Nice autumn weather these days. The
sun has to dissipate the fog in the mornings but then it can
even still get quite warm, although temperatures in the shade hardly
pass 15ºC.
Early morning impressions of the terrain.
Looking east.
29 Oct 8:50
Tussocks of Avenulabromoides on the higher western terrace, looking south-east.
29 Oct 8:45
Central terrace, looking south-east.
29 Oct 8:54
Cobweb on the dry stalks of Odontitesluteus. Higher eastern terrace, looking south-east.
27 Oct 8:50
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We partially moved to the garden house, using it as a bed and living
room, while still cooking in the caravan. Our first impressions and
sensations are quite positive: while temperatures outside oscillated
between 6 and 17ºC, inside they varied between 19 and 21ºC!
The wood stove heating wasn't really necessary but we just wanted to
try it. Well, it burned like a torch. In fact the draw was so strong
that pieces of burning paper were thrown out of the chimney
threatening to burn the straw flakes and the EPDM sheets on the
roof. I than learned the importance of regulating the air inflow of
the multi-purpose ash-tray of the stove and was able to turn the
fire down. Nevertheless we decided to take away the straw flakes
from the roof.
We
installed double glazing into the two windows.
29 Oct 9:33
Blanca on the Ikea bed-sofa.
25 Oct13:17
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Part of the success of so much draw is probably due to the
'solar' design of the
chimney, consisting of a double tube, whose black paint helps to
warm up the column of air and start a flow up the chimney. In summer
the same system can work as a solar air conditioning: by taking away
the chimney tube inside the house, the system sucks the
warm air near the ceiling.
Piece of
tissue paper in the ash-tray opening, showing the draw of the
chimney.
28 Oct 21:33
Black 'solar' chimney on the
roof where we took away the
straw flakes.
25 Oct 9:50
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Preparations for the next operation.
South front.
29 Oct 13:41
The inside only just needs some finishing touches of paint and
varnish, so we turned our attention again
to the outside where we made
preparations for the
plastering with clay, sand and straw. We
fixed a mosquito net
in front of the window and fixed cloth and metal wire over the
wooden parts to which the plaster can't stick.
Window detailing with the white geo textile, metal wire mesh,
aluminium mosquito net guide, double glazing and the author.
28 Oct 17:49
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I don't want to get into too much detail about the service piping of
the running water and the electricity. The corresponding works are quite
straightforward and not directly related to 'practical ecology'.
Perhaps in the near future, when it is really functioning, I hope to
include a report about the solar panel
system. But for the moment I would like to comment on a typical
series of mistakes which are a nice illustration of what you might
expect if you are not an expert and have to tackle with an infinite
number of bigger a smaller projects. It can all get quite
overwhelming sometimes and it than becomes easy to fall into the
trap of haste and real or imaginary dead-lines.
The question is that I didn't apply the typical 'teflon' tape on the
pipe connectors for the running water, after having heard a
commentary in a hardware shop. However this commentary referred only
to connectors between similar pipes which go with rubber rings. All
other types of connections, for example when you reduce the size
from 1 to 1/2 inch tubing, need this teflon and that is what I
learned the hard way. A bulldozer had covered up the trenches before
we had properly tested the watertightness of the system (another
mistake, but the plumber couldn't come earlier and we didn't want to
wait until the autumn rains would fill the trenches or make
the terrain impassable). So when I noticed the leaking of the
connectors I had to up dig the connections again and apply the tape.
Fortunately most of these kinds of mistakes are not catastrophic and
simply mean some extra hard work. Not being afraid of redoing a job
all over again is the best mentality when you, as a non-expert, have
to tackle so many details.
The plastic box with the central water valve.
Notice the metal ring of the T-connector in the lower left corner
which needed the teflon tape.
27 Oct 8:42
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A short tour along some recurring topics: the vegetable garden, the
ponds and wildlife shelters:
In the vegetable garden the tomatoes are doing their best to ripe
with the last sun rays of the season.
The kale was heavily predated by the cabbage butterfly (Pieris
brassicae), but mainly the traditional green ones. We
planted a
purple variety which was much less attacked and should be the chosen one
for the future.
The green fertilizers, White clover (Trifloliumrepens)
and Bird's foot trefoil (Lotuscorniculatus) are growing very well and will be sown in other
beds too.
Some fruit trees have still a lot of green leaves and offer the
impression as if they are starting their growing season. Probably
another effect of the thick mulch layer of straw.
White clover on the lower left,
Kale on the right, tomatoes on the left, a surprsingly green Cherry
tree at the back.
29 Oct 8:10
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The upper pond saw the arrival of numerous Backswimmers (Notonecta)
and the simultaneous disappearance
of
almost all the mosquito larvae and I suppose the two events are
related. It seems that the Backswimmers need some weeks to firmly
establish in a new pool of water (this
pond dried out in summer). The lower pond didn't dry out and
always showed a nice population of these mosquito predators and no
mosquitoes, despite the absence of a rich ecosystem of water plants
(I didn't introduce any soil or
substrate in this lower pond).
A Backswimmer between old and new leaves of Sparganium
erectum. 28 Oct 14:10
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This time no other examples
of shelters but of wildlife constructions in a wider sense: the babylonic towers of ants and the clay sausages of the rain worms.
By the way, my nephew Lambert identified the creature who built the
urns I mentioned last time. It is probably a
Potter (or
Mason) wasp (Eumenes sp) which
anesthetizes some caterpillars
inside the urns which serve as fresh food for the larvae.
These ant towers are surprisingly regular in shape.
29 Oct 8:04
A 7 cm high ant volcano.
Central terrace, looking north-east.
29 Oct 8:33
