Maya Creek Ecovillage

Winter 2008 Plan Details

Currently there are no structures on the land capable of housing people throughout the winter. Elizabeth and Tao will be spending the winter in Roanoke, VA. We will be working, saving money, and reading more about many of the projects that will begin in the spring.

We will also be working out several legal factors associated with the land as well as dealing with the only building codes in Callaway County which deal with sanitation and sewage.

Winter Reading List

Listed in order of reading or intent to read.

• Building Green

  (Completed)
  By Clarke Snell & Tim Callahan

  I found this book at Lowe's and I see why they carry it now. I have the same sort of criticism of it that I have of The Straw Bale House. The people building the house used cement like it was going out of style, used all the latest power tools and heavy machinery, and did not seem to make any attempt at giving examples of cheaper or reclaimed material alternatives.

  On the plus side however it had lots of color photos and was a much more step-by-step guide. It went through building cob, cordwood, and straw bale walls. In fact it did it all in one building, which I found to be somewhat disconcerting as no one is likely to do that. Perhaps 2, but not all 3. The guide was really just a step-by-step on how to build this exact house and lacked real generalizations on how to expand on these concepts to build a custom house.

• The Straw Bale House

  (Completed)
  By Athena Swentzell Steen, Bill Steen, and David Bainbridge

  I did quite a bit of research, flipping through reviews and such before I landed on the books about straw bale construction I planned on reading. The last natural building book I read, The Hand Sculpted House, was about cob building and left me feeling empowered and I had the sense that with just that one book alone I could build a cob house.

  So, it's not that The Straw Bale House was bad, it just was not as thorough as I was hoping. I learned a lot about the process, the different techniques for things, the advantages and disadvantages of certain approaches. That was all well and good, but I felt as if I had been shown almost everything I needed to build, but not all.

  The Hand Sculpted House was aimed at people doing natural building with thin budgets and the desire to get their hands dirty. Most of the examples in The Straw Bale House were elegant homes and the examples in the budget area had people spending $300,000 plus on average. Clearly, not the type of construction we're looking for.

  It goes back to people trying to simply "Green" the way they do things without changing their lifestyles. I felt like the book was aimed at people who likely drive hybrid SUVs and buy expensive organic produce from Whole Foods, not people trying to get back to their roots and fundamentally realign their lives with nature.

• More Straw Bale Building

  (Completed)
  By Chris Magwood, Peter Mack, and Tina Therrien

  This book I believe was slightly more up to date than The Straw Bale House. It wasn't as detailed about certain aspects as the The Straw Bale House though, which was disappointing because I was hoping to have more detailed information about the design of the roof plate, window and door bucks, and maybe even the roof, buut it was actually less detailed in those areas.

  On the plus side it did give me several revelations. First, it says that pins driven into the walls are not necessary. The Straw Bale House recommended driving rebar into the walls, which I wasn't very happy about since it's not exactly sustainable. The second revelation was that of "bale dipping", which is the practice of dipping the inside and outside sides of bales in plaster before the initial stacking. This first layer of plaster is typically very labor intensive and can only be done after trimming the bales which isn't necessary if they are dipped.

  The other areas that this book was very detailed in were that of plastering, the different types of plaster, how to mix them, the pluses and minuses, etc. It also had good suggestions on the order of different steps and how to organize work parties.

• Ultimate Guide to House Framing

  (Completed)
  By John D. Wagner

  While this is book is about mainstream construction it gave me some valuable insights into practical hands on skills such as types of lumber, nails, tools, etc and the proper ways to use them. It also had quite a few useful tips that I'm sure I never would have thought of but that I imagine could be quite useful.

  The main reason for buying and reading this book however was to learn more about roof construction. I only skimmed through the sections on floor and wall framing, but the roof section was indeed very helpful. I had been debating on whether to incorporate trusses or use a ridgeboard/rafter setup. I went into the book leaning towards the trusses, but have since changed my mind based on this book. It will certainly come in handy as reference when we get to this stage of construction.

• The New Self-Sufficient Gardener

  (Completed)
  By John Seymour

  This book makes a good addition to a gardening book collection but is not a one-stop-shop. It spends about a third of the book explaining the principles of self-sufficient gardening and the last 2/3s are plant specific on how to grow them, maintain them, and take care of their associated pests and diseases. This last section seems like it will be very useful but I wish the first part had been more in-depth.

  Also, I feel like John Seymour is a little more conventional than I plan on gardening. He promotes the deep bed method in this book, which I'm sure is excellent and I will no-doubt use it to some extent, but he doesn't seem to give much creed to no-till systems which protect humus and organic matter and can help to build up soil fertility more quickly.

• The Earth Care Manual (Currently Reading)

  
  Patrick Whitefield

  So far this is the best and most easily accessible permaculture book I've read. It's also excellent because it deals specifically a temperate climate which is where we will be.

  
  

• Gardening with Guineas

  
  Jeannette S. Ferguson

  Oh yes, we will get rid of those ticks and chiggers.

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