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May 5th, 2010 Hope you’ve got a minute, this will be a long one. Sorry for not writing very much lately. It’s been a busy time here. Between trying to make a living and building a new life there hasn’t been a lot of time to sit down and type. It’s snowing today so I thought it would be a good time to update everyone. Spring is here and the landscape is slowing greening up. We were blessed with some warm weather in April which allowed us to get some things done. We got the greenhouse up, cleaned up the garden, got a few things planted inside and in the garden below the job site. Once again we visited Jim Ternier of Humboldt to acquire our seed. He is the president of Seeds of Diversity and is a wealth of information. He has varieties few can get, including a variety of heritage seeds and gourmet crops. Visit Jim’s website at www.prseeds.ca. We have everything from gourmet potatoes to lovage, rhubarb, herbs, cherries and more. Our garden will be something to see this summer, there is no doubt. The winter in a 250 square foot cabin was a learning experience. One of our big challenges has been water. There is no running water in here and no well. Every drop had to be hauled by hand from town or collected from the sky in the form of rain or snow. At times we even had to melt buckets of snow to wash dishes. We have developed a real appreciation for water conservation this winter. Wasting it only means more work for the Mrs. and I - not a drop went to waste. Our rainwater capture system is in its infancy here so far. So far we’re gathering some from the greenhouse to water the plants and wash dishes. It is amazing though how much rainfall we have taken off just a small area in a short period of time. Why doesn’t everybody do this? We should have the gutters on the other side of the cabin gathering water by early next week. The powerhouse will also be catching some water for use in a sink inside the composting bathroom. It will seem like a luxury to turn a tap and have water come out again... Over the winter we had to go to the truck stop for showers, or to friends and neighbours’ houses. Wasn’t terrible, but sorely inconvenient. It always felt like an imposition at other folks’ houses, even when they said it wasn’t. Laundry was the same situation - many trips into the laundromat or to friends houses. We’re really looking forward to getting our indoor shower and clothes washer installed.... The solar shower is full now and Manda has used it a couple of times so far - perhaps prematurely. Brave girl. She’s only had to talk herself through it for a few minutes to get used to water - brrr! There are still some modifications I need to do to extend its usage into the shoulder seasons more. It is getting warmer by the day. My goal is to make it so hot that I can peel paint with it in July! The straw house stood tarped almost all winter as we stitched the stucco mesh to the bales. We started some brickwork and can wall construction inside this past week as temperatures allowed. The drain tile, exterior gravel and spray foam for the footings will be done in the coming weeks along with the steel roof. Once the roof is on, we can remove all the tarps, start the stucco and install the electrical systems. I have half a dozen solar panels sitting here, eagerly waiting to be mounted on the straw house. Did some neat experiments here in the last few months as well. I built a solar oven here from an old sink, a chunk of insulated garage door and some glass. I can get almost 400 degrees Fahrenheit out of it - enough to make a loaf of bread. The best loaf I think I’ve ever had. We also cooked a roast in it and re-heated some pizza. We are expecting a group of 4H kids here in the coming weeks for a solar cooking field trip. We are going to build small solar ovens here that they can take home after we’ve cooked a meal in these contraptions... Two classes from Saskatoon are coming for a visit this month as well as a group from the University Women’s League. Lots of guests to come, with luck we can help them get their hands dirty... Another experiment has been the introduction of livestock to our homestead. We built a rolling chicken coop and got six Leghorn chickens. It has been shocking how well these few birds are providing for our egg needs. We get five or six eggs a day - enough to give some eggs to the neighbours. These birds will eat almost anything leftover, but we learned recently that citrus and avocado are a no-no. They like tomatoes and cucumbers, not fans of carrots though. Give them some yogurt and stand back, they love the stuff. It’s like a white mud flinging contest! Another thing we learned is that fresh eggs don’t peel well after hard boiling. Who knew that having eggs that were too fresh would be a problem. Guess we’ll have to put some aside if we want to make picked or deviled eggs here this summer. My fingers are out of practice and a bit sore from this typing session. Check out the workweek dates and see if you can join us. Also check out some of the new photos and descriptions in the gallery section in the next day or two! January 31, 2010 We’ve been really remiss about not posting on the page lately - I see it’s been two months since we last put an update on the news page here. I’m going to make an effort to get a weekly update on here - whether it’s about the building of the house, or just about life in general at our “Little House on the Prairie”. In brief, Thomas and co. have been going great guns on the bale house. Today, he and Larry Wagner have finished the gyproc on the ceiling. In the past few days, some of the interior walls have been framed in as well. It’s really starting to take shape. However, due to financial constraints, as well as the weather issue, chances are we are going to be spending the whole winter in our little grain bin. It’s funny, though - all of the inconveniences that I would have deemed “major” when we first moved in are now simply a matter of course. Driving 14 km for a shower, heating the water on the wood stove for dishes, making sure the carafe is always full of hot water so we can have hot tea at any time of day (including first thing in the morning, before the stove has actually heated up), having to put my coat and boots on to go to the washroom, chopping wood, cleaning the ash can from the stove - all of these things have become so much a part of daily life that I don’t spend much time thinking about “how it used to be”. Our kids continue to be a source of entertainment out here as they grow more and more accustomed to country life. Even the cat will occasionally make a sojourn outside, though she doesn’t go far since she got lost a couple of months ago. Too bad she can’t get it through her little skull that the outdoors is really one giant litter box. She still comes back inside when she has to use the litter. Sigh. The dogs are no longer confined to the “doggie prison” kennel during the day as they are realizing that the home farm is the best place to be and don’t wander much anymore. Jake still has a few issues when he hears a car go down the road, but for the most part, they’re both turning into pretty good farm dogs. We got an incredible dump of snow here last week - more than 25 cm in just over two days. Thomas moved a lot of snow with the shovel before Wilf showed up with the tractor to rescue us. He cleared off our driveway and a large area around the cabin so we can get out and move around a bit. I managed to get my car thoroughly stuck last week at the bottom of the driveway, halfway in the ditch. To make matters worse, the grader came by the next morning and almost completely buried the little car under a snowdrift. Thomas managed to get a tow rope around the axle and our neighbour, Larry Acorn, pulled it out for us. We sure do have a lot of great neighbours out here - don’t know what we’d do without them! The other day when Thomas was at loose ends, he decided to build a quinsy (or, as he calls it, a “dogloo” over the outdoor firepit. It looks pretty cool, but I have to admit I’m a bit leery about going inside - it makes me a touch claustrophobic. Solar energy has been a bit touch and go lately - with just the two panels and three batteries and several cloudy days in the past week, we’ve had to rely on the little Honda power plant a bit more than I’d like - unfortunately, with my web work, I have to keep the clients happy, and that means generating enough power to get my work done. We do have some more panels and a new inverter that we haven’t installed yet - there are just so many things on the go right now that it’s hard to get to everything on the list. We’ll need to pick up some different batteries to run the new panels, as well. The new panels will only be temporarily installed on the cabin, though - they will actually be for the straw bale house system. We will have six 200 watt panels and 8-12 batteries in the bank as opposed to two 175 watt panels and three batteries at the moment. We're pretty confident that it should meet our needs just fine. We've decided against getting a clothes dryer - we'll be doing old fashioned line drying all year round with some indoor drying racks when it's just too awful outside. Here's an interesting fact - an electric dryer is responsible for approximately 6% of the average family's monthly power bill. That's an awful lot of juice for any one appliance to be using, especially one that isn't essential. A dryer makes things faster, but part of the reason we've made this lifestyle choice is to have a slower pace of life, anyway! Well, must dash - there are several logs out there with my name on them. Keep it green! November 29, 2009 We've been unbelievably lucky with the weather so far - it's hard to believe that December is nearly here and we've still had no snow to speak of. The last couple of days have been spent putting the bales into the walls - still a long way to go, but with the help of some great friends, we're moving along. We're hoping the weather holds out long enough to get the stucco on the bales. We have insulated tarps thanks to Thomas's parents, so with a heater going inside, we just might be able to manage it! Our power issues have been a bit frustrating at times, but we'll be getting a new solar panel next week, thanks to the generosity of Manda's family. With a new panel and two or three more batteries, we should just about double our power. It will still be considerably less than most houses, but we've learned to get by on surprisingly little without feeling the pinch too much. We have occassionally had to use the generator to run the computer for Manda's business and charge the batteries, which we don't like doing, but we gotta make a buck. Hopefully using the generator will be a thing of the past once we get the new panel installed next week. Never a dull moment around here - yesterday the cat went missing for several hours and Manda was very upset, since it's a seven year old overweight city cat who isn't used to perils of the country, such as coyotes, free running dogs - and, oh yes, skunks. Since our dog Maia has proven helpful in the past when the cat goes missing, Manda turned Maia loose to "find the kitty", a command that she understands. After a brief sniff around, Maia ran into the Ark building site and nosed and scratched at the tarped tires. Believing the cat was right there, Manda recklessly reached down and pulled the tarp back, only to find herself nose to nose with one of the largest skunks we've ever seen. Manda turned tail and ran, calling to Maia - thank goodness the dog followed her or we'd have one stinky dog right now. Thomas had to shoot the skunk - somewhat sad, but we can't have them around. Not only is there a very real danger of getting sprayed, but skunks are also rabies carriers. The cat showed up quite a bit later that evening, thoroughly frightened by whatever adventures she'd had and she now refuses to even go near the door. We're going to keep working on the straw bale house as much as possible before the weather hits us. If we can get those walls up and stuccoed, we'll be able to move in this winter. We're always looking for more people to help out - hoping that some of our friends and website followers might help us get out of the little cabin and into the house by coming to help throw some bales. Not that the cabin isn't comfortable - it's very cozy, but 250 sq. ft. is getting a little tight with the two dogs and two people inhabiting it. We should be getting some more photos online in the next week to show the progress of the straw bale house. Wish us luck - or better yet, come on over and help make it happen, while learning how you can do it too! The more houses like this, the better the earth will fare! October 24th, 2009 Well, summer is over. Fall never got here and winter is banging on the door. It's been a struggle for us. The weather didn't want to cooperate at any point. Mud desn't pack very well into tires. Manda and I sold our house in the city, taking advantage of a healthy real estate market. This would be a good thing if we had a house ready to move into...The thought crossed our mind to rent a little place in the city for the winter, but that would have eaten up thousands in rental fees. We also had dozens of offers from friends to stay with them for the snowy season. Nope, not us. We're on a mission. Besides, our package includes two dogs and an indoor cat - not something you want to force on friends. It was decided a few weeks ago that we would move into the 260 square foot bunkhouse made from our recycled grain bin. It's tight, has no running water, but it has power and a good woodstove. We had hoped to be into the strawbale guesthouse by this point, but weather has again taken its toll on our construction efforts and there don't seem to be any dry straw bales in all of western Canada right now. The posts and beams are up, the trusses are installed and sheeted with the roofing felt and tin waiting in the wings. We have all of the requisite materials on site to build the Rocket Mass Stove inside the straw house, but setting wet clay and concrete in sub-zero temperatures will be a bitch. We are prepared to spend the entire winter in this little cabin if necessary, but we still have our fingers crossed to be in the strawhouse before to long. Wish us luck on that part. We are showering at the local truck stop, doing our laundry at the laundomat and have our computer systems set up at a friend's business. We do have nice new flatscreen TV here and wireless internet for our laptop so we're not totally isolated, but we do have to budget power to a large degree, as the sunshine isn't being very cooperative lately. Our telephone line is going to be installed in the next few days. The mud here is insane with all the rain and heavy equipment we've have around. Our dogs seem determined to bring as much of it into the cabin as they can. Small price to pay I suppose. We have very few debts, almost no bills and a beautiful piece of land out in the country. We were sick of hearing how all the older folks had such a tough time, how they were so much tougher at our age. We'll see. One never knows what they are capable of until they are forced to adapt. Hey, what doesn't kill us will make us stronger right? The path to greenness is fraught with challenge. Some couples do not survive the stress when one is more committed to the ideal than the other. This is why the green revolution is taking as long as it is. Although many couples/families think they are are on the same page, they rarely possess the honesty or capacity to communicate their true feelings. May the powers that be give us the fortitude, humility and patience to endure. Our planet depends on it. July 25th, 2009 The rain was so bad at times during the July workweek we had a literal river flowing of the west side of the job-site. Bad erosion. It has become evident that the weeping tile is the next step before much more tire pounding occurs. Also, never try to pound a wet tire - tarp everthing! The weeklong workbees are not as well attended as we would like which is okay - less of a food bill. People just can't seem to get away from their work commitments as long as they'd like to. There's the travel time to consider for many of them too. A lot are making three-day weekends to come out which is just great. Vince has been a big help, he was out once again for the last workbee. He did some more solar tattooing for folks on the site - even for our friend Gail whose daughter and family would never have guessed she'd get one. We may need to cancel our August workweeek however, as I am likely going to be out of town on a job and unable to run the jobsite. Gotta make a buck sometime! That said, finances have also been tight, hampering efforts a bit as well. We need to bring in the gravel and weeping tile right away - a bit of an unforseen expense for this point, but we'll deal with it. We also had a charge controller blow up last week too. We plugged in an appliance that took too much draw too fast for our MorningStar M15 to handle. We have upgraded to the M30 now in the bunkhouse. This should rectify any further issues of "letting the smoke out". The scratch built solar panels are working well now after we realized acrylic was not the material to use for backing material. We went to cabinet grade birch plywood instead. The 136w panel is now generating up to 5 amps of solar under ideal conditions, keeping our three cell battery bank fully charged in the bunkhouse. In the coming weeks - provided our house in town sells quickly - we will be making preaparation to construct our winter residence, a 1,000 square foot strawbale house. This will be part of a workshop put on by Christopher Lake's Larry and Cindy Lou Wagner. This inspiring couple is off-the-grid in their strawbale and will be featured in Prairies North's green feature in the fall of this year. Chuck and Pat are doing well in Bancroft, helping other earthship families get started. They are now offering design services and on-location services for those who can afford it. They were very inspiring to have here on the site, helping people build the confidence they need to embark upon their own earthship journeys. Monica and Nikki are in 100 Mile House searching for their property. Realizing the terrain is very rocky there, they are trying to determine how much dirt needs to be hauled in to fill tires and berm. We are excited to watch their progress in their monthly Middle Earth news bulletin. Hope we can see you two again soon! Keep your eyes peeled for new photos of the site, including a new aerial view, to be posted on the ESP site in the next week or two.
July 13th, 2009 Our next step - and an urgent one apparently - is to install the weeping tile around the perimeter and into the centre of the rooms. An unforseen development and expense at this point but a necessity. We are also working hard on the plans for the strawbale guest house at the rear of the property. As our schedule has been delayed markedly by weather and work, it has become apparent that we will need a different residence to overwinter in. A 1,000 square foot strawbale guesthouse will do nicely for this winter. It too will be completely off-grid and autonomous. It is our hope to install a rocket mass stove, large south facing windows and a composting bathroom in this new structure. Although the weather sucked and very little was accomplished this week, we did make a few new friends here and the garden is growing well. EcoArk welcomed Dana from Calgary and Curtis from Regina. We also welcomed back Vince Wishart once again as well. Vince will be helping run the September workweek. He will be bringing his tattoo gear once again for those interested in getting a solar powered tattoo (he runs his guns off our solar array - cool!). Once again, we encouraging anyone with a handful of Canadain Tire money in their wallet to send it to the EcoArk Project as their contribution to the green movement. We are hoping to buy a small wind turbine with CanTire bucks to test and reveiw it for posterity. Send your contribution to 58 Johson Crescent, Prince Albert, SK S6V 6A1. To add insult to injury, we blew up our charge controller in the bunkhouse this week. Weird. It ran perfectly for 7 hours as Vince tattooed a gal from Saskatoon (Hi Ellie!), then we plugged in his stencil maker and heard a sizzle. It still charges the battery bank but won't deliver enough juice for the inverter to fire up. We will be getting a bigger controller next week to replace this one. It doesn't make a lot of sense why this one failed, we have had heavier loads on it that simply put it into overload protection mode. This one could have been a faulty unit. We'll be taking it in to the elcetronics shop for a post mortem in the next week or so. We continue to learn and will continue to share our knowledge with you. Keep your dial tuned to this station for further updates! July 8, 2009 Well, Workweek three is fast approaching with a host of new faces on route and a couple repeat offenders. Vince is on his way back from Calgary and it sounds like Bill and Glenn might come back from Saskatoon too. Ron, if you can tear yourself away from the ER we'd love to see you again too! With luck there will be a few less tourists and media types out there this week. We killed a lot of time entertaining people when we should have been working. We're going to do things a little different here this week. We're going to get up a whole lot earlier and start pounding before it gets too hot. Breakfast will be continental I think rather than making a big production out of cooking something big that early in the day. After lunch I think we'll try to have a siesta and avoid some heat, then work later into the evening as temperatures cool off. Money's tight right now too so we're trying to make a bit of a potluck of the meal thing. We kind of went over the top the last couple weeks. Cost a fortune to feed everyone. I'm starting to wonder how the average person is supposed to do this. There are more poor people out there than wealthy ones and very few average ones anymore. The poor could never afford to do this and the rich really don't give a crap. Truth is folks, if there isn't a cheap solution that works for everyone we're all screwed. Look at all the poor people out there - living from paycheque to paycheque, driving beat up old cars, living in run down inefficient rental properties, buying their kids disposable diapers at Wal-Mart...common theme? Yep, they are stretching paycheques by buying the cheapest stuff they can. Can you blame them? Times are tough. Now, do you think they're going to buy a piece of land out in the country to do this? And what about the $900 building permit - yep, NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS it cost me. They're just wondering how to get enough car gas to get the kids to the doctor for their flu shots. Just getting by, they don't have time to worry about being green. That's something we should all worry about... This tire house idea is cheap in the long-run, but right now I can tell you different. And it's hard to make a living while you're busy building. I've been out there at the acreage every day doing something. Working sporadically for money does not pay the bills we currenlty have (not for much longer thank God). We really need a Canadian company to build these for people, to build multi-unit dwellings for low-income folks. Now yer thinking. Anyway, look forward to seeing all the old faces and meeting some new ones. With luck the weather will cooperate and we'll get a pile done. Keep your eye one the site as we'll be updating photos at the end of the week! July 3 , 2009 Well it's already July and boy do we have a lot to get done. I had no idea how much other stuff there is to do on an acreage. There's mowing and weeding and tree trimming and planting...and then there's visiting with all the spectators. It's much easier to visit with people if you're sitting down with a coffee instead of tire pounding. An injury has sidelined Manda for the last week so I've been on my own. Spend a couple nights out there in the bunkhouse. Best sleep ever, except when the dog flipped out at 3 a.m. because there were coyotes in the yard. Wild. The next days before the workbee will have me pounding tires and moving a lot of dirt. I would like to have the second layer finished and start work on the third before people get here. I think it's a pretty lofty goal, especially considering how easily I can be sidetracked lately. The garden is coming along nicely despite some real weather challenges this spring. Everything is up and flourishing. We've had decent moisture and some good heat. I am just about to put the second layer of tires on the potatoes already! We are preparing to list our home in Prince Albert. We need to free up some cashflow to really move things along. Anyone need a nice house in P.A.? We also need a bunch of dry strawbales - about 350. Any leads close by? Looking forward to seeing everyone out for the July workbee. Vince is returning for those who want a solar tattoo. After seeing mine, even my mom wants one!
June 21, 2009 Our second workbee week wrapped up Thursday as sweltering weather enveloped the region. Energy for pounding tires was in short supply after lunchtime as the temperatures exceeded 30 degrees Celsius. There were fewer guests than anticipated but those in attendance were greatly appreciated. Ron and Glen were in attendance once again bringing, their knowledge from last month along with them. We hope to see more of them in the coming months. Thomas' parents came in from Alberta with a boatload of food and a whole lot of western hospitality. Thomas ate so many desserts he was nearly sweating whipped cream and pie filling...so much for the EcoArk workout and diet plan... It was hot though, really hot. In order to facilitate more productive days in subsequent workweeks, we will be trying to get moving earlier in the morning to avoid the heat. Unfortunately this will mean more of a continental menu for breakfast but a larger lunch and supper. We will also be recommending an after lunch siesta to avoid some of the heat of the day. Shower facilities are working much better this week after Thomas installed a new ABS pipe preheat manifold just before the showerhead. It's really quite nice now, not like the frigid showers experienced by guests of the May workbee week. Kudos to Glen and Andy for braving the previous scenario last month -brrrr. Sounds like Vince will also be back in July, once again bringing his guns for the evening tattoo sessions. After seeing Thomas' ink, his mom even wants one! Never thought I'd see the day, but we'll roll with it. More materials and supplies continue to come in from local individuals, businesses and groups. The support by the media has also been stellar. Manda also made an interesting family connection as one of the reporters that came out to do a story on the build turned out to be her third cousin...can you say Saskatcha-weird?!? I love it here hehe... Tune in next month as the walls really get up there!
WorkWeek One complete! May 29, 2009
More than a dozen people from across Canada converged on the EcoArk Saskatchewan site for the first of six summer workbee weeks. Sunshine and wind set the stage for what would be one of the most amazing demonstrations of cooperation, fellowship and learning. A fantastic time was had by all and there was even a tearful goodbye when everything wrapped up.
Because it was the first week, there were some bugs to work out. The solar shower wasn't quite done and we lost half a day due to a composting toilet breakdown. Despite a slow start however, the week was incredibly productive. The entire first row of tires was completed and one room has a second layer as well.
Chuck and Pat Potter of Bancroft, ON joined us for the week. It was absolutely brilliant to have them with us to help lay the groundwork for this house. Under their guidance, everyone began to see just how easy it was going to be to build their dream home. It took the idea of the tire house from the realm of fantasy into the real world, giving everyone the much needed confidence to take the next step with their own tire home plans.
Two classes of students from St. Mary High School came out to the site to learn about thermal mass and passive solar design. They were very helpful in pounding the tires on our planter in the centre of the driveway. It is almost complete thanks to their help. We hope to have additional school groups out to take part in this project. All of the students liked the idea of a home without utility bills, many even said they'd come back to help out more this summer.
Among some of the highlights this week was a terrific menu prepared by our good friend Bruce Ahlstadt. "Cookie," as he affectionately became known, made sure everyone had the requisite food energy to keep pounding tires. There was pasta, chicken, venison, caribou, northern pike, bacon and eggs, pancakes...a whole lot of food anyhow. The menu was diverse and yummy! Thanks Cookie!
Our good friend and neighbour Wilf Savisky also deserves high praise after this week. Thanks to his tractor and piloting skills, our volunteers had a much shorter trip with their buckets of soil. Everyone was really thrilled when they say him coming up the driveway with Big Red. He also let us use is generator for the week and got us water when we ran out. Thanks Wilf, without you this project would be so much more difficult!
Thanks to a small solar panel and the skillful hands of one volunteer, I got my first very tattoo. Calgary's own Vince Wishart used the power of the sun to create a beautiful memento of the week on my left shoulder. I had prepared myself for the excruciating pain so many speak of, but "Velvet Vinny" made the hour long application go by quickly and without a tear. After years of having the design picked out and waiting, I now have the Mayfly I always wanted. Thanks Bro. I hope to see you again real soon.
We are eagerly anticipating our next workbee, scheduled for June 12-18. With all the media attention we received this past week, I'm sure the roster will be full with some even having to be turned away. Sign up here! We are putting a limit of ten people for the following uptake of volunteers, so get your confirmations in soon! Check out our Gallery section for shots of the past week!
Special thanks go out to:
May 14, 2009 Our workweek is fast approaching and more people are signing up every day. Sponsors continue to come on board and weather is predicted to improve as well. The pad was dug and levelled this week by J & R Atkinson Excavation of Shellbrook, SK. Our thanks go out to Ron and Tim for their generous contribution and for letting me drive the hoe for a bit. It was really cool. I met Ron for the first time with Gerald from www.mysolarworld.net. I met Tim near our Prince Albert home as their company was doing some water main work this past winter. Gerry installed a solar hot water system on Ron's house west of Prince Albert - super cool system. Hopefully we can have a system that nice someday soon. The use of a tent was donated by Mike Kopchynski of Special Event Tents in Prince Albert. Thanks Mike! We' now have a nice place to sit and eat out of the weather during the work week. Perry Vermette of Vermette Wood Preservers has also donated the requisite fenceposts and rails to complete the cemetery fencing on the west end of the property. You guys are awesome, that cemetery is an important part of this area's history. This coming week we have the task of getting the last minute tools, materials and food for the week. It will be a zoo around here for the next few days. On the up side, the "Flower Power Shower Tower" is nearing completion as is the bunkhouse. Yee-haw! We have folks coming from as far away as Ontario and the west coast of B.C. Can hardly wait to meet all of our new friends. Chuck and Pat have also expressed their excitement at meeting everyone from out west. The neighbours are all poised to help out and our local musicians are lining up to play some evening music for everyone. It's going to rock! We'll see you all soon! April 27, 2009 Sorry for the absence on this blog lately. We been very busy at the site and with other projects. "Skills Week" as we are calling it, includes lectures and demonstrations on all the skills necessary to build one's own rammed earth tire house. There will be tire ramming, stuccoing, parging, land leveling, can wall construction, bottle brick building and so forth. It should be an exciting time. We have quite a guest list so far but could handle a few more. Chuck and Pat Potter are excited to come and are looking forward to meeting all of you. The menu will include a bit of everything - even some local fish and wild game. Don't worry, we're taking care of our vegetarian friends too. Our solar panel construction project is also coming along nicely with three panels successfully built. We have a a 20 watt, a 30 watt and a 133 watt finished and ready for service. It has been an interesting learning experience and quite enjoyable too. It takes some concentration but is a good time passer in the cold winter months. I hope to teach a bit about this during skills week too. The batteries are in the bunkhouse already and the panel, charge controller and inverter will go in in the next few weeks (finances willing). Our bunkhouse is nearly finished, just needs paint and the bunks and cupboards can go in. It's turning into a nice little place despite its recycled origins. It is quite cozy even in its unfinished state. Can't wait til it's done. Put a deck on it this week to barbeque on - a good bit of this was recycled or salvaged material too. A second composting bathroom is going in behind the bunkhouse as our first one will likely not be enough capacity to handle everyone this summer. The nice part about the second one is that the structure will be built heavy enough to support a 150 gallon water tank. This tank will be fed by rainwater and heated with black pipe on the roof of the bunkhouse. A shower stall on the backside of this composting bathroom will have hot water provided by the tank and pipe setup. We will also likely run a 12v DC solar pump and small 50 watt panel or a 12v DC pump we can run off a a battery. We're still working out the details on that one. The excavation contractors should be at the site sometime this week to dig the main hole for the EcoArk. We have already strung a 40-foot circle of 185mm tires for a planter in the centre of the driveway. This will be our practice area for new folks to try pounding tires. It will be about three tires high. The trees are about the explode with the usual greenery and the birds and wildlife are performing their usual spring dance. The snow is gone and meltwater is rapidly disappearing. We captured 3,000 litres of it though before it disappeared entirely. This water we will use for mixing concrete, mud and cleaning tools. We will likely have to haul some in for summer though. It's about $80 for delivery on 2,000 gallons. Not too expensive really. Just have to get another big tank. That one we'll likely build tires around and make a stone facade around to make it look nice and keep the sun off. We should thank Roses (Stewart) and David Stevenson for their contributions of the black tank for our shower as well as a load of wine bottles for interior walls. Thanks folks! Contact us if you can make it for the May Work Week! March 14, 2009
Today was an interesting day at the EcoArk site. We had Daniel from Ten Foot Touque come out. TFT is our local kite-boarding shop. It happens that their shop van is the same model Mitsubishi Delica as ours. I helped him change the glow plugs and he put on a bit of a kite boarding demonstration. Should have videotaped this green sport in action - totally cool. They'll be back though. Hoping they come and show off their skills this summer during a work week.
I revamped the battery box in the bunkhouse. I had made it big enough to fill the dead space to the right of the stove. That made the box 24x24x48 inches - a great seat to put one's boots on by the door, but almost too big for the batteries.
I decided to partition the box in the centre and insulate the left side, making a sizable icebox. The best iceboxes all have lids that open on the top. This icebox/battery box/bench seat is a perfectly camouflaged multi-purpose spacesaver invention. Yeah me! Can't wait to finish the whole place off and send out the photos.
Big push will be to finish the exterior before the rains come in late April and early May. Also like to have the electrical done too.
Now it's back downstairs to do some more solar soldering...
March 12, 2009
Just when it seemed winter would never end, today we got a little bit of nice weather - plus 3 and melting.
I'm not expecting it to last too long though. We still have a few weeks of winter left.
In addition to waiting for nicer weather lately, we have also been waiting for the excavation contractors to come out to the site. It seems like everything is waiting, waiting, waiting - meanwhile the planet continues to suffer.
I need to have this hole dug now so I can have my first set of tires installed and the roughing for water plumbing etc before people get here in May. I'm hoping next week will see the earthmovers there.
Construction of our scratch-built solar panels is going well and I continue to have fun every day with the new solar stovetop affair we purchased recently. It's really cool to boil up a pot of tea in minus 25 conditions just from the power of the sun.
I'm also designing solar hot water heaters in my sleep lately, it should be interesting to see what I come up with finally...
We have a dozen people signed up for our first workweek in May, we're both really excited about that! We're also pumped to see Chuck and Pat at long last. I speak to Pat almost weekly, she's almost part of the family already though we've never met in person. We're going to learn an awful lot from them I expect.
Keep fighting the green fight!
Another cold snap. Friggin' cold. This a.m. it was minus 36 degrees Celsius. After the wind chill it felt like -44 degrees C. Yikes. It's supposed to break later this week, above freezing on Wednesday. Weird country...beautiful though. Lots of fresh snow.
Progress on the bunkhouse has been steady despite the weather. Thank you Conrad for the Spencer woodstove - so nice in there with the stove running.
My friend Chris Bushell did the mudding and taping in there the other day. We've got one more quick coat to do before we sand and paint. Looks really good though. Thanks Chris, I really suck at that stuff.
Joe and I put the housewrap on the same day. We're now ready for the metal siding and fascia board. Then it's paint, flooring, finish the wiring and we're good to go.
This will be the only example of conventional construction on site. The reason for it - most of the building was recycled, salvaged or donated. It is also off-grid, requiring little more than a little firewood to sustain. Still far greener than most dwellings today. Very little maintenance too.
Got some new toys lately, doing some neat stuff too.
We got a package of solar cells from Green-First Technologies in Napanee, ON last week. We will be constructing our own solar panels from scratch starting this week. By building panels at home, we will save more than 30 per cent per watt. Transporting completed panels here to P.A. is expensive. They are large, awkward, and heavy - considered oversized by many shippers.
Building panels also teaches you how to fix them if you ever need to. We will be offering workshops this year teaching others this valuable skill. Thanks to Jens Naumann for his advice on the subject as well as to the Maine Solar Energy Association and John Burk.
Got a couple new LED light bulbs yesterday. They're not as bright as one might like, but it is USEABLE light with very, very low wattage. We got one 3 watt and one 2.5 watt. Even if you had to replace one CFL with two LEDS you'd still have a net savings of energy. Savings of energy, but not cash. These are expensive - one of the bulbs was $43 CAD. Ouch! I would like to know how much energy it took to make the two different kinds of bulb. We need to know real lifetime costs of our products with everything factored in - not just the shelf price and the reduction of power to run something.
Oh well, we just using the rebate we got on our electrical bill here at the current house. Yep, we have done enough energy saving stuff here in our conventional home that we're now under the estimates and they owed us money! Yeah us!
In addition to the lights, I also picked up a parabolic solar cooker. It's frigid out there today but I'm still going to cook a caribou steak on it. I'll videotape it. Tomorrow I'll make lunch with it at the jobsite.
This week I started talking to excavation contractors. I hope to have some equipment on site in the next two weeks to begin digging the hillside out for the EcoArk. Cool.
Keep it green!
February 3, 2009
It’s here, at long last – IT’S FINALLY HERE! After nearly a year, we now have the title in our hands for the property itself. The long, arduous journey from raw hay field to subdivided lot has finally gone through. What a pain in the ass!
What used to be little more than a handshake and a signature has turned into quite the ordeal! Recommendations to future builders – find an existing parcel or buy a big piece of land. This subdividing a small chunk off an agricultural zone in order to establish a residential lot is a nightmare.
Oh well, water under the bridge I suppose. As the Mrs. reminded me yesterday, we will likely not remember the small setbacks when we’ve been in the place for a while. Besides, time has been flying by at such an alarming rate in recent years anyway…
So, today I cut some more bottles with the wet tile saw donated by Bob Varey of Saskatoon. I have officially burnt out the blade however. I’ll get a couple more right away. There are still several dozen bottles in my basement that need cutting before I can clean out my workshop…
On advice from our friends Tyson and Chloe of www.driventosustain.ca , I sent a letter of proposal to Discovery Channel this afternoon recommending they televise the EcoArk build this year. I said the show could be a cross between Holmes on Homes, Survivor and Canada’s Worst Handyman…nah, just kidding. I did suggest however that it could be a reality miniseries though. That would be really great. I hope they go for it.
If we get turned down though, we will videotape and compile our own movie that we can provide to visitors or sell online CHEAP to those who want to learn about the process. I’m also thinking about a colour plate coffee table book too – also CHEAP through the website or Ebay.
Wilf and I put the sheet rock in the bunkhouse this week - it’s looking really homey in there. I expect I’ll have to overnight it out there soon while the mud and tape sets up. It’s going to be a night of stoking the fire and trying to dry the mud as quickly as possible. We could probably wait until spring for better temperatures but I’d like to have this thing liveable as soon as possible.
We’ll put the house wrap on the outside later this week, finish the roofline trim and install the steel siding. Then we’ll get busy on painting and decorating…
Although everything is wired in there, we’ll have to wait a bit to finish the panel and such. Still figuring out the PV and wind setup for the building. May do everything myself. Got great plans from www.BackHomeMagazine.com on how to build our own windmill for $400. Looks pretty cool!
January 12, 2008
Weather has been ferociously cold here for about the last month, but since we got the Spencer cook top woodstove in the bunkhouse it’s been quite comfortable. Finished the rough wiring in there yesterday. Just have to get a friend to check my work and put in a generator transfer switch and we’ll have lights and wall outlet power in there. By spring we anticipate having the solar collectors and inverter in for that building, then it will be autonomous.
The bunk house is coming along nicely - most of the interior is insulated and vapour barriered. Yesterday my helper Joe and I had it up to 24 degrees Celsius in there under wood heat from the stove. Yeah, I know - too hot – but I wanted to see what we could do. The oven thermometer read between 300 and 400 Fahrenheit, hot enough to bake bread or cook a roast. I can’t wait to try that. I’ve been making my lunch on the stove this week - heating soup and warming some banana bread on the warming rack above. Awesome.
We’re using some of the poplar I salvaged from putting in the road and my neighbour Wilf brought over some scrap boards he got from the Kinsmen Community workshop.
He had 10 three tonne truckloads dropped at his place some years ago and said we could have as much as we wanted. We could heat our place for 10 years on what he’s got next door. It’s just sitting there rotting anyway, dumping CO2 into the air as it rots. Hey, saves cutting my own and trucking it in.
Right now I’m drawing plans for the bunk beds and cabinetry. I like doing this kind of stuff and finding new, creative way to use space efficiently. I really like what they do on sailboats to use space wisely. Really cool cabinetry on some of the websites I’ve seen.
I’m also brainstorming ideas for our solar shower setup. A small scale unit for two people is easy, but with the number of people we’re expecting I want to make an almost commercial scale affair. We have these liquid materials cubes to store water in. My thought is to elevate one, insulate it, then have a convection collector located on the ground to provide the heat units we need. I’ll have to pump the water from ground level rainwater barrels up to the insulated tank but that can be achieved by a high volume hand crank pump.
Weather is expected to get better later this week. I’m hoping to have enough cash to put the steel roofing material on. After that the bunkhouse will be livable. Here’s hoping!
December 16 , 2008
Well, it’s cold this week – minus 40 degrees Celcius. We don’t typically get this cold until the end of January, but oh well. It’s a good test for my resolve and for the strength of my tools on the jobsite.
We’ve been working on turning this old wooden grainbin into a bunkhouse for some of you to stay in this summer. It’s been a lot of fun seeing this thing evolve. It went from being a dusty, run-down wooden box into something I could see staying in for a while.
One of the neighbours donated it, another neighbour is giving us an old Spencer cookstove to put in there, we got two of the windows free and the other two from a salvage place for a great price. My friend Max gave us a bunch of lumber he had leftover from a building project and Thorpe Brothers Plumbing and Heating is looking for some scrap metal siding for it.
Sounds like I’ve got two or three PV panels coming too. Cool, eh? Yer Canadian eh? Come pound some tires this spring eh?
It’s awesome to see people’s eyes light up when we tell them about the project and all the things we’re doing out there. Everybody seems so eager to help out in any way they can. I even got a deal on my jobsite generator when I bought it.
Speaking of generators, this cold weather has really been a test for our electricity at the site. The generator has been having a hard time starting in this cold. When we’re finished our house, we will have to have it indoors I think. Either that or build a dedicated hut-style tire structure. For now, I loaded the thing into my van and will haul it back and forth from the city. Should be warm by the time we get there.
More sponsors are coming on every week and more volunteers commiting to some time up here. We can hardly wait for spring! Feel free to drop us a line or give us a call if you want to know more about what's going on, or just to chat about it! Be sure to take a look at our 2009 Work Week Schedule to see when you can make it here!
November 14, 2008
Wow, something actually happened at the jobsite today! At long last, the survey company was out to do the final landmarking for the EcoArk property. Our 10-acre parcel was officially staked and the boundaries marked this afternoon. It should only be a matter of time (how much time is still a mystery) before we get the actual title in our hands. There will be a rather large bottle of expensive champagne uncorked at the site when we have it.
To recap, the past eight months have been a struggle. Surveying and subdividing this parcel of land has been a long and painstaking process. We had no idea how long these things take. We still don’t understand why it takes so long and no one we called could give us a straight answer either.
It’s a really disturbing notion, especially considering our current economic condition here in SK, that people have to wait so long to get their subdivisions approved. Markets and economic conditions might be good when you start the process, but by the time things actually get signed and sealed there may be a completely new set of circumstances. It baffles the masses apparently as to why we need such a long, drawn-out process here in Saskatchewan. We’re over-governed with “too many cooks in the kitchen” if you catch my drift. It is truly ridiculous that people have to wait this long to get things moving.
The lack of title prevented some building permits from being issued this year, some insurance from being purchased and subsequently a hole from being dug. It did not however prevent the construction of our utilities shack and restroom, the transportation and stockpiling of tires and building materials and the clearing and prepping of the staging area.
We even erected the tower for our internet and satellite as well as a really nice steel flagpole (graciously donated by the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division). Did I mention we also got our cheque from the City of Prince Albert for our tire mining operations? Nine thousand dollars baby! Yeah, we spent it.
We are also in the process of building a small guest house to the west of the utilities building. This small structure began its life as a wooden granary in the mid-1940’s and was donated to the project by a neighbour only a few miles down the road. We figured that if it survived the trip to the EcoArk site, it would probably hold up pretty well as a bunk house for some of our visitors to stay in.
Much of the building materials we are using in the retrofit were salvaged from other area building projects. The North American construction industry has a brutal track record when it comes to the waste of good materials when erecting new structures. We’re just really good at dumpster diving!
So, where now? We are mid-November, the snow has begun to fly and the temperatures are steadily dropping. It is our goal to finish the bunkhouse and continue stockpiling materials at the site. By May we should everything there except for the people.
We are so excited to have HGTV’s Chuck and Pat Potter coming to the site for the last week of May. They will be teaching us a great many things – from pounding tires to parging and stuccoing.
The Potters were the first people in Canada to construct a rammed-earth tire house. They fought many battles for the rest of us and have a great wealth of knowledge to share. This couple is iconic in their commitment to the environment at their belief that humanity can change through cooperation and the sharing of knowledge. Anyone who can come should come - it would be a shame to miss out! Bring your appetites, your hand drums and guitars too…
Thank you very much to those who have pledged financial contributions to the “Bring Out Chuck and Pat Fund.” It is an expensive journey from Bancroft, ON to Prince Albert, SK and we are looking for ways to make this trip as comfortable for these fine people as possible. Click here to make a donation to the Potters travel expenses!
We’ll keep you posted!
October 19, 2008
Well, winter is peering around the corner and we are still hard at work. Trying to get as much done as possible before thing sock in here for the winter.
It is with some level of frustration that we must inform everyone that we are still waiting on the province to approve our subdivision application. The project has suffered numerous setbacks waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to finish turning. It will be with much pomp and circumstance that we crack a bottle of champagne on the site the day the paperwork is complete! It isn't hard to see why our province is always the ugly little brother here in Canada. It seems to take forever to get anything done on the development side. Over-governed, underdeveloped... what more can we say? Due to the lack of an official title transfer, we were unable to dig the hole yet. If we get the deed in time, we may still be able excavate. If not, we still have a lot of other things we can do. We were given a 10 x 16 granary from a neighbour. The wooden structure, circa 1940, will serve as a bunkhouse when completed. We intend to insulate the whole thing, put in a couple windows, a woodstove, some lighting and clad the entire building in galvanized metal to match the utility shack we've already constructed. It will be a neat retrofit when complete. Who knows, we might be living in there come springtime! The gates and road are all complete with gravel and grading finishing up two weeks ago. The trails are all barked and we have prepared the site for next year's big building season. We are busy investigating our wind and solar options and have come to some ideas about what we will put in. Amazing what some folks have done with wind generation and PV! The winter months will involve further bottle and can collection, more bottle cutting and joining and the odd trip to the auction sales. We'll keep you posted!
September 14, 2008
We had a great time at Green Living Action Day! Thank you so much again to Shannon Smadella, who not only helped out at the EcoArk Saskatchewan Booth, but was great company for the day! I think Shannon learned a lot about our project, and we have plans to include her in the future development of the project when her schedule allows for it!
We were able to make some great contacts at the Festival, and should be able to get the rest of the tires moved fairly quickly with the new volunteers who have signed up to help out in the next couple of weeks! We could always use an extra set of hands or two though - so if you have some time next week and would like to help out, drop us a line!
The site excavation is scheduled for next week - stay tuned for photos on our gallery to watch the progress!
September 8, 2008
With Prince Albert's Green Living Action Day Festival just a few days away, we wanted to say thank you to Peggy Schlichemeyer for helping us out with the use of her truck for the day so Manda can get the materials down to the booth without having to take six trips each way with her little car! We're also really looking forward to meeting Shannon Smadella (Miss Canada Galaxy 2009) as well when she comes to help out on September 13th!
Donations are beginning to come in to help Chuck and Pat Potter of HGTV attend our May workshop in 2009 - special thanks are due to Laine Hotte of Fontoniko Consulting Inc. in Calgary, Alberta for his generous financial donation for the Potters' journey!
Don't forget to check out our new Gallery section on the Visuals page!
August 27 , 2008
What a great time the WAM Festival was! It was so uplifting and exciting to meet so many of the people in Saskatoon who are just as excited about our project as we are! We hope to see a lot of you on our job site in the next while!
Well, with the We Are Many Festival behind us, we're very much looking forward to Prince Albert's Green Living Action Day (GLAD) Festival on September 13th, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. in Memorial Square.
A very special thank you to Shannon Smadella, Miss Canada Galaxy 2009, who will be helping out at the EcoArk Saskatchewan Booth on September 13th - check out her website here!
Also, a quick note for all those who are eager to get started - we are in the process of moving the tires up to the building site. We currently have about 650 tires on site - we need to have about 3000 there before we start the excavation and ramming. The more bodies we have, the quicker this can all happen!
Drop us a line or give us a call if you would like to learn about selecting and organizing tires for this type of dwelling - although the beginning stages of this project may lack the "glamour" of the later stages, selecting and organizing the tires is an integral part of this project. Learn how we got top dollar to take these tires out of our local landfill - get tips on how to negotiate with your own municipality!
We've also received word that Chuck and Pat Potter of HGTV, who have built and are living in a rammed earth tire home in Bancroft, Ontario, will be joining us to help with our project for the May workweek of 2009. (See their website here). We are very excited about having the Potters come to Saskatchewan, and are certain that they will have all sorts of invaluable advice! We would greatly appreciate any financial donations, however small, to help get the Potters out to the EcoArk Saskatchewan job site.
August 17 , 2008
EcoArk Saskatchewan has established a work week schedule for 2009, as follows (see calendar here).
May 22-27; June 12-17; July 10-15; August 7-12; September 4-9; October 2-7 These are Friday to Wednesday weeks.
Contact us to confirm your spot! We will only be taking groups of 16 per work week. We will be providing food, tools, equipment, materials. Just bring your camping gear, good footwear, sunscreen and gloves. Please specify if you have special dietary needs.remember, your children are welcome to come along as well! Manda will be taking care of kids' workbees to keep everything running smoothly!
Although we won't be able to get as much done this year as we had hoped, due to the delay on the subdivision approval from the province, there is still some work we are able to get on while we wait, namely, getting the tires moved out to the site, excavation, and, if we're lucky, getting some of the tires rammed! So if you and yours would like to come out and lend a hand before this winter, we'd love to see you!
June 24th, 2008
No, we didn’t die or get enlisted in the Foreign Legion - we’ve just been run ragged lately.
Our busy time of year is in full swing – taking lots of grad photos, wedding pictures, etc. That’s left some of the building effort a little behind. It’s just as well though…
The order of operations is dependant on the completion of survey efforts. They aren’t done yet…
It is a busy time for all and the surveyors are run off their feet with the current boom Prince Albert is experiencing. Without the finalized survey though, transfer of funds (and the deed to the new lot) cannot take place. A bit of a standstill…
The current owner of the land understands the situation and has agreed to allow us to move tires and building materials to the site in the meantime. Despite the red tape, we are looking forward to excavation in the coming weeks.
Now for the name change issue. You are all probably wondering why we changed the name from E-ship Saskatchewan to EcoArk Saskatchewan.
As we have decided to use local people for design, engineering and alternate sources for consultation, Earthship Biotecture has asked us not to use the term "Earthship" in relation to the project. Hence Eco-Ark Saskatchewan was born. You may also notice that our radio interviews and the bottle cutting video are no longer on the site - each of them utilized the term "Earthship", which is no longer permitted. We will be reshooting the bottle video, and more interviews are sure to appear before much longer.
Calling it the Ark works out, really…we have two dogs, two snakes, two people. Oh yeah, now my wife says we need another cat, groan. Ark is probably a better term anyway, this thing is going to be biblical in stature and effort…
May 17th, 2008
I think we were all aware that the construction process was going to be a long one. I don’t think Manda and I were prepared for how long the process is that comes before construction though. We’re itching to get going – as are all of you – but these things are difficult to rush.
There are forms – mountains of them. There are meetings, dozens of them. There are strange issues that pop up out of nowhere that catch you and the authorities completely off guard. It’s been interesting the past week or so.
At the most recent council meeting, the city approved our tire mining proposal. They have agreed to pay us three dollars per tire that we remove from the city landfill. Where we live, this arrangement works well for both parties. Citizens must pay 5 dollars per tire to drop one off at the landfill, the city then has to pay 4 dollars per tire to ship them to a recycling facility an hour and a half away. Our 3 dollar per tire payment makes the city more money and helps offset some of our building costs. A win-win for everyone.
It was funny how we found out the proposal had been approved. The media started phoning. “Mr. Porter, can we get a few words for our noon broadcast?” “Sure…about what exactly?”
We had a bit of a scare earlier this week. We had the utility companies mark underground services in the area. As expected for a piece of old hayfield, there was nothing crossing the site – no power, no gas, no water lines…that was until the phone company got there.
With bright red flags - going directly through our proposed dig site – the phone company showed us where their lines were. I almost had a heart attack when I arrived on the site the next morning. After several phone calls and another couple meetings we have rectified the problem. The line will be rerouted next week, around our dig site. On the good side, it won’t take much to get a phone line put in…and the utility gave us a nice rain gauge as a present too.
In a meeting with the roofer, a new solution to roofing material has presented itself. Using a product known as TPO (Thermoplastic PolyOlefin), we will have a white reflective roof that is safe to catch rainwater. No gravel, no screws. It sounds really great. The real nice part is that Thorpe Brothers (the plumbing, roofing and heating guys) has offered to provide some of the roof insulation for free. They have been salvaging rigid foam from a number of buildings they are working on. Now that’s some green thinking – way to go guys!
We are preparing to put in the road access after some serious consideration on exact location. It’s said that some of the trees will have to go, but other access points are either too steep or too wet. It’ll work out for the best, we're sure.
Holy crap is it ever expensive to get the surveying done for the subdivision – like $5000 expensive! There seems to be only one company in the area and they are really sought after. I’m going to see if the fee is at all negotiable – considering what a great project this is and all . . . .
More volunteers daily, both locally and otherwise. We are up to about 50 people now with numbers increasing all the time. We all know however, that interest today doesn’t always mean a commitment tomorrow. We hope to see as many as we can when the rubber hits the road.
It’s nice to have the floorplan drawings finished (subject to some change or course), in order to show people what it’s going to look like. Check it out here. I am also doing an artist’s rendering to illustrate the exterior view. It’ll be little more than a pencil sketch but I think it’ll help with the visualization process.
Watch for more video and visuals coming soon!
May 7th, 2008
Our drawings are almost finalized. We have made a few adjustments to the first draft. The most recent set looks good says the building inspector, so long as we make sure the egress (bedroom fire escape) issue is addressed. No problem. The next step is to send our plans off to our consultants for review.
The Rural Municipality of Prince Albert has been in communication with the City of Prince Albert to authorize the release of the tires from the city landfill – 3000 of them. The RM has also given us the go-ahead to submit the building permit application and subdivision forms.
Everyone seems eager to see what we can do with this idea – thank you so much to everyone who came before us, those who have proven the science and paved the way for additional green projects like this one.
Things are drying up quickly, so we should be able to get moving here very soon. All services in the excavation area have been marked and no utilities are going to be in the way of our dig. We conducted aerial videography of the site on Monday – keep checking back to see that video which shows of our new neighbourhood.
We have also contacted the roads manager from the RM to get our new approach installed, it should go in soon.
We are making arrangements with a local trucking company to move the tires to the site and we are investigating the possibility of having a “Sea Can” put on the site for materials and equipment storage.
April 22, 2008
As feared, Earth Day is upon us and we aren’t going to have a shovel in the ground today. Too many factors to have them all come together on time I guess. We are still waiting on word from our bank (re: funding) and with the Rural Municipality and City of Prince Albert (re: tire deal). The blueprints are closer to being finalized and a lot is resting on the engineering stamp and building permits being issued. A minor hurdle we’re hoping.
There is some good news today though - we were interviewed on CBC Radio today about the project, our goals and aspirations as well as the need for more sustainable designs in building.
We were also scheduled to speak at the local college about the project but the radio broadcast was set for the same time. We will be rescheduling with the school.
Bottle cutting continues, I’ve officially lost count. I’ve got hundreds of these beautifully coloured jewel-like logs for constructing a bottle wall inside the EcoArk.
The leftover tops have been a bit of an interesting conundrum. I’ve got twice as many waste bottle tops as I have glass logs. Sooooo...I’ve been experimenting.
I’ve strung together a dozen clear glass bottle tops onto a copper pipe filled with water, left it out in the sun and measured the temperature differential between the ambient temp and the now solar-heated hot water. At one point, with an air-temperature of only 14 degrees Celsius, we had 42 degree C water inside the copper pipe. This may turn into a neat way to add supplemental heat to our outdoor bathtub….
Now for the coloured bottle tops. I took a couple dozen tops to local stained glass maker and rockhound Herve Vallee. He has a kiln which he has used to fuse glass together. He was successful in flattening out several coloured bottle tops. They’re really quite neat when flattened. We are using one for a spoon cradle on our stovetop now. I may etch the ESP logo into the top side of these and sell them in the gift shop.
There are a host of other options for these flattened tops too – countless art applications, uses in tile mosaics, cut and joined in stained glass panels, lampshades, candy dishes and more. We’ll keep you posted on the ideas as they come. I want to smash them all up into bits (mostly because I like smashing things) and melting them together into large glass panels for table tops, countertops, window panes, etc. Supercool…
Momentum continues to increase as more volunteers, sponsors and the public at large step forward to express their interest in all things green.
April 18th, 2008
Sorry for not writing lately, momentum is a little slow right now. We’re in a holding pattern that threatens to postpone our groundbreaking. My drawings aren’t finished yet which is holding up the building permit, which is holding up my tire mining approval from the municipality which is holding up everything. We are also waiting for the bank valuation of our current home so we can finalize the purchase of the land we want.
On the up side though, my friend Wilf moved the snow off the proposed site with his tractor a two weeks ago to aid in the drying process. He also cleared snow and debris from the ditch next to the site in preparation for the approach to go in. I think he’s excited to see what we can do here with this.
The list of volunteers grows every day. We have a lot of really eager workers looking to save the world one house at a time. It’s really awesome to see so many people looking to come to Prince Albert to be part of this process. I hope we can keep everything close to on schedule so all these people can come for a visit.
In addition to dozens of people looking to come from across the prairie provinces, we also had an inquiry from Philadelphia. A gentleman there has shown some interest in coming too. Awesome I say…
Bottle cutting has been going well. Collection of glass jars has also been productive. We will still have to do the Green Bottle Drive to get cans and such. About 8,000 cans short of what I would like to have for this place.
My wife is getting fed up with all the chaos in our kitchen but weather’s improving and we will be moving most of it outside in the next day or so. She’s also a little worried about how slowly things are moving on the municipal, legal and banking fronts. We are holding our breath a lot right now. Keep your fingers crossed on everything for us and remember – everyone goes through this kind of thing when ideas are new and scary.
April 2, 2008
On our recent trip to visit our new green friends near Nipawin, we purchased a P3 Killawatt electricity meter. We found out some interesting things about our household appliances. The toaster, hairdryer, electric kettle, coffee maker and other heating related items are DEPLORABLE in their energy efficiency. The only saving grace is that they are not used often or for very long. One of our biggest concerns was the electric fan my wife insists on using while we sleep. I thought for sure that this meter would give me enough justification to scrap the fan thing altogether. Not so, though!
The fan only uses 40 watts per hour, and this is a conventional, department store variety too. I was surprised, really, I thought it would have been one of our worst culprits – only 9.6 kilowatts. Now, I get a brushless 24 volt DC fan on its own little panel and battery we’re set. The computer runs at 25-35 watts per hour at idle but at 45-55 watts when the processor is humming. Our digital clock radio is almost negligible. We plugged it into the fridge for 24 hours and found that it used a horrendous amount of juice. The freezer was also a culprit, but not as badly as we’d feared. It’s newer, though. We will be getting a SunDanzer chest refrigerator in the EcoArk, maybe two.
Next step is to hook up a big-ass power bar in my studio to determine what my mainframe and strobe equipment is drawing per hour. I’m not looking forward to the results…
April 1, 2008
Well…we’re officially homeless. Last night at about 3 a.m. our electric baseboard heaters, circa 1970, set fire to a nearby box of disposable diapers and plastic grocery bags. The fire quickly spread to our collection of mounted animal heads and plastic covered polyester couches. The wind was from the southeast which pushed the fire into our garage where the vintage Winnebago and Hummer H2 reside, alongside my Harley Davidson panhead.
Not only was the fire a total loss, the World Wildlife Fund has now accused us of damaging a large waterfowl nesting area with the toxic smoke and molten plastic from the blaze. Yikes, talk about bad luck, eh?
Now, if you bought all that tripe, I have some land to sell you in Florida!
Happy April Fools’ Day EcoArk fans! March 31, 2008
We visited two families yesterday just northeast of Prince Albert – a log home and a stack-wall house. Both households are semi-independent but very efficient. One is still on natural gas and a diesel generator while the other is on a small gas generator. Both use a lot of photo-voltaics and some serious insulation.
The big reason we went to visit was to get some first-hand experience about composting toilets from Sun-Mar. The first family has the Excel NE one-pint system. They love it, we love it too. A little more complicated on the install side but a lot more appealing to the wife. I prefer the woods nine times out of ten but the ladies have the final say!
The second household has a Sun Mar compact NE. The lady of the house was none-to-quiet about her dissatisfaction with their facilities – to the point that she is pushing her hubby to install a septic system in the future. OUCH!
She cited aesthetics and overall height of the unit as issues she has with the compact NE. She also insinuated that daily maintenance was a less than attractive process. Started sounding like an outhouse for basketball players ...
If all goes well, we will be putting in two Sun Mar Excel units – a 1000NE and a 2000NE. March 30, 2008
Things are progressing – slowly, but progressing.
Land here is still relatively inexpensive in contrast to other parts of the world but it’s still not cheap. It seems to be getting more expensive everyday.
We have made a deal with a friend for a 10-acre plot 10 kilometres southeast of our fair city. We already know the neighbours and the site is perfect. There are trees to the north and open space to the south. It has a nice rise to the north where ESP will be situated.
There is a little cemetery to the west. It has some 100-year-old tombstones in it – quite a bit of history in the area.
We’re working closely with our bank on all of this, they would like to get involved in some “green-financing” and welcome the opportunity to mortgage something like this. But there’s still a board of directors to convince. We’ll see what happens. There is still a chance this whole thing could fall apart in our laps. We have a few more meetings left before we put rubber to road. Keep your fingers crossed … and yeah, order a print too! www.smarterphoto.com March 15, 2008 We're still very much in the beginning stages of ESP right now. We began researching this project a little more than 3 months ago. We still have a lot to read, and a lot to learn, but are very excited by the whole process. It's going to take a lot of work, a lot of time, and a lot of support from our community, but we know that it will be more than worth it in the long run. We will have the land purchased within a couple of weeks, and hope to start construction as early as April (depending on the weather, of course!). Our current target for the ground breaking is April 22 - that's right, Earth Day! How appropriate! In the meantime, our current home is filled to the brim with wine bottles, mason jars, aluminum cans and glass bricks. Every step we take has something clanking or jingling together these days! A small ad in our local newspaper brought in over 500 mason jars from our community, and trips to our bottle depot have gained us a veritable rainbow of wine bottles. The bottles and jars will be largely used for the interior walls of our new home. Not only are they practical, but beautiful as well! Over 400 glass bricks salvaged from the deconstruction of an area school will play a part in the interior construction as well. We're still collecting materials, of course, so if you have bottles, jars, cans, etc., that you don't need and would like to donate, please contact us! We'd be happy to come pick them up in the local area. Coming up: The Green Bottle Drive! A bottle drive that not only takes green bottles, but bottles of every description! The truly "green" part of the bottle drive is that NO fossil fuels will be used in the drive. EcoArk Saskatchewan volunteers will be out on foot, horseback, bicycle and veggie-powered vehicles to take your donations. Stay tuned to this website and local media for details!
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Thomas next to the on-site composting bathroom. We have covered the door in reclaimed license plates.
