Bathroom Plaster

It's been a while since I've posted, summer's schedule is unpredictable and inconsistent, but we are getting back to house work after Drew spent the last 6 weeks building instream rock and log structures in the Mattole estuary for the Mattole Salmon Group. I'd like to make a post about that soon...

But here is the lovely bathroom. This is still first coat of plaster, but it looks like a room now. The shower has the hardibacker in it and we are preparing that for tile. I'm loving the rich colors of the clay plaster, especially when the light pours through the windows in the late afternoon.

Yesterday, Drew and Aaron put the second coat of Structolite on the west bedroom wall. It was the last wall we needed to basecoat. Now we're ready to put clay on that wall, and then we can finish coat all the walls. I'd like to try and organize a work party, to get it all done in one day. Now that would be something. If you live close by, come by and look, and if not, enjoy these little photos....

Finish Plaster!

From This....



And This.....




To THIS





On the left is the wall that's been done, on the right, a wall with basecoat Structo-lite (Gypsum plaster)


I've been hard at work for six days straight, while Ella has been at day camp. I knew that I wouldn't finish the job, but that I could definitely move the bedroom project a lot farther forward. And how!

Last Wednesday, the first day of camp, I still had some sanding to do as prep, and even some mudding to do, to fill in some gaps in the wall. Thursday, I primed drywall mud with a transitional primer, to prevent variance in color with the final coats of plaster. Friday, I used the "sanded primer", which is basically glue and sand, and it goes on under the clay, so that it will stick, especially to a drywall surface. Also on Friday, Drew and I put the second base-coat of Structo-lite on the south wall.

Saturday was a nice day off, celebrating Adam and Unity's wedding. Blessings to them and their family! We went swimming too, and followed it with a lot of merriment at our wedding site, eating dinner, and dancing the night away to Absynth Quintet.

Sunday was back to it, with more drywall priming, and we mixed up our first batch of clay. It needs to stand a little while, so I mixed it for work the following day. And yesterday, Monday! I got to smear that lovely, smooth, buttery plaster on the east wall of our bedroom. It is a pleasure to work with. The color when it's wet is like chocolate milk, and when dry, it's a light light neutral brown. It's called Nantucket Sand. Today, I put on the first coat on the south wall, and after I finish my lunch here, I'm going to continue around the hallway. It looks awesome!

The clay does require a second coat, but I'm not concerned. The work is fun and easy, and SOOO satisfying. Once we finish this step, it's on to sanding/cleaning the floor and staining it, and then wood trim, and then our bedroom is DONE. I said DONE, as in, we can move our bed into it! Yippee!!! (Can you tell I'm excited?

Windowsills of 2x12 recycled redwood


Ceiling wood finished, love it. Stained Fir/Pine/Spruce


We're getting somewhere. Slowly. These things, as we've discovered, take time. Lots of it. I've lately taken to quoting Sarah McLachlan, with her album title, "Fumbling Toward Ecstacy". Yeah. So we've finished the ceiling in our future bedroom. And we've finished three of four windowsills. Sexy oiled redwood next to oiled pine. I love how it looks. And now we're ready for plaster on several walls, and all the materials are on hand, and Ella is a day camp all week. So I'm hoping to have more photos to post soon, showing our plaster progress, too.

We stained the ceiling wood with an EcoProcote product called TimberSoy, a totally no-VOC wood stain. It's pretty nice to work with stain materials that you don't need gloves, good ventilation, or skin protection to install, and then can clean up with soap and water. Go eco-groovy.

Also, here's a shot of our wall plaster in it's packaging: cloth bags. Love it. Can't argue with that. Compostable. Or reuseable.

Bee Swarm

Last weekend, I was walking past the west side of our house with Ella, when I heard a curious sound...which I will illustrate with a quote from Winnie the Pooh:

"Winnie-the-Pooh sat down at the foot of the tree, put his head between his paws and began to think. First of all he said to himself: "That buzzing-noise means something. You don't get a buzzing-noise like that, just buzzing and buzzing, without its meaning something. If there's a buzzing noise, somebody's making a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you're a bee." From Pooh's Bedtime Book by A.A. Milne.

And when I adjusted my gaze upwards, I saw a whole pile of bees clumped on the rafter of the house. Two clumps, actually.

When one is not prepared to have bees of their own, as we are not at the moment, a person in my shoes needs to call Ben, who is very enthusiastic about his bee project right now. He said he'd come over shortly and try to catch the swarm, because he wanted to replace a hive that died over the winter. But by the time he got here, the swarm clump had shrunk, suggesting that they had already chosen our house as their post-swarm location. Which is what we confirmed. They had moved into a chance cavity at the edge of our roof. Darn.

So now we're not sure what to do. We're going to try to vacuum them out with a shop-vac. Short of that, we may need to close them up and allow them to die, as we can't have bees living in the roof. Just our latest homestead adventure...

Spring Cleansing

Our Raw Meal, Before Doing Only Juice: Sprouted Sunflower and Grain Crackers, Carrot-Beet-Sunflower Seed Pate, Green Salad with Sprouts, and Lacto-Fermented Sauerkraut

During this last week, Drew, our housemate Andrea, and I endeavored to clean out our bodies a little by doing a juice f(e)ast. Though all three of us eat very healthy food, and have pretty healthy lifestyles, we felt a clean out would be a good idea. Many natural health practitioners recommend an annual cleanse, particularly in the spring.

The cleanse entailed descending slowly toward the fast: one day of whole foods, followed by a day of eating only raw foods, followed by three days of only vegetable juice. At the end of the third juice day, we did a liver and gallbladder flush. Then, on the way out of the cleanse, we ate mostly raw for a day, then back to whole foods. I can verifiably say that I got clean.

It's a funny experience to consciously alter the intake of food, and even to stop eating for a time. It was a very psychological process, one that we all learned a tremendous amount from, about our bodies, about our relationship with food, and about our regular habits. It was a pretty intense cleanse, and we all found that non-essential activities had to be put to the side. It was almost like a vacation. I would recommend it, for those so inclined.

To make the juice, as well as some of the raw foods, we used our prized Green Star Juicer. Each day, we consumed about a half gallon of raw vegetable juice each, which included an entire bunch of greens, a cucumber, carrots, beets, celery, and apples. After letting go of my attachment to chewing food, this juice is surprisingly nourishing. I learned about the healing power of raw veggie juice from the Juice Feasting website. Before my friend showed me this site, I couldn't have conceived of only eating juice, even for one day. But the basic concept, as with all types of fasting or cleansing, is to lighten the load on our digestive organs, so that they can work on eliminating their backlog of wastes and toxins. I can say, after going through this process that it really and truly does work. I am inspired by my body's ability to clean itself with a little help from my choices on the outside.

There are a lot of great resources on the internet describing cleansing. If you are interested in cleansing, do some research, or consult a natural health care practitioner.

Living Foods

My Lacto-Fermented Sauerkraut...Mmmmmm

Last year, I was having a health issue, and one of the things I did to improve it was to delve into the world of raw and living foods. We sprout our breakfast cereal grains (spelt, kamut, rye, and wehani rice), we got into sprouting mung beans, lentils, and alfalfa. And we got into raw juice, especially the juice of greens like kale, collard greens, and bok choi, mixed with healthy doses of carrots, beets, celery, and apples for sweetness. (For a great website on juicing, check out Juice Feasting. I haven't ever done it, but may some day).

Around that time, I got turned onto a cookbook called Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon. Sally is a champion of living foods, whole foods, and something that I learned a lot about from her book was about the benefits of truly cultured and raw dairy products. I'm not talking about Yoplait yogurt, filled with sugar (or maybe corn syrup?), and flavorings and thickeners, I'm talking about kefir, homemade yogurt, homemade cheese, and whey. I've kind of programmed myself against dairy products as mucous-producing foods best left to infrequent use. Our family meals use dairy as more of a condiment than a main ingredient.

But now we are trying some experiments, as our neighbors are milking a goat. Besides having fresh, raw goat milk to give our daughter when she wants milk, I tried making some kefir last week, and some goat ricotta. The kefir was super easy. If I had real kefir grains, it would have been even easier. I used some commercial culture that comes in a little packet. You heat the milk to 180 degrees, let it cool, and stir in the culture. Then, leave out at room temp for approximately 24 hours, and you have kefir. Kind of like liquid yogurt. SO good with a little maple syrup to sweeten, or in pancakes. I also made goat ricotta, by pitching lemon juice into 180 degree goat milk, and straining the curds through cheesecloth. I added salt and garlic into the cheese, and enjoyed it on crackers. Yummmm.

Making cheese leaves whey behind, and I have been dying to try making sauerkraut with whey, which I have heard makes amazing kraut. I used the recipe from this website. It's supposed to be ready tomorrow, and I can't wait to try it.

And finally, we've been given a kombucha scoby, and I've got our first batch of kombucha fermenting on the counter. I am really excited about this, because even though I love the product, it kind of feels like those kombucha companies are gouging us, given that it's made with plain old black tea and white sugar, and a reproducing culture. It's not like it costs anywhere NEAR $4 per jar to produce. So I'm happy to make my own at home.

Looking forward to sharing the fruits of these labors when I get to try them...hmmm, what do I tag this post with? Maybe wildcrafting, as these foods are about nourishing wild little critters?

Here Comes Plaster

Our first test area, in the Master Bedroom



Same wall, Done with first basecoat



Other wall, almost done, with basecoat

I couldn't help myself any longer...we've been inching toward plaster-type tasks these last few weeks, and I just had to get my trowel dirty, and dive in. So on Tuesday, we mixed up our first batch of Structolite and sand plaster and applied it to our Faswall block walls. We were pleasantly surprised at how easy the material is to mix and trowel. However, we quickly realized that we're going to need to do at least two coats of this basecoat plaster before the walls are ready for the American Clay. The Faswall blocks have a good bit of variation between rows and courses, leaving some blocks slightly proud, and some slightly sunken. Additionally, sometimes there are some gaps between blocks, and also at corners that need to get filled. So we'll have to see how the second coat goes on. Hopefully, we'll be able to do mostly level it with the second coat of plaster.

Even though we realized there is a second coat needed, we are thrilled with the transformation of the Faswall wall! It looks so nice! And light! And finished! I am loving it! Plastering is addictive. I hope I continue to enjoy it so much as we continue on with it...

Drywall Continues

The drywall job continues to transform our spaces, one by one, into approximations of the final product. I wanted to post the lastest views of rooms here. First is the pantry, the windowless box that will house our cold storage produce like carrots, cabbages, onions, and beets, our dry grains, our home-canned goods, as well as wine and beer. Oh, and all the canning equipment which currently is stored far away from my kitchen. Can't wait. The best part about it is that little grate you can see near the floor. It connects via 6 inch pipe to the outdoors, to passively let cold, north-side air into the pantry. Bascially, for a plain box, it's a pretty exciting little room.



Next is the north side main ceiling. It feels so much lighter and less busy, now that the raw insulation and rafters are covered up. Now the beautiful south-facing clerestory windows are allowing sunlight to reflect off the white drywall paper. I think it looks really nice.



Next, we have the entry room, which feels similarly transformed, into a lighter, reflective space. Unless it's early morning, this room is kind of dark. It doesn't really need to be any different, but it feels fresher to have it rocked. In one view, you can see the closet, and in the other, you are looking in toward the guest/massage space.




Finally, we have the guest bath, not really an excessively exciting room, but it is still nice to see it undergoing its facelift, too. The bathrooms have colored drywall, as it has some kind of moisture block. The area in the shower has yet to be covered by Hardibacker, which is concrete board. This will be backing for tile of some kind.




Last night, Drew and I made a "punch list" of all that is left to do to finish our room. It's a big list, but it's still a FINITE list. We'll see how far we can get, as Drew is about to begin his Salmon Group estuary project soon, and our star worker will also be on to other projects soon. I'm gonna have to step it up a little bit.

Sack-a-Tomatoes for the Weekend

Sliding down from Owl's Treehouse in Hundred Acre Wood

Somehow, my only photos of our weekend adventure to Sacramento, are a few shots of Ella from Fairy Tale Land. But our weekend included so much more. It began with duck feeding at the ponds at Real Goods, and elevator rides at Grandma Barbara's house in Oakland, an amazing dinner followed by Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote video, a round-trip BART ride to breakfast in Rockridge, lunch at a delicious Mexican cantina in Oakland, a drive to Sacramento which included a round of the alphabet game, dinner at a very busy Chinese restaurant, a stay in a 7th floor suite across the street from Capitol Park, a visit to said Fairy Tale Land, a trip to the zoo, and a first-ever ice cream sundae, as children were not invited to the wedding, and Ella remained with our friends for the evening. And at the end of the trip, our last piece of fun was a short mini-hike in the redwoods, an hour from home, where we all breathed a sigh of relief at feeling the quiet of the giant trees, the gurgle of Bull Creek, and the songs of the solitary vireo and the varied thrush. Ahhhhh. That experience was complete with warm breezes.

While we were hiking, I asked Ella if she was still sad we were coming home (she was crying and saying she didn't want to go home). She said, "I thought I didn't want to come home, but home is so great!" So there you have it.

Outside Windowsills

Last summer, we debated around and around about what to do with our exterior finish "look". We wanted to install our windows, as designed, with their nailing fin, but we wanted the windows to have a heavier look that defined them more clearly. So, at Karl's urging, we designed concrete windowsills, which we formed out in the fall, and then stained with a concrete stain. They have metal strapping stuck in the back, which slips under the windows, and inside the house for anchoring. Then, the finish coat of stucco will go right up to the edge, blending them into the exterior.

Drew and Aaron installed the first ones the other day, because we couldn't proceed with the inside windowsills until the outside ones were done. And we can't plaster until the interior windowsills are done. Lots of "in-order-to's".

I'm really happy with how they look. I think they're going to look even more beautiful when the final coat of plaster goes on the outside.