.