The Dacha Gets Plastered

Since our straw bale shed has been upgraded to the “Winter Palace,” it is time to plaster the structure and to fossilize our work for future archeological findings. We put on our clay covered uniforms and head out to work. Our main sources of power for mixing the sand, straw and clay are our hands and feet. And to prove that there really is straw under all those layers of plaster, we built a truth window.

The Truth Window

Rain or shine, we get plastered. Here is my sister, in her usual rain gear, getting ready to dive into the project.

Doc, where's the flux capacitor?

When it’s not so cloudy, it’s another beautiful day in paradise.

Blue Skies

So much help from our friends mixing the ingredients to make plaster not so much a disaster:

In the mortar pan we toil.

From this:

To this:

To this:

So much more to come and we are stoked!

There’s a whole lot a diggin goin on

Yes! Everything has finally given in to green. Walking around on the land these last few weeks has been incredibly refreshing. Especially since our friends have been helping us identify the various trees and wild edibles already available to us. We are pleased to find several sugar maple trees big enough to tap next year for some syrupy goodness. Also, a new one for us all – ramps, native wild onions that have a garlic-like kick and make amazing pesto. We’ve been feasting on them for weeks!

We have also discovered some apple trees, black walnut trees and harvested a few cattail shoots (they smell like cucumber and go well in salad). But, of course, we’ve been doing more than just foraging for wild foods – say hello to the Dacha’s first Orchard and Garden.

Trees and bushes – Thank you!

Dear Everyone,

Here at the Dacha, we six are filled with fuzzy bunny feelings. Wow–we have raised enough funds for over 60 trees and bushes! This will be an orchard beyond our wildest dreams. We feel extremely lucky and grateful to all of you who were able to help out.

At this time, we have reached our limit for the fruit and nut trees, but if you still wanted to jump on this train there are a few things that could help us out.

In order to make our orchard a success we will need:

some tools (want a hoe or shovel named after you?)
tree shelters (to keep animals from chomping on the trees)
topsoil

mulch

Also, we would love to plant a few evergreens on the property to create more privacy (so, you know…if someone maybe wanted to run around naked, hypothetically, it wouldn’t disturb the neighbors).  Wanna sponsor potential nudity?

So, we’ll still be accepting donations but the orchard is secured thanks to everyone!

Overall, I think this experience is leaving us feeling truly encouraged by our friends and family and community and the freakin’ world at large.

It feels really good.

Thank you.

Sponsor a Fruit or Nut Tree and Reap the Harvest

Dear Friends, Family and Patrons of the The Dacha Project’s Blog,

It is hard to believe that spring is right around the corner, especially when it is five degrees outside as we’re writing this. Still, experience tells us that grasses will bloom and the birds will come home, and that not all is lost to the ruthless ravages of winter.

How about this one is it a fruit or nut tree? I'm afraid neither. Moving Photo by Liz K, 2008

Here, at the Dacha Project in downstate, NY there is nothing more we look forward to than the coming of the May sun. This spring, after the earth thaws, the Dacha Six will break ground on the building of a large common house. We know that we will be busy bees with the sustainable building and all, and that every last cent of our funds will go to buttoning up the building before winter comes again, but we hate to miss the earliest opportunity we have to plant an orchard of fruit and nut trees.

We’re writing you with a special request and offer: SPONSOR A FRUIT OR NUT TREE OF YOUR CHOICE FOR JUST $20 (or as much as you can contribute), AND REAP THE HARVEST….in only four to six years.

Winter Palace Pt 4- Frame by Frame

Filmed in September 2008, edited some time later by Lily G, and myself. Please enjoy, “Frame by Frame” the framing of our straw bale cottage. This short film is a moving after school special about some folk who engage on a journey of building a stick frame only to find themselves doing just that.

Next to come: Winter Palace Pt 5- Stacking Straw Bricks and Goofing Around, a thrilling drama showing the real life context around the building of straw bale walls.

Soil, soil, soil!

With temperatures in Ithaca rising into the 50s, spring feels like it’s right around the corner. In actual fact, we’re still deep in February, and it might well snow on Friday. But the heat still makes me imagine the coming warm months, when the ground will thaw and the become ready for planting.

With that in mind, I’ve started searching for information on our soil and the wonderful plants we can grow in it. Reading a great local blog, Living in Dryden, I found a handy map produced by the town of Dryden which roughly classifies soils and floodplains in the area. According to the map, we’ve got either Class I or II type soil, which they consider the best for agriculture. Excellent news!

I dug deeper and went to the Web Soil Survey from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. This is a really great resource which lets you look up soil information for just about anywhere in the United States. And most of the information is current, which may not be true about paper soil maps. In our region the map is from 2006.

After tinkering with the interface, I came up with a map like the one below. It shows roads and the boundaries of different soil types. It also has a nice legend which helps you figure out what you’re looking at, and lets you pick a point and grab information about it. In the small area I chose there were just 6000 acres with 35 different soil types!

Winter Palace Pt 3- Concrete Day

This a flashback to one of thirty-one days in August. It would have been like any other day, except it wasn’t, because on that day the Concrete Man came to visit the dacha. Watch to learn what to expect from such a man, and see how our foundation was poured.

We present to you Concrete Day, a human interest story, about pouring a cement foundation.

-Lea LSF

Presently, the Winter Palace is buttoned up for the season. On occasion there are even people sleeping in it. There is a makeshift shower, Bernise-the wood stove, couches and shelves! To see it in its current state check out the post before this one. The building is almost done, though we decided to put off the plastering until next spring, on account of it being winter and all.

videos to come- cinder blocking, frame this fame, roof roof roof, and straw balin’ smooth sailin’

A Cottage Geared Up for Winter

Danila here, bringing you an update on our fabulous little cottage. While the rest of our crew is wintering in sunny California, Joe and I have been working on the toolshed-turned-guest house nearly every day, trudging through mud, ice, snow and the joy of building stuff with our hands.

Since November, we have made wonderful progress, and the little building has really come together. We’ve put in windows and doors, plugged holes in the walls, and have gotten to a point where someone could stay in the cottage without freezing!

So without any further ado, on to the photos! Here’s what the “toolshed” looked like in early November, when we were just getting the straw bale walls up:

Raise the Roof – Palace goings on

So much going on so little time to blog. Even though I have officially retired to California for the winter, others are dutifully working the land and completing our humble Winter Palace. Here is some of what has happened since our last work party.

By thoroughly monitoring Freecycle and Craigslist we managed to score loads of free windows, doors, wood and assorted goodies. Our roomie at the Buddha house gave us a lot of tile (A LOT), more wood, and even a tiller and two awesomely cute bridges for our semi existent streams. Wow. These things needed storage right away, so we decided to get one of those sturdy tent thingies.

Here Lea and I go through an intense assembly process:

Birds Flock to Roost

Every evening for the past while, a sea of birds (black birds?) fly over the land at dusk. We see them as we finish building for the evening, or as we prepare to build into the dark. They don’t go far once they’ve vanished from our view, I know because their immense dialog is audible for nearly an hour after. Apparently, they roost not far from us. Their flights converge right over our land, just before they come together in one tree, or perhaps even three.

Life is Pretty, Lea