Pods at night... and pictures!

Shortening fall days aren't stopping us yet...  Took my camera around as I was picking up tools. Here is Lindsay mixing up one of the final batches of light straw clay in the granny unit (no, she's not performing a ritual to raise the dead here)

Sasha's rafters.  This is actually pre-roof, so now it looks a little diffferent.... And Massey's woven creation... before it all gets covered up with mud.

It was dark by the time I got all the way to the backyard to my pod, but here are more pictures from the fall, mostly of the buildings.

Slideshow

Acorn gathering and trailer testing

Midday today, I hauled out the bamboo bike trailer from where it had been sitting under the redwood tree, molding and forgotten.   This post is both a review of its official maiden voyage (finally!), and a rambling account of foraging for and preparing acorns: the amazing nut which was once a food staple for native americans that that falls on the ground this time of year to sprout and create new oak trees, or to be carried off by hyperactive squirrels.  

I built the trailer months ago using this online pattern as a guide- which I highly recommend for its straightforward and clear directions and illustrations.  I bungied a few wooden wine boxes onto it to hold the bounty, and headed off. Well actually, first my bike chain broke, and then the front derailer snapped off in my hand, but the chain was easily fixable and who needs those extra gears anyhow?  Oh bike neglect.  So with a few less gears I pedaled down the road, the empty trailer loosely bouncing along behind me.  I mostly got used to the extra space I took up on the road with it, but I did accidently run over an abandoned rubber rain boot on the shoulder, which flipped the trailer (and luckily caused no harm and spilled no acorns).

Because of the nature of foraging, the trailer filled up gradually, which was an excellent way to test the effect of weight on it.  Bicycle speed suits acorn gathering- fast enough to get from tree to tree, slow enough to see nuts on the ground and pull over for them.  It didn't take long until going up hills was noticably harder and there was quite a bit of pull from behind.  I think all in all I gathered 30-40 lbs (?) from here to Moraga and back which necessitated walking up the steepest hills closest to home, but posed no problem on smallish hills.

So far from my limited experience- Massey and I gathered acorns last year as well, and were given some year-old acorns from friends- it sure seems as if letting them age for a year concentrates flavor and sweetness, though they also do get much harder, so it sounds like you are grinding up rocks when you throw them in the food processor to turn them into meal. 

The jars below contain acorns that have been ground into meal in the vitamix (amazing blender) and covered with cold water to start the leaching process.  In the past I have only done the leaching part with boiling water, which can be done in 30 minutes or so, but this time I am trying it with cold water (which apparently preserves more taste and nutrition, though takes days), draining off the liquid and refilling with fresh water twice a day.  the difference of the two jars here, is that the one on the left is this year's valley oak acorns, and the one on the right is valley oak acorns from last year.

The new acorns (on the left) have a very faint fresh smell, and the year old (on the right) smell like a cross between a good stout and molasses.  I don't know for sure, but I also suspect fermentation with the older acorns, because there is a consistent skim of bubbles on the top.  Anybody know more about this?  When the meal no longer tastes bitter it can either be used immediately or dried in the oven and stored in the fridge or freezer.

Time is running out to gather acorns for the year in the bay area- if anyone is interested in a foraging trip in the next week or two, let me know, I'll be going out again.

The tree collards are expansionist! They already got Trilby and Sasha....

Rain!

I woke up in the early morning hours last night to the sound of rain and lay in bed for a moment before I realized I was also hearing the gurgling of the first flush diverter filling (part of the rainwater catchment system).  It just so happens that it is right on the other side of the thin, stick frame/stucco wall, from my bed, and I had spent the earlier part of the day frantically doing finishing touches that would allow the water to actually flow from the gutters into the first flush, so once I realized that I was hearing the sounds of the system filling, I was wide awake.  I even jumped out of bed and ran outside into the dark and rain to see what I could see.  With my hand on the large vertical pipe, I could feel the vibrations of water inside.  

The first flush, for those of you who don't know, is a larger diameter pipe that is attached to the side of the house vertically, is closed at the bottom, with a valve that can be opened, and has a holding capacity of about 5 gallons.  There is also a small ball in there which floats on top of the water,  and plugs access once its completely full, diverting water to the diagonal pipe which flows to the tanks, for the rest of the storm.  The purpose of this is to allow the roof rinse water- that first 5 gallons that flows over roof that's long been dry and has potentially collected  dead animals and poop on it- to be diverted, and not stored in the tanks along with all the  "cleaner" water.

Thanks so much to everybody who was here helping install the tanks earlier this year.  Last I checked, this morning, it appears that the first flush is full and the water is going to the tanks now. Bring on the rain!

October Work Parties

Pod Plaster Party
October 11th

Earthen plastering is just about one of the most satisfying pieces of natural building. There's nothing like the feel of smooth clay sliding onto a wall! We'll be plastering Trilby's earthbag spiral creation and Massey's woven bamboo building.

Permitted Natural Building - Light Straw Clay!

Saturday Oct. 24th, 1pm-5pm
Sunday October 25th, 10am - 5pm

Join us as we fill the walls of the back house with light straw clay, a traditional natural building technique and wall system that provides insulation as well as a plaster substrate. The mighty local materials of clay and straw, tamped into the wall cavity, replace industrially manufactured insulation, drywall, plywood, and siding, and hugely reduce a building's ecological footprint.

We'll prep most of the mix Saturday afternoon, and build the walls on Sunday. All are welcome to build, but there is plenty of celebrating to be done for those who just want to come hang out and be part of it (rumor has it there will be lots of food and music perhaps).

City Homestead Tour- Saturday!

Go to http://cityhomesteads.eventbrite.com/ if you are interested in going on a tour this coming Saturday to various homesteads in western Contra Costa County.  You have to sign up ahead of time and to see the map and descriptions of the 18 different places, but its absolutely free and there looks to be an assortment of interesting gardens on the tour, many with small livestock and various composting and water systems as well.   Yes we are on the tour, and if you don't make it out Saturday, you can always come Sunday for the workparty!

Progress in the Building Department

The pace has been quick around here, and the end of summer busy, both on the home front and in all our various travels away from here.  So I suppose it's not surprising that a common comment from neighbors is that we look like ants- or bees- always moving about outside, busy and doing something, what, I don't think they are always entirely sure.  

Some very exciting information came in today.  Massey and Lindsay have been working hard to put together an extensive proposal on the natural building system of light straw clay, in the hopes of being able to get it permitted for use as an insulation system in the granny unit, the building out back we are currently retrofitting.   Today, the news came in from our new friend at the building department.  They are going to give us the permit, and they are interested in watching the building's performance over the next few years, with the idea of creating an ordinance if all goes well.  YEAH!

Otherwise new here?  We finished the earth bag portion of the walls of my pod today, Sasha has rafters on her pod, and a ceiling on part of it, we have a new earthen oven that is about to be fired up for some pizza, and the sound of the dehydrator lulls us all to sleep as we try our best to can, dry and preserve the mountains of food that piling up on the kitchen counters and floor from our garden(tomatoes and more tomatoes) and other places (big apple and pear harvest recently).