'Cobbit'

It is still really hot and energy sapping.

And so I've put on the insulation. It was about 60 sacks, in the end. On top of that I put on big pieces of cardboard from fridges and deep freezers, which I have tied down using long bits of string going across the roof. It's just to secure it until the next layer goes on top. The cardboard and the sacks have made it feel more safe for walking on, but not dancing! Unfortunately, I had left the wool on the ground with a tarp over the huge sacks, so although most of it was fine, the bottom had got damp and rotted a bit. Yeuk! That is not a nice smell. Still, it goes to make compost along with all the dag ends of which there were plenty. Not the cleanest fleeces I've come across. I'm glad they were not for spinning and felt making.

I have to finish the edges before I can put the plastic and straw up on the roof. I wasn't sure how I was going to do this, but after using rabbit wire and mud on the ceiling gap, I had a brainwave and have nailed it to the edges and put mud there. I think it looks really cute. Also it is strong enough to hold the old roof tiles which I will put up along the edge to finish it all off. ( Oh, I wish that were NOW...). I have started to saw off the poles to the same measurement as the cob/wire.

Not so much a Hobbit as a 'Cobbit'

The vine that I planted a year and a half ago has produced beautiful tasty black grapes and it beginning to make shade up by the house. The chickens could reach the lower ones, but we got some too.
 

Sun and sweat - Summer in Alentejo

Bobby in the doorway of my studio, which is nearly roofed. I have got up the cane and have been battening it down using lath and left overs from R's carpentry. Nailing is not my strong point so a lot of explosive cursing across the valley as I miss or bend nails....

It has been really hot which makes it so hard to work, but I feel the need to press on before the weather starts to dampen.

I didn't have enough cane so I have put rabbit wire on the side and covered it in a straw-rich mud. Works fine. I have never done a roof before, on my own, and I'm rather proud of its wavy way... 

It's so nice to go in and feel that I am in a room. My very own room!

It was Laura's birthday on Sunday so we all went to Campilhas to have a picnic in the shade of the cork oaks, looking out to the water. The water was lovely for swimming, even though there was a motor boat and a jetski whizzing about some of the time.

No photos! Imagination required.

So, without a camera to illustrate my words, I am challenged. I like a challenge!

My back is so much better, but still, I have to be careful and not over do it. I have been staring at the big beam for days and just longing for it to be up on the wall so I can see how it fits and how all the other beams fit around it.... and then I heard some activity up by the windmill. Aha! Workmen. I felt like some crafty old spider trying to lure some meat into my lair! So two hefty young lads and R put the beam up more or less where I wanted it, in the middle of the circle. Took them five minutes, and that was just the journey down the hill and back up.

Then I spent a couple of days staring at it and offering up poles. Of course there are not enough of the eucalyptus poles... but maybe there are, because I will make them fan out somewhat, near the centre, and I will use some other bits that we have here: olive, chestnut, pine. Shorter bits. It's quite exciting when I stop trying to think like a conventional builder. I can't because I am not. So, I am a dress maker, a quilter, a patcher, a mender... a cobber. This roof doesn't need to be straight, to hold hard flat things on top of it. It is going to have wool, and cardboard, and plastic and earth/straw. As long as it can drain away from the centre, the shape is ... what is the word? well, use your imagination. I'm going to!

I do have to raise the wall some, so that means more mud work. I am trying to pace myself. I think that if I had a couple more helpers it would be much quicker, but this is my 'Everest'. It looks so beautiful. The walls have gone a light tan, the colour of the earth, of course. I whitewashed the inside bits next to a window to see how it looked. It looked like it has been there for ever. And it stops the mud plaster from dusting off.

The broody hen has been sitting on a couple of dud eggs. So sorry for her. I gave her two more and she sits on.  What's up with Cocky? Is he not doing his thing at the moment? Maybe he is waiting til there is more green grass, when the autumn dampness comes. I am thinking of building a cob hen house... I know, I'm bonkers, but it would be so cool for them. I love this earth we live on. It is so perfect.

The garden is slowing down. Tomatoes are rather small. Celery is doing well. Always one or two strawberries. Some animal ate the rest of the sweet corn. There are grapes, beautiful, red grapes hanging from the vine near the house. Yes! Our shade plant is doing the right thing in a permaculture fashion. (Stacking functions - shade and fruit.)

Bending Over Backwards...

Did my back in last week so work on the building has almost ground to a halt. Yoga and heavy lifting on the same day... bad experience. But the Bone Man in Sao Luis is very good. In just five minutes of gentle manipulation and feeling my pulses he set me right and told me not to do any heavy stuff for a week. Now, that is hard! So I did a tiny bit of plastering, just to use up the plaster that I had made before I went snap.

So while on enforced rest I went over to visit Monica and Carlos. Carlos was re threading his loom. It is a big job. One has no idea of the work involved in creating the lovely carpets and bags that he makes.

My happy girls!

The Shape of Things to Come

I have decided to make the roof one big slant from North rising to South. I can use the poles I already have and put a big beam across the middle to hold them up. I am inspired by SunRay Kelly's roofs which are fun and fantastical. Once I have the main beam up I will start to experiment, meanwhile I have been building up the walls in a slanting way, going with just what I feel is right. I have to believe in my feelings!

I ordered a beam from Buhler and it came the very same day. All 8 meters of it. So impatient was I that I asked R to help me down the hill with it.... We draged and slid it all the way from the windmill to the site. Believe me, that is quite a distance for something so heavy.

Then I treated all the wood with some lovely stuff called 'Wood Bliss', a non-toxic treatment that creates a new surface (of cellulose) that bugs don't recognise as wood. Also fire, UV, mould proof. And nice to use.

I was plastering this afternoon and went arty. Believe me it's hard not to with this mud lark.

Our neighbour, Jacinto, comes by often to view the progress. Here he is sitting in my new studio! He told me his son had noticed the building from across the valley, so I went and had a look. Wow! It looks big and round, but blends in a treat. I love it.

And finally, R has made a beautiful trolley for Olivia, who is just learning to walk. The handle is made from an olive branch.

The Poles Are Too Short!

Had a bit of a disaster day... We started to put up the reciprocal roof. I stood on some scaffolding (real, not straw bales) and put the posts in place as R passed them up to me. I was really nervous at first as I wasn't sure if the 'Charlie' Stick was strong enough....
Anyway, the stick was fine, but the poles are too short! Oh no... HUGE disappointment for me. The Charlie stick was too high, also, so the 'eye' of the roof was getting out of kilter. Still we now know a bit more. I am manically looking for new poles, possibly chestnut. They need to be at least four meters long.

It's quite high up here, and what if all the poles suddenly decide to fall? That was what kept going through my head. But after a while it felt ok. I guess the more times you do it, the better you get at it.

But al least all the wall is done, structurally, and now just the plastering, which I really enjoy. The plaster made with liquid cow manure and sieved earth goes on a treat and has a great finish. The smell soon dissipates and having been brought up on a farm I don't find it unpleasant.

This is a photo of the last 'burito' of the cob mix - a barrow load of earth mixed with straw and water on a sheet of plastic with my wellies.

We had our first sweetcorn this evening. Yum! The garden is doing fine with lots of mulch and lots of water. The fruit trees are really perking up with the bucket drip system in place.  So, pray for poles!

Cob, cob and onions

I made a window sill using a very rich-straw mix and it is really fun. It is so sculptural to work with, and so sensual, stroking the surface.
The basket is hanging from an olive branch I put into the cob. Handy for bags and coats, near the door. Note the bottle-niche with a wee bit of light coming through!

Most of the final layer in place. I have been digging away at the entrance because it was too high and because I need the earth to build with.

I have put in deep jam jars with lids at table level where I can store pencils and note books, etc.

Here it a meter of onions, strung onto a stick, ready for the store room. Onions grow well here and don't need any watering. Well worth the initial effort.