Archipelago!

Our home schooling journey this past spring has somewhat exploded into new territories, both real and imagined.  With the resources and creativity of a neighboring island teacher, principal, and outdoor education leader Steve Dunsmuir, our group has embarked on an adventure involving the discovery of an archipelago of islands that have never been explored before-  because these islands exist within the imaginations of the kids.  But as the children learn to shape these islands and dress them in plants and animals, they also learn the real life skills of living on these islands without the modern developments that we live with today.

The game is called Archipelago, and it started off with one of our parents, Karen, and her dramatic performance announcing to the kids that our facilitator Julie and her husband drifted off to sea the evening before.  They had called in to the coast guard with co-ordinates of where they were, saying that they were safe and sheltered within a group of islands that, strangely, were not on their charts.  Just as we were hoping that they would be brought safely home, (and many children were glancing around suspiciously as the word “archipelago” started to remind them of the name of a game we had been talking about learning), Julie burst into the room in a life preserver and a paddle, seaweed tangled in her hair, and with exasperation, staggered to a chair and excitedly told us of these islands that no one even knew were there, just right off our coastline!  (I mean, how far could they really have drifted?)

We grouped the kids into 4 island groups and gave them a large piece of paper and they worked together to draw the outline shape of their island.  Then they traced that shape onto a piece of graph paper, and then the originals were placed on the wall of the room onto a big blue background, which then determined the directional placement of the island.  Each island now had a defined shape and a compass rose, and a proximity to the other islands.  Then we rolled dice to give elevations and water ways.  First roll was with a six die, and it determined how many high points there were, and then each high point was given an elevation with the roll of a 10′s dice.  So if 4 high points were rolled, and then 60 was rolled, one of the high points would be 60 meters.  The kids then worked together to decide where each of these elevations would go, in regards to the compass directions of the island.  The same was done for lakes, and for rivers.  Eventually the kids learned to draw contour lines, giving visual dimensions to their new islands.  We did a fun exercise of placing a large rock in a tub and pouring water on it, marking a line around the rock at each 6cm interval to show the changes in elevational contour.  We determined, with the scale of 1 square=1 hectare, that the islands are about 3.5 kilometers long and 2 kms wide.  That put a perspective when we compared it with the size of the island we live on.  One day we all went out for a hike, walking a route that spans the length, and then hiking up a ridge that is similar to the elevations of the imaginary islands.  They are not very big islands, but considering there will be no roads, paths or trails when we get there, they are just the right size for two or three kids to imagine exploring and gathering from every side of it.

I haven’t mentioned yet the other imaginary aspect- characters.  The kids all created their own personality- age, name, attributes, skills, and abilities.  Some of the abilities and skills are real life learning experiences, and some are imaginary with a bit of research.  For instance, from a list of 100 skills, each child picked one for their character that they already have, one that they would like to learn, and one random one (determined with rolling dice).  The one they want to learn is one they came either learn for real, or just research about it and present the information.  Taeven picked cooking, and so we have embarked on a more exciting journey of learning to cook, something which was always a bit of a struggle before.  Cedar picked archery, and lucky for him, Julie had already organized 4 weeks of archery lessons because most of the kids had requested earlier in the year to do archery.  The kids also have a record of other attributes, such as endurance, balance, aim, and finding.  They can earn greater points during our real life adventures for these attributes.  We also try to offer this aspect of attributes on a personal level, so achievements are kept as a reflection of each child’s individual abilities.  It is also light-hearted and fun, so we are not strict with our standards in any way.  Often the kids will decide for themselves if they feel they have achieved a greater level of ability.  Taeven and Cedar have been in the habit of awarding points to each other even!

We spent a flurry of time and activity discovering all the plants that grow on these islands.  From a list of 100 native flora divided into groups of habitat, the children rolled dice to get a plant, then roll again to find how many squares of that plant they have.  Then they decided where on their island that plant would grow, and a symbol would be created and added to a legend of all the plants on their island.  The kids could then do additional research to find out how the plant could be used, either for food, shelter, water, transportation, safety, communication, first aid and medicinal, or happiness!  The possibilities of going deeper into any area of this game is staggering.  Because we only meet twice a week, and because our kids are all so diverse, we have taken a loose approach to each of the deeper explorations, leaving those who wish to learn more the chance to do so in their own time.  Even just researching one plant can be plenty- Cedar has ocean spray on his island, and when he found out that the long, thin, strong branches were traditionally used to make shafts for spears, arrows, bows, as well as other structural uses, he went out and began crafting himself a harpoon.

We had an afternoon of discovering the animals that live on these islands too, through more rolling of dice.  Julie had a computer hooked up to a projector and was searching for photos of each animal as they came up around the room, giving the kids visual identification and opening opportunities for other “islanders” to share what they might already know about each animal.  We learned that there are many different types of mussels, and that sea cucumbers can indeed be eaten, and we listened to the call of an oyster catcher.  The kids kept track of their animal populations by placing them in appropriate habitats and creating a legend.  We watched a slideshow of all the animals in the archipelago, and learned what lives on neighboring islands.

That is where we are at so far with the Archipelago game.  Soon we will be traveling to the islands and using our skills to set up a homestead so that we can enjoy the wild foods, the fresh water, shelter ourselves from the elements, and interact with neighbors, human and animal, with the best of both the imaginative world and the real world.  From what I have observed, this game has created a sense of group unity amoung our 16 diverse children while celebrating their unique qualities.  Their abilities to work together and share ideas while remaining individuals has created a beautiful atmosphere of positive energy in all the exciting activities we have taken on to complement the focused paper work of the Archipelago.

Paint Me In

Here again the day

draws up the colour,

sucks it in deep like

sap, sticky and pungently sweet,

splashing the green

against the blue

with great licks and sweeps,

dotted with pebbles of yellow

bounding birds flashing

their orange song,

little beaks streak between

the rust brown pillars

of shadowed patterns,

where breezes tease the branches

to dance

in their lacy needle skirts

 

Here again the day

dissolves the untruths

of separation,

allows the seep and smear

of tone and hue

to bleed

 

I step into this

collage, offering the

bloodsap of my body

to the frameless creation

 

Here again, with each day,

I am glued to the

vivid presence of the artist

 

capturing light with water,

composing the graceful archs

with soil and stone

and flora,

the endless possibilities of clouds

on horizons

 

paint me in-

infuse me with the palette

of this day

 

                 -Wendi Lopatecki

 

 

 

Hand Split Cedar Roof Shakes

Being a splitter of cedar by trade, Colin naturally decided to split all his own shakes for the roof of his new workshop by hand.  Having many piles of cedar already collected and in need of being moved out of his old working location gave Colin a good start at the job of splitting approximately 600 square feet of coverage, or what he estimated to be 6 squares of shakes.  A square is made up of 4 bundles of shakes covering 100 square feet (each bundle covers approx. 25sq.ft. depending on length of shake and row coverage).  Using a froe and mallet, Colin split and shaped the shakes out of 18″ bolts of cedar, using the best of the shakes for the roof and saving the less than ideal (wavy, thin, less tapered, or  too narrow) for a future wall project.  Shakes are split by placing the froe across the grain on one end of the bolt, about 3/4″ from the edge, then hitting the froe with the mallet and peeling off the shake.  It should taper somewhat (shakes can be 24″ or 18″ long, usually the longer the better for coverage and tapering) and then you flip the bolt over and repeat the same action, flipping the bolt after splitting each shake.  It took a surprisingly long time to split the estimated amount needed, mostly because of the amount of less than perfect shakes that he was getting from the bolts he was using (of which much was old grapestakes, and other pieces of cedar that were not as usable in longer lengths anymore, as the cedar he salvages is not collected for shakes, but in longer bolts usable for furniture, gates and fencing).  Colin chose 18″ shakes partly because of the wood he had available and partly because of the curves and roundness of the roof on his shop.  He layered the shakes with an overlap of 7.5″ each row.  As the rows are applied it is important to offset the gaps between shakes from row to row.  What this means essentially is that the space between shakes never lines up directly with the gap in the row below, and better yet not for 3 rows.  The straight grains of cedar and the overlapping shakes encourages efficient water run-off, while the gaps allow for evaporation and quick drying time.  Cedar shake roofs have a life span of 50 years (though some have been known to last upwards of 80yrs).  Cedar shingles differ from shakes in that they are taper sawn, thinner, and usually are rated only for 25yrs.  Cedar has excellent natural oils present in it’s wood that makes it rot resistant in it’s naturally wet climate.  Much of the northern pacific coastline, rimmed and abundant in fat old growth logs, offers ideal shake block opportunities with wide planks and tight grains.  Most shakes are collected from downed red cedars near logging clear cuts or trees not long enough to be worth milling into lumber.   Here we have salvaged what we can find on the beaches and then applied the best of our skills to producing by hand the beautiful and functional flow of cedar shakes.

At the very end of the project Colin ran out of suitable cedar to split for final part of the roof, and not wanting to waste anymore time as it was the middle of winter, we gave in and purchased the last few bundles of shakes needed to complete the roof.  Although a bit of a disappointment for Colin, this is the reality of building yourself, sometimes you just need to compromise and get it done!

Back to the Spinning Wheel

When I first arrived on this small island nine years ago, I was instantly aware of the thriving community of fibre artists- avid spinners, keen knitters, committed weavers, and exultant felters.  Already being the knitter that I was, I yearned to explore the fabulous world of yarn creation amidst fields of abundant sheep.  With my two year old in tow, I joined the weekly gathering of spinning ladies in the Community Hall lounge as they spun a variety of yarns and poured afternoon tea.  All of them were excited to have me stop in and try out my hand at their wheels, and soon I was bringing along my own wheel on loan from one of the ladies.  Not long after that I found a used Ashford wheel for myself.  I was eager to try processing local wool, and found that many sheep keepers do nothing with the fibre from their sheep as they are focusing on raising lamb.  At first I was happy about finding a use for this waste, but soon learned about qualities of fibre.

Alpaca fibre from Salt Spring Island

Most sheep breeds here do not have spinning quality wool- it is short and rough and difficult to get lined up well enough to spin yarn that could be comfortable.  Since I had already amassed a few garbage bags worth of this wool, I decided to send it to the Gulf Islands’ Spinning Mill Co-op on Salt Spring Island and have it processed into batts of wool.  I spent $175, and in return, I had enough natural wool batts to make a king size duvet, a queen size duvet, and a few pillows.  But I digress.

Aurelia’s Merino colour blends spun in long colour changes

Back to the spinning wheel!  Fast forward and the spinning wheel had been put into storage at my mothers house while we moved into a small trailer to build our house.  Fast forward again, and four years later we are moved in and the wheel is finally being dusted off and my bin of roving cracked open.  Since my first encounter with the local sheep’s wool, I learned to decipher the qualities needed for different processes and applications and had managed to collect quite an array of colours and textures.  I was directed to a west coast Canadian company, aureliawool.com, specializing in importing beautiful New Zealand rovings of Merino and Corriedale with luscious colour combinations to play with.  I also learned that cleaning and carding vast quantities of wool can be rather tedious and quite impossible in a trailer, so I sent many bags of local wool with higher qualities of fibre for spinning with, to the Spinning Mill to be made into roving ready for me to spin.   (Really, the spinning part, as well as the knitting or weaving, is the best part anyways.)

the beginning of a sweater

I have decided that my first project on the wheel, (just to give me lots and lots of reconnecting time with the treadle and the bobbin), is to spin through a huge bag of local brown roving and hopefully have enough to then knit a sweater for my husband.  I am not sure how long this process might take, but I am feeling inspired to take on something long term and very hand made.  Spending time spinning is one of the most relaxing and meditative activities for me… as I watch the soft fibre slide through my fingers and become strong yarn, the rhythm of the treadle calms my busy brain and connects me to a timeless moment of creation.  Knitting and weaving have the same balancing effect.  There is always so much more to learn of these ancient arts, and I am excited to continue the exploration of colour, style, and warmth.

Celebrating A New Christmas

As we journey through the year, Christmas comes as another little blessing.  -Taeven

Colin’s hand painted Christmas card

Indeed, the arrival of this time of year provides opportunities for us to step out of the routine of daily life and reflect on the greater values that we hold for ourselves and for the world.  It has taken me many years of feeling caught in a dualistic drama surrounding Christmas to be finally moving into the direction of creating the kinds of traditions that support the values and emotions that I long for at this time of year. While I trudge through the rituals that our North American society, media, and religion have handed to us, and attempt to surround myself and family with ways that feel true for me, there is a motivation to find beauty and deep connection to the light of the spirits of the people around me.  This year I feel particularly strong about creating Christmas with a certain emotional field for myself and for my family.  It seems like a great window to let in beauty, connection, laughter, joy, love, gratitude,the timelessness of days, simplicity, and prayers of peace for the world.  I find myself yearning to create this certain atmosphere, and filling myself up with warmth and the importance of being together.  I struggle with fitting these energies into the physical manifestation of the traditional ways that are expected, and sometimes feel that my hesitations to replicate what everyone else is doing may cause disappointment or misunderstandings.  How do I translate this to those around me in an honest way through such acts as giving a physical gift… a gift of the thoughts of my heart?  For in my heart I wish to give so much to everyone, but without incurring financial strain, encouraging the clutter of stuff, and widening the divide that lies between those who have and those who have not.  So much mental debris is created when we feel obligated or expected- divides between rich and poor, imbalances of wasteful and scarce proportions.  I want to give beyond these limitations,  I want my gifts to reflect my genuine motivation to give honourably and without insult or suggestion, without waste or  support of the factorization of cheap, environmentally harmful stuff.  I hope that handmade tokens, second hand presents, and gifts of food is simply enough.

our tree made with branches

I would stuff the stockings with brain teasers and jokes, art activities and clues to scavenger hunts, or with games that involve piecing together something from each persons stocking.  Personal challenges can be created and tucked in for each person, and perhaps can lead to finding a hidden gift.  Things that would keep us all giggling and silly, that keep the laughter and festivities alive throughout the day instead of the short-term, rip-it-open-and-move-on-to-the-next-thing method.  I loved the stocking moment when I was young, but I can’t seem to bring myself now to buying tons of little plastic things to quite over stuff everyone’s stockings.  Activities and collaborative team efforts to create fun and beautiful moments are the best thing I can think of to replace a huge pile of presents that get torn through before breakfast.  I struggle with the waste of cut trees of Christmas, and have created an annual tradition of building a tree by gathering large branches that have blown down on our property and standing them upright in a bucket of water, supported within a bamboo frame.  We collect different kinds of fir and cedar, and I give a blessing of thanks and respect to the diversity and importance of the life-giving forests of our island and around the world.

homemade gingerbread made with Nana

And what of the foods of Christmas?  How do I shed a blanket of love over the cooking of Christmas dinner?  Slow food all day, long meals made with many hands, vegetables infused with the luscious flavors of patience and love.  Conversations shared over chopping boards and simmering sauces, laughter spilling like warm drinks and fresh fruit.  A variety of children’s head levels skirting and giggling in wild joy.  Hands passing glasses and plates as if these everyday objects are in themselves, gifts to be given and received.  Eating only what is needed, and savoring each bite with gratitude, sending prayers of abundance to each corner of the world.

a winter walk

It is important for me to venture out into the winter world no matter what the weather is.  To walk together in the fresh crisp air and remember that the hearth of my home is also the hearth of the earth and of the global interconnectedness of the living world.  Humanity, since our slow beginning, has shared the same air molecules as every animal, plant, tree, insect, bird and fish that has ever lived on the earth, renewing and recycling the very particles that bring life into our lungs and blood, just as it brings life to the leaf cells and sap of the towering, ancient trees and young shoots.  Warm hands in mine, I want to walk through gusts, rain, sun, snow, cloud and mist, breathing in the beauty of the air, the abundance of moisture, a giving and receiving in every breath.  Sharing the crisp and glistening air and feeling the world together, the sense of home expanding into the heavens and into the soil waiting quietly for spring.  The birds snapping up the clusters of seeds heads and worms that wiggle and sway- I want to hear their joyful songs and know that their melodious calls are gifts enough.

But what if I cannot do all these physical things?  What if I had no time to hand make gifts, no money to buy games and food, no home even to wake up on Christmas day?  What if my family was gone, or I had none, or those that I had did not feel the way I do or share the same motivations and values?  What if I was limited in any way from practicing these physical rituals that reflect my emotional values…could I still hold these energies of Christmas and feel fulfilled?  Could I still be warmth and love, connection and beauty, joy and gratitude and giving?  How would I show it, share it, offer it?  How do I create physically that which I feel energetically if my physical world is not such as it is- perfectly privileged?  We are spiritual beings first, having a physical experience, but it is through our worldly ways that we express our spiritual energies and needs.  I suppose this is the constant challenge- to meditate deeply in the midst of chaos, in noise and pollution and different opinions, judgement and poverty.  To emanate my center of peace and love, and offer it to any who may wish to take it.

It is a luxury that I can consider it an easy possibility to create my ideal vision of how I want to surround myself during the Christmas season, that I can freely try on and rearrange the comforts of life that fit exactly into my spiritual center.  I understand, though, the danger of being dependent on the perfect setting to achieve such peace. I am swimming, floating even, in gratitude that all I write about is completely possible for myself and my family.  It is my wish that I can be surrounded by friends and family who share in this longing for connecting with each other, to bring with them a desire to share love and generosity, to be willing to be openhearted and tender, and to rejoice in festivities.  I want to be bursting with life, and laughing with tears, and saying thank you, thank you, thank you, for being who you are, and to have eyes to look into who say thank you, thank you, thank you, back.  I send out prayers that there will be this same luxury and privilege for everyone- to create for themselves a season of celebration that is an authentic reflection of the beauty of our hearts and spirits, filled with love for one another, and feeling the true peace of the world.

I celebrate the spirit of giving with my hands and with my heart.  I celebrate the spirit of beauty in nature.  I celebrate the spirit of joy with laughter.  I celebrate the spirit of light with candles and with my own internal source of divinity.  I celebrate the spirit of abundance with gratitude.  I celebrate the spirit of love with eyes and hands and prayer.  This is my offering in any place I may be, with whomever I may be with.

Christmas Gifts of Connection

a green star of Christmas

Just as the winter season of Christmas begins to draw nearer and nearer and my conflicted heart starts to get all knotted up about the dualities of this holiday and what it has become in our world today, our homeschool facilitator sent out her ideas about education and the role we can take in bringing our next generation into a different understanding of the impacts of the mass consumeristic element that threatens to dismantle the magic that Christmas ultimately desires to stand for.  Instead of bringing peace,  light and joy to everyone, the time of Christmas triggers so much sadness, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and anger in too many people… a trend that I seek to change for myself and for my family in the hopes that establishing new ways of celebrating the season of love and birth will help alter the emphasis of what this holiday means.

being clear with ourselves and respectful with our earth

I do not intend to point fingers to the one issue sorrounding consumerism and the dualities of rich and poor, as I understand that there are so many other factors in the social soup of discord that becomes many peoples’ main flavour around this time of year. Also I do not intend to say that all gifts bought from a store and given at this time are contributing to the negative cycle, as long as those who are buying things do so with love in their hearts and without feelings of obligations that work against what is personally affordable, and consideration is given to the integrity of the gift chosen.  I think it is important that we pay attention to what we are doing, and make it clear for ourselves and for our children, (to whom Christmas media is hugely targeting), that we can create new choices for the ways in which we celebrate and give to each other that do not come with economic, environmental, and emotional stresses.  I would like to reprint Julie’s article about some ideas for education around the issue of consumerism, as inspiration for untangling the heart strings.

Greenheart Education- Julie Johnston

http://www.greenhearted.org/greening-the-holidays-at-school.html

Below are some ideas for teaching sustainability in transformative ways by “greening” the holidays along with your students (or children at home). And I’m not just talking about colouring the holidays green — I’m talking about dipping the holidays into a vat of natural dye until they are drenched in green!

Life Cycle Analysis of Christmas (and Other) Presents

Take time to discuss or reinforce the concept of needs versus wants. Many people forget the difference at “giving” times of the year. Help children see the connections between what they receive (and quickly discard) and the living conditions of their brothers and sisters — of all species — around the world.

---

How can we get our children to be satisfied with fewer and less expensive gifts when their friends are getting lots of (sometimes expensive) gifts?

You can’t expect kids to go cold turkey. I have found that kids are somewhat open to the understanding that this is somebody else’s birthday that we’re celebrating. If you can make the holiday joyful enough with enough points of real pleasure, parties, hikes, special activities, spending time together… if you can do enough of those things, then the focus won’t be so single-mindedly on how big the pile under the tree is.
— Bill McKibben, Hundred Dollar Holidays

This is also a great time of year to teach about life cycle analysis! As many children in different parts of the world ask for and receive lots of new “stuff” for Christmas (or other holidays), help them become aware of the environmental, social and economic impacts of their gifts.

Talk to children about where their gifts (those they give as well as those they receive) come from and go to. Extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal (the “materials economy”) all have their costs and benefits. But this is a linear system in a finite world (“cradle to grave”), and hence unsustainable.

Introduce the cradle-to-cradle life cycle, where waste = food for the next product, and Nature is regenerated by our “industrial” processes. (Visit this short primer to learn more about the cradle-to-cradle concept.)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a series of three posters (click the link to download), showing the life cycle of

• a cell phone [pdf]

• a CD or DVD [pdf]

• a soccer ball [pdf]

Several other life cycle analysis resources are listed at Greening Schools.

Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute movie that teaches where things come from — and end up. Leonard is an American sustainability scholar, and the film was created from an American perspective (translations into several languages are in the works). If you haven’t yet seen this film, be prepared to have your view of the world rattled somewhat. (Suitable for secondary school students, and perhaps those a bit younger.)

For older students, check out Consume This! Buying That Matters.

A learningful way to teach the concept of sustainable development during this time is to have each student bring a gift from home, perhaps the favourite one they received last Christmas or sometime during the previous year for a birthday or another holiday. (Let’s ignore, for now, Annie Leonard’s statistic about how many new purchases are thrown out within a few months!) If the gift is too big to bring to school or was a service gift, they can bring a photograph or illustration of it, or simply tell a story about it.

Have each child draw a triple Venn diagram with three large overlapping circles, on their own piece of paper or on the board. Label one circle Environment, one Social Equity, and one Economy.

Next, as students start trying to picture where their gift came from, and where it will end up, have them write the answers to questions that arise in the appropriate circles or intersections. For example,

• What natural resources were used to produce this gift?
• Are they renewable or recyclable?
• How far did this gift travel? Was it locally made?
• What is its “carbon footprint”?
• Who made this gift? Who transported it? Who sold it?
• Were they paid a fair living wage?
• How much did this gift cost?
• Was that a fair price for the buyer (or Santa)? What is its cost-per-use?
• What will happen to this gift when it’s no longer needed/wanted?
• Is there a price to pay for getting rid of it? If so, who will pay that price?
• How much did this gift truly cost?

(Encourage students to watch Ed Burtynsky’s Manufactured Landscapes if they don’t know the answers to these last questions.)

Answers that require research could turn this into a longer-term project.

A similar activity is written up in the Grade 5-8 Education for Sustainability Concepts section of National Sustainability Education Standards – Version 2, from the US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, under 3.2 Collective Action: “Designing a Sustainable System – Using a Venn diagram, students log environmental, social, and economic impacts of a service or system that they use (e.g., transportation of food product). Then students brainstorm a more effective “cradle to cradle” life cycle for the system or product that is effective in terms of reusing or recycling technical nutrients and returning biological nutrients to nature.”

Discuss Gifting Alternatives

Take the time to discuss questions, feelings, needs and concerns that arise. For example, this might be the first time some students have discovered their “social conscience” — and it can be disconcerting, especially if these glimmers of the Golden Rule at the global level contrast with their families’ values and holiday traditions.

Discuss ideas the children have for making their celebrations and gift-giving kinder to the planet, and to others around the world and in the future.

• Service coupons
• Charitable donations in the recipient’s name
• Homemade gifts
• Fair trade gifts
• Handmade reuseable wrapping “paper” or gift bags
• Plants or homecooked foods

Share your students’ ideas in a school e-newsletter.

I wish you, your students and your family a simple holiday season filled with love, peace, fun and kindness — for all.

 

 

Final Lime Plaster

Back in May (2011) we decided to get going on the final lime plaster of the outside of the house before the business of summer cob building took over.  Lime prefers to have cooler temperatures in which to dry, and requires much more attention to the timing of the drying process for a result of eveness of colour and trowel lines.  Much like the process of applying the cayolin clay plaster on the inside, lime needs to be troweled on continually until a whole section can be completed, otherwise an apparent line will be visible where the plaster dried too fast, or where troweling stopped.  There are techniques to make these lines look less visible if whole big sections are difficult to complete in one go at it. We added a beveled line that undulates around the house, dividing the wall into smaller sections and providing a place for us to stop.  That way we were able to plaster only the top section, and then only the bottom, and have the line of plaster meet under the bevel and so be hidden.

moving along in a team of three

Working with three people who are competent with the job is important.  Fixing spots as you go, running out of plaster when you need it, and being too late for the sponging part of plastering is stressful.  So is having the sun come out unexpectedly and not being able to stop to find a way of shading the work space.  Likewise, having lunch, snacks, and drinks being made available while working is a huge bonus in making lime plastering a smooth and fun thing to do.

getting those mixing muscles flexing

The right tools are also necessary.  We used Japanese trowels, hawks (easy to make-plywood board with a handle on one side), just like with the interior plaster, and mixed the plaster in 5 gallon buckets and then in a large tub for uniform colour and consistency.  A powerful drill with a paint mixer attached, measuring spoons and cups (depending on colour pigment used), a spatula, and big scooper are helpful to have on hand.  Ladders or scaffolding should be close by for high parts.

The ingredients are simple- hydrated lime, stucco sand, water, and colour pigment.  We soaked the lime in a big barrel a few weeks in advance.  We also did many colour samples using a one litre mix, adding pigments in increments of tablespoons to get an array of shades and colour blends.  We have many beautiful arbutus trees framing the house, and we wanted to make a colour that brought out a reflection of the deep red/orange/brown that we see in the twisting branches.  We also thought that such a colour would bring out the vibrant yellow of the yellow cedar window frames.  Red pigment, however, has pink tendencies, and so we ended up using ten tablespoons of red in a one litre mix, plus five tablespoons of chestnut brown.  Multiplying that up to 4 gallons in a bucket, and we were deep into a large quantity of pigment.  We ordered what we thought would be enough for the whole house, based on calculations for the area covered per bucket on the inside, but discovered partway through the job that we had only enough for just over half the house.  We spent way more money on colour pigment than we ever expected, but we were committed to the colour.  Lesson #1: estimating for natural plasters is difficult, and calculating for colour pigments is even more complicated.  Lesson #2: find a good source of affordable, bulk colour pigments.  Because we were pushing to get this job done while the weather was still cool, we just walked in to a concrete supply store and bought mortar pigments that come in small bags.  When we discovered just how much we would need, we didn’t want to take the time to find a different source because different pigments have different colour shades.  We would have needed to do the colour sampling all over again.  By the time we ran out and needed more though, I was very much wishing that we had.  However, in the end we spent about $800 in the final outside layer (incl. lime and sand), and compared to other forms of siding or paint, we have a beautiful plaster that soaks in to the landscape, accentuates the curves of the bales and the coziness of the forest, for probably less money in the end.

The very first thing we had to do, before any of the plaster went on, was to add the sculptural elements to the rough coat.  Elemental it was, too – the aspect of the house is situated very close to the four directions, and we wanted to acknowledge the directions and the elements on each side of the house.

south sun

We sculpted a large sun on the south side for fire, and a water lily on the west side for water.  My mom got to work on sculpting a tree on the north side for earth, and I placed two dragonflies on the east wall under the light that shines beside the front door for air.  Our beveled relief line that undulates through the middle of the wall flows through each of the elemental sculptures and adds a subtle shadow line.  The sculptures were made using the same mix as was used for the brown coat of the walls- 1 part clay, 2 parts sand, and 1 part chopped straw.  Fine sand and clay sifted free of rocks makes the plaster easier to shape.  We also wet down the wall and spread clay slip over the area to help with adhesion.

mixing lime, sand, and pigment

Lime plaster: 1 part lime, 3 parts sand.  For us, this meant 5 litres lime and 15 litres sand.  That is what we could mix in one 5 gallon bucket.  Spin it together with the mixer, and add colour pigment, mixing it in with a small amount of water.  Then we turned three buckets into the big tub and mixed them all together.  We worked out of this tub until we got low, then had our extra person work on mixing up more.

Before we started on the walls, I went around and plastered the sculptural areas first, thinking that it would make plastering the walls faster to do rather than having to do the intricacies at the same time as keeping ahead of the drying plaster.  Two were done in white, and two were done as the same colour as the walls.  What I discovered was this was not as straight forwards when it came time to do the walls.  Red pigment, as well as splatter from the rough coat of clay as it was being sprayed with water, got all over the finished sculpture and needed cleaning and touching up afterwards.  Also, it was hard to sponge the plaster without touching the already plastered areas, which made the transitions between the two look smudgy.  From a distance, it is not a big deal at all, and since this is the outside, we usually look at it from a certain distance.  So I recommend doing it all at the same time- just consider simple sculpture lines and expect to be slowed down considerably when plastering these areas.  Small tools are essential, as well as the all useful yogurt lid with the rim cut off.

sponging- making the finish texture smooth and uniform

The sponging part of the process comes when the plaster is tacky enough to leave finger prints but dry enough that no plaster comes off onto the fingers.  It can be a very precise moment, depending on the weather and how fast the plaster may be drying.  A damp sponge is simply moved around in circles to remove the troweling marks and give a smooth, uniform look to the whole wall.  Sponging too soon will pull at the plaster too much, and sponging too late means that the sponge needs to be wetter and a stronger motion is needed to smooth out the trowel marks.  A well troweled wall, however, won’t have very many marks to be eliminated.  We noticed that sponging on a too dry wall caused a variation in the colour pigment, making it a lighter shade, just like when we sponged near an already plastered spot and brushed up against it.

final plaster layer is about 1/4 inch thick

Our process went pretty smoothly.  Colin and I mixed what we needed for the day and did the troweling with a friend who pre-sprayed the wall sections ahead of us with water, sponged along behind us when the plaster was ready, and helped remix some of the plaster from the bottoms of the buckets when it began to dry out too much.  Getting familiar with the perfect consistency is learned simply through using the plaster, and noticing when it is too dry and difficult to spread or too wet and sliding off the trowel.

the art of troweling is challenged when ladders and awkward spaces need to be reached

The motion of getting it from hawk to trowel to wall is also a practiced motion that comes with repetition.  Generally, I would make lots of little overlapping rainbow swipes over a one foot square area, and then smooth the whole area down in larger swipes right away, and move on.  No putzing allowed!  Get it on, flatten it out, and move on.  Plastering a whole house gives lots of opportunity for repetitive motion learning…  start with the most hidden space and do the area around the front door last.

dragonflies at the front entrance

There are many details and considerations with lime plaster, and it is helpful if you have experience with some other form of earthen plastering, or if someone who does can give a hands-on lesson.  Again, we had the direction of Tracy Calvert, who has been building naturally since the 1980′s and has specialized in earthen plasters.  She has led many workshops and believes that skills of natural building are to be available for anyone willing to learn, like the traditional practices passed down from cultures around the world that enable the reality of shelter for everyone in a community and not only for the wealthy.

north tree

west water lily