Floda31 Sweden

Just found out about this. Read the full brief of their creative community here. Brilliant!

lay of the land

I love these architectural models. Great ideas for mapping out the contours and lay of the land. The first one has used corrugated cardboard and the second is from newsprint. I saw these at a little exhibition at CAT (centre for alternative technologies) in Wales on a recent visit. 

the settlement mind mapping v.1

I just found these mind maps that myself, dom and mum had done to try to see how our personal vision for the project might complement and overlap. It's nice to look back and see how ideas change and develop and to see what remains as the overwhelming aim. We should do these every six months or so. We did these January 2010 which is an age ago, perhaps it's time for a new version all? And Dad, we are still waiting for yours! x

 

Lammas Project Wales

We recently made a little research trip for our down under dream around Wales. Wales is really leading the way in terms of sustainable living in Britain. During our tour one of the places we visited was the Lammas Project in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Lammas is a cooperative that is pioneering the way for eco communities in Wales and beyond. It is the first eco-village to have applied and been granted planning permission prior to establishing the community and so have set a legal precedent and created a model for other sustainable communities in Wales. Their website is an incredible resource for anyone interested in this way of life. They are so generous in their openness about the arduous process they went through and it's truly fascinating reading through the mountains of documents on the site.

The Tir y Gafel site is the first and model Lammas ecovillage development.  We visited last Saturday and took the morning site tour which was truly inspirational. This site is about 18months old and already they have done wonders with the land. Tir y Gafel had been grazing land for sheep and cattle for generations before the farm was forced to sell off part of their land. The plot was subdivided into nine plots about 5-6 acres each. There is also a government funded community centre that will be a place to bring together the local community and the eco-village and for the Lammas families to share their knowledge and experiences of sustainable living.

this shows one of the many ponds they have built which is fed from a stream that runs across the land. The site also has a natural spring water supply and a 100 year old hydro turbine which they are restoring and which will provide the majority of electricity for the nine small holdings. 

This is the community hub building. A strawbale construction with a turf roof. All the timber is from the land mostly from the conifer forest that they are replanting with native trees for coppicing for future timber supply.

The stone floor has a pretty standard underfloor heating wires underneath which will be powered by the hydro turbine. There is also a ceramic wood burner and solar heating.

The ceiling has a cavity between the straw bale layer and plaster render which will be able to be closed off. This cavity is needed for the heat exchange to avoid condensation. 

Sun trap with roof solar cells

This is the ceramic wood burner. Coppiced willow will be the fuel source. The ceramic burner is made from ceramic bricks like those used to make kilns. Instead of the smoke and heat running straight up the chimney, the smoke draws up to the point where you can see a hole about 8 feet from the ground, then it is brought back down again and then only then up through the chimney, by that stage the air has left most of its heat in the ceramic bricks which will slowly release itself into the building. It's supposed to be incredibly fuel efficient.

This shows one of the shower cubicles. 

Compost loo raised up for easy access to the compost. The base is lined with strawbales. The straws apparently does something to the urine so that it's not necessary to separate wee and poo. 

Hay Bale Construction: One of the families started out with the construction of a barn to gain experience of self building. They wanted to only use materials within a 5 mile radius and because there is no straw in Wales they went with hay instead. This is controversial since hay is a food source and very attractive to rodents and other pests. The other problem with it is that it is so dense it was very difficult to stake and shape and they said they would not consider using it for their dwelling. 

This is the vegetable garden on the same plot. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo in their polytunnel which was where the most abundant crops were. Nearly all the families have polytunnels. In these harsh conditions in windy, wet and cold Pembrokeshire polytunnels seem to be the way to go. 

They almost managed to build the barn using all wood nails and joints, until the weather started changing and they had to throw the roof up in a hurry.  

Cob House Construction: the next plot we were shown was this one where the family had build a cob (earth) house from the clay soil dug from the very same site. It has a straw bale and turf roof. 

Their productive gardens and polytunnel which was made by them using hazel as a frame with a sheet of plastic wrapped over it. A more natural looking poly tunnel if such a thing can be said. 

Again, the timber was harvested from the conifer forest at the top of the land. By clearing some of the conifers the native trees have started to thrive.

Their bath was just beautiful. You can just make out the stove where you build your fire that heats up the water. The bath is just filled up by hose pipe then heated with the fire under the bath. 

Timber frame stud building with straw bale interior walls built up on stone mushrooms to stop the rodents as this will become a storage/workshop space.

This house was probably my favourite in terms of liveability. It was lovely and light, had a lot of height and was open plan with a mezzanine bedroom. This was also their first hand built home so they started with what will become the workshop/storage for their woodwork/pottery/crafts and produce. 

Quite experimentally they have chosen to insulate the floor and ceiling with raw sheeps fleece. Normally it is treated for this use. Using it raw could have some ramifications with pest infestations. They have left manholes in the ceiling and flooring to allow them to check on the material and eventually replace it if necessary. I'm wondering if the retention of all that natural lanolin might actually protect the fleece. Considering the glut of wool in Britain and the pittance that a producer receives for a fleece it would be good news if we could use such a material unprocessed for insulation. 

Unfortunately we didn't get to see all the building on the site. There is also an earth sheltered house that I would have loved to have seen but the owners were away. There are some pictures on the Lammas website that is the most amazing resource for anyone interested in building an eco house or starting up an eco project. I can't wait to see more Lammas projects. Thank you Lammas for sharing with the world your wonderful ideas and creativity!

Note to self

This is a bit of a note to self, but aren't all blog posts really?

Can't wait for this Natural Dye Symposium, to be held in Fitzroy Melbourne in June 2012. I know it's a year away, but with our big move down under the year is going to fly by and I'm already planning a few events to make our settling in period smooth as silk!

I'm also planning on booking this workshop with the most inspirational eco dye artist India Flint in December this year also in Melbourne.

We are a little in limbo until my partner is granted his visa, then we can book flight, book workshops, find land and start making our maker's farm a reality!

Community Fruits

I got all warm and fuzzy listening to a great report on ABC's Bush Telegraph Podcast broadcast on 21/2. It was about a fantastic initiative set up in Castlemaine, Victoria whereby a group of people are helping the local community help themselves to post-flood laden fruit trees in public areas just ripe for the picking. They are also going around to local growers and ordinary folk who might just have a pear tree in their garden that needs harvesting, pruning and a little tender loving care so that it may continue to produce fruit for future generations and at the same time feed the local community right now.

What a wonderful project and one that can be replicated across the world as we all strive to grow our own, buy local and eat local and help take the strain of the global food economy. One of their programmes is called Urban Food Maps, I'm still trying to find out the link to the original Castlemaine project. Such a project would work so well in London, there are countless fruit trees in parks that could be harvested. Our local Hackney City Farm has recently started a community edible garden that will be open to the public for harvesting and I have just discovered that there is a group called Hackney Harvest that mobilise the community to sites where harvesting is open and trees need planting. Why have I only just discovered this!

Well, blow me down, I have also just found out that this Australian initiative also exists right here in London and is called The London Orchard Project. It's great to know that all those plums are not going to waste this year!

Spiritual House

I found an inspiring article today in Frame Magazine about a contemporary designed building used to "accommodate spiritual, social and political gatherings for Pan Aboriginal groups across North America...The white cedar structure is a network of lamellar arches prefabricated from a computer model...As you enter, you smell the sage and sweet grass that are burned during meetings and counselling sessions." Imagine having such a peaceful space for contemplation and a cleansing of the senses... Read the article here
It's a magnificent building but practically speaking.. could a straw bale house be created from this kind of framework? with a render to the inside & outside..

Places of interest

I just discovered Fryers Forest which is an eco-village in central Victoria. I was surprised to learn that one of the founders of Permaculture was from Western Australia and this eco-village has been designed and developed by him entirely on his Permaculture principles. The eco village currently has homes for 27 villagers and includes a community orchard, three artificial lakes stocked with fish and a community house.

It would also be well worth a visit to Melliodora, for research/inspiration. This is a site located in the spa town Hepburn Springs, to quote: "It is one of the best documented and well known permaculture demonstration sites in Australia. The passive solar house, mixed food gardens, orchards, dams and livestock, and creek revegetation show how permaculture design can help to restore and improve land, provide for residents' needs and enjoyment in a cool inland climate."

And all this right in the neighbourhood of the area we are looking to establish our makers farm!

The dream visualisation revised edition

It was nearly two years ago that the first dream visualisation came to light and since then we have only really established a date for leaving the UK and have been working on a few practicalities like how to move/leave a growing UK based business etc... but I have been steadily growing impatient for change! What I needed was a renewed vision. So I set about sketching and this is what came of it. I was quite surprised by the amount of detail my minds eye could conjure. 

Here you can see we have some alpacas. Beautiful creatures for a small hobby farm, lovely soft wool for shearing and spinning and felting. We also have a few goats, for their versatility on a farm, their milk and their friendly cheeky spirit.

On the right here you can see in more detail the artist studios, up on higher ground, looking out across the valley a perfect spot for the star gazing and inspiration gathering. It's a passive solar structure of straw bale construction, not so much inspired but lifted from the pages of the beautiful book "The Hybrid House"

This is my family's dwelling, a strawbale/rammed earth construction with a green roof and a pebble and tile mosaic wall. I've taken some inspiration here for the look of part of this house from a book called "The Art of Natural Building". See the kitchen garden and outdoor clay oven.

In this detail you can also see the creek that runs through the property, with a tree house, for the children of course. The edible garden will be designed in line with permaculture principles and you can see there is a fruit orchard with an abundant juicy harvest.

This detail shows Dwelling number two with its Le Corbusier style roof. The creek runs into a beautiful pond with a deck over looking the lilies. The balcony over looks the valley below. It's a straw bale construction with a kitchen garden. (Mum and Dad, I've just drawn this in for the sake of the vision continuity, you'll have a more accurate vision of your own house I'm sure!)

Some of the workshops will have their own constructions, like the Green Woodworking Studios, based on those we saw at the inspiring Ruskin Mill College in Nailsworth, UK. As it states on the article I have linked to above, at the college "students help harvest and fell timber in the local woodlands to provide a source of unseasoned material (green wood) for use in the workshop. As the wood contains a high level of moisture it is easy to split and shape. Green wood working uses hand tools and simple human powered devices - pole lathes, shaving horses, axes, draw knives and chisels. Students craft a range of objects from simple gardening dibbers to bowls, stools and chairs...". I've always admired the beautiful circular Dovecotes dotted around Normandy and I can imagine one could work beautifully as a pottery studio...

This image shows the accommodation available for visitors, artists in residence, friends and family from the UK or workshop participants. There is a yurt, also a communal space for gatherings when not in use, a gypsy wagon and an artistically decorated static caravan. This is situated on the creek with it's conveniently placed swimming hole complete with tyre swing. There is also space for a few tipi tents. 

So there you have it, a vision from the mind of an optimist, a dreamer... perhaps naive, perhaps ambitious but I am nevertheless setting an intention for a space of great creativity, beauty, productivity, health, growth and happiness. 

The dreaming begins

This dream visualisation first came to me in 2009, I started drawing, which turned into a painting that started to visualise a concept of communal living/working that I had been very interested in exploring. The picture went something like this...

My dream involved starting this project with a team of enthusiasts, my partner (designer/potter/painter), son Merlin (muse), Mum (artist/permaculture/landscape/strawbale dreamer), Dad (craftsman/carpenter/builder/astronomer) and me (knitter/fiber artist/general maker of things). We would find land outside Melbourne, build separate sustainable dwellings, some shared artist studios, run workshops, invite artists and craftsmen from around the world to share their passion with budding makers.

The land would become a place for gathering, for doing, fulfilling, for living and working and have many different income streams so that life could become as self sustaining as it can possibly be in today's world.

As you can tell, this is a work in progress firmly situated in the dream space, but as time goes on, I hope this blog will slowly reveal the transition from dream to reality.