SOUTH FACING TURF TO WARM THE HOUSE DURING ANTARCTIC BLASTS NEARS COMPLETION

PHOTO #1 & 2: BEGINNING AND ENDING OF THE DAY

This south facing turf wall is massive, because it has to protect us from the winds that blow up from Antartica during the winter periods and will end up using forty tons of earth, all moved by hand. Beneath lies a very uncomplicated Passive Annual Heat Storage System- we call it A SOLAR UMBRELLA. It's polysterine, one inch deep, set beneath thick plastic sheeting, the same as that used in polytunnels. The three meter blanket that extends all around the house is slightly sloped out, to take away the water that falls from the skies and to create an upside funnel, so that the heat from the sun that is gathered by the earthbags and by whatever heat we generate to dry the walls and warm the house, can travel upward and into the house when winter comes in and the air grows chill. We're already noticing this heat effect when we remove any of the temporary covering that we've used to keep the outer walls dry during construction.

DURING THE DAY: A LOT OF HARD WORK AND FEELINGS OF FULLFILLMENT BENEATH A GLORIOUS SUN

A heavy earthbag retaining wall keeps everything up and the plastic used to shelter the house during construction now finds use beneath the top two layers of Turf and acts as drainage. Eventually the drainage will be fed into water cisterns, which will in turn be used to feed the permaculture food forest we will be creating. By mid month we hope to have the whole house turfed up. Involved in this project have been Konomi, myself and most recently, Cliff (the Walking Treeman) Spenger, who has come all the way from California to lend a huge pair of hands and helping heart.