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                         a   S T A M M E R  project              

2008 July 24 - Augustus 11

At the end of July they finally harvested the barley in the fields near our terrain. Because of the relatively cold and wet spring, the cereal had matured almost a month later than last year.
The straw bales we need for the construction of the house and garden house must be of the ‘old-fashioned’ small size, that is: more or less 50 cm wide, 100 cm long and 35 cm high, with maximum compression. It took us some effort and organization to find the right people and machines but we finally got what we wanted (with a strawbale length of 110 cm and a width of 45 cm). We collected the bales of the neighbouring field with our own car and trailer but the ones from the field that were a little farther away and less accessible were transported with tractor and trailer.

The price per bale amounted to almost one euro. If you want them professionally collected in the field you have to add another euro.

Barley just harvested in the neighbouring field.
Looking north.
24 July 10:35.

A miraculously compact but already old-fashioned machine.
1 Aug 17:18

Our terrain is on the left.
Looking west.
1 Aug 17:19

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The stacked bales occupy (and transfigure) quite a big area but the space inside the temporal bale walls will double as a workshop for carpentry and other construction activities.

To avoid contact between the bales and wet soil, the bales are stacked on a structure of wood. Our trailer on the right can transport 12 bales.
6 Aug 10:56.

This trailer with a tractor can transport almost one hundred bales.
8 Aug 11:02

Almost an eco cathedral although a very temporal one.
9 Aug 18:46

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When working with straw bales it is no luxury to dress up as an astronaut, with gloves, mask, glasses, hat and long-sleeved shirt and trousers. Straw may be ecological but getting it in your eyes or lungs can be very irritating and even your skin might get irritated.

We were lucky with the weather although the bales in the field received a thundershower with 2 litres of rain. That corresponds to 2% extra moisture content inside the bales, while the maximum allowed content for construction is 14%. Not something to get much worried about, considering the dry and hot weather before and after baling.

Strawbale Odyssey.
9 Aug 13:16

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The terrain and especially the ponds would gladly receive some more rain as they get drier and drier. Also the deposit of 2000 litre, used for watering the shrubs we planted in spring is getting used up.

Looking south-east.
Pink Lythrum salicaria flowering on the left, yellow Verbascum sinuatum on the right.
2 Aug 8:54

I know of few flowers that stand so fresh and lofty during the long hot summer as this Cephalaria leucantha.
29 July 12:13

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The delay of the strawbale delivery gave us time for improving preparations and design details of the future buildings. I used the 'extra' time to dig something deeper in the future cellar under the garden house. It will be a nice storing room for the inevitable potatoes and home made blackberry marmalades.
It’s not the first time that an irritating delay has resulted in a beneficial opportunity to reconsider how things should be tackled. For example: We started with the design of our future house and garden house about 2 years ago. These two years have seen a steady development and rejection of many ideas, trying to focus on what we really need and want. The overall effect has been a more simple, practical and even more aesthetical design. If we had had to work with hurry and deadlines, I think we would have many things to regret in the future.

So for ‘projects’ like these, it would better to forget the idea of a project with a deadline, and consider it as an ongoing process. In other words, not only ‘Think globally, act locally’ but also ‘Think of eternity, act in the present’.
 

The latest design of the garden house, looking north. Door and window are now separate to facilitate the construction of straw bale walls.
The shadow shows the situation at
4 Aug 14:00.

introduction
floristic catalogue
faunistic catalogue
contact
index
gallery 1: 2006-2012
gallery 2: 2012-
map
>> 2008 Sep 21 
<< 2008 Jul 15