Wholistic

Day Hut – Idea, Design, Build

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 04:52:07 +0000

Here is a quick outline of the process for my last building.

Kirrah and I first discussed her ideas for the building on the 10th of November.

She told me that she wanted a weather-proof place that was screened from mosquitoes for her clients to rest after their sessions. It also had to be beautiful and made of wood.

I had free reign with the design from there.

This back and forth process can take a while if the client wants creative control of the building or isn't clear with exactly what they want.

I went to the site I wanted to build on and finger sketched a design on my iPad.

I then took those ideas and made a scale model in google sketchup.

This was a simple building. The process to get the scale building plan and itemised building materials list took about 7 hours.

My rate for this work is $35/hour, so this would cost a client about $250.

Most of the materials that I needed were sourced on site.

I harvested round poles, removed the bark and dragged them up the hill:

I couldn't be bothered with mixing and pouring concrete foundations for such a small building.

I sourced some recycled concrete pads from a friend that had salvaged them from a house restumping.

First Steps:

measured out the site,
squared up the corners
dug out the topsoil
poured a layer of compacted gravel
dropped the pads on top

The floor frame was going to be independent of the roof. So I laid that out and squared it too.

The weather was fine and this was going to be a quick build, so I took the unusual step of laying the floor before the roof.

This isn't normally recommend.

I used a ply wood for ease and affordability. If this was to be a more lived in structure I would have got to the extra effort and expense of using hardwood floor boards.

The first posts went up easily.

I drove in a star picket first and had my impact driver ready so that I could single handedly use a roofing screw to hold it up once in place. Then I drove the other axis star picket in and did the same.

The post was now secure at the middle, but not yet tied to the foundation.

I dynabolted a gal bracket to the foundation and batten screwed it into the post. This should stop the bottom from sliding out.

The next milestone, all the posts are up and it's starting to look like something.I didn't cut them exactly to size yet.

Next time around I would do this on the ground first, operating the chainsaw up on the ladder is tricky and probably unnecessarily dangerous.

There can be variation on the ground level though, so this way I can use a water level to make sure the tops of the posts are in exactly the right spot.

I built some wall frames on the floor to support the centre beam. These needed to be braced later to take the wiggle out.

Next step was the round beams and roof rafters. The rain beat me after all so I had to cover the floor with the bits of colour bond roofing.

I needed help lifting up the round hardwood beams.

I made a cradle shape in the top of the posts with the chainsaw so they would sit nicely.

Then I drove a long 150 mm batten screw down through a predrilled hole tying them together.

The rafters were cut on the ground. I measured the distance from the top beam to the bottom beam.

I cut them so that they sat flush and then attached them to the beam with 100 mm batten screws.

I used my new 18v Dewalt cordless drill and impact driver for this. They make climbing around on a roof a lot easier without getting tangled up with power cords.

I then cut off the rafter overhang and screwed down the clay painted ply ceiling.

This was covered with sisalation to protect it from condensation and if it rained again before I got the roof on.

Then I laid the battens out and got to work attaching the roof.

I've wondered in hindsight if the whole timber roof frame was really necessary.

Perhaps I could have just attached the roofing directly to the beams.

I will experiment with this in a future building project.

The roof is up!

With all the extra weight of the steel and timber, I had to make some bush bracing out of some timber poles I had lying around.

The next step was to attach the fly-screen. I have previously bought a long roll of aluminium fly screen, so we used this.

I also began to attach the hardwood wall lining boards.

These are held on with 50 mm batten screws.With the walls up, it's deemed completed!

All up the building took a week of 7 hour days.

I am a deliberately slow builder. I take the time to breath with my movements, listen to birds, stretch my body, take photos and think about things.

Because this isn't very economic for a client and I don't like the process of building without these things, I haven't ever built for money.

The bill of materials so far is:

$100 – floor

$180 – 1/2 the roof

$180 – roof battons

$40 – foundation pads

$20 – wood oil

~$100 – misc (fasteners/bolts/screws/sanding pads/chainsaw fuel)

$300 – Wall lining

= ~$620

The 2×4 frame and rafters was made from a sling of wood that I already had here – so it was a sunk cost and good to turn it into something. Probably worth about $500.

The wall lining was a lot more expensive than I expected. $7.70 a meter for 1" x 8" dressed hardwood boards.

So all up it's cost about $1420.

The building was complete by 20th of December.

Credit to Kirrah Holborn from Traditional Wisdom for some of the photos.

Djanbung Gardens Open Day 2011

admin — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 10:35:26 +0000

Toni Talks about Weeds

Julian Exploring the Inner Landscape

Jenny gets into gourds

Jenny weaves some magic for the crowd

My Backup System

admin — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 03:53:43 +0000

My Backup System

I have invested some time and money in a peace of mind data backup system recently.

Losing all your stuff is a bit of a rite of passage for anyone that uses computers. Which is everyone.

The Nature of the Universe is that things are breaking down. Unless you are consciously putting energy into your backups, sure as the Sun, one day you will lose your digital work.

With that knowledge and the bitter experience of hard drive failure, here is my current system.

1 computer
10 years of photos from travels around the world, 100’s of projects
1,000’s important files
10,000’s of hours invested,
100,000’s of words written &
1,000,000’s of megabytes of stuff i’d miss.

I think the system has me covered.

 The multiple copies secure drops, spills, run of the mill hardware failure and (less run of the mill) simultaneous hardware failure, The offsite storage is in case of my house being robbed and everything stolen or a catastrophic fire that even destroys the safe (rated for half an hour at a 1000 degrees). As the probability of risk decreases, so does the frequency of the backup.

A lot of the data does not change from day to day so the time capsule is best used because of it’s in the background smart backup of only changed documents. It also has the ability to go “back in time” to recover individual files from accidental deletion.

The Time Capsule is managed by the built in OSX Time Machine and runs automatically on the hour when plugged in. It runs on the days the sun in shining.

I complement this with a program called Carbon Copy Cloner, and I have it scheduled to backup automatically. It pops up a message and I just need to get the drive out of the safe and plug it in. It incrementally updates and creates a bootable drive.
If my hard drive fails I just plug in the cloned drive and carry on as if nothing has happened. Not even 5 minutes of disruption, I can then get a replacement in my own time.

Consistency

Backup Day is Friday. It’s also the day I get all the photos off my camera, rate them, put them on my ipad and write a little story about the week. Monthly backup day is the last Friday.

For backup’s to stay fresh the system needs very little friction. I put the time in researching the best practice & software.

I’m happy with the flow and now it is just part of my groove.

I’m confident that i’ve done the best I can to prepare for the inevitable. Perhaps there is some freak case where it all goes pear shaped like massive solar flare or a nuclear explosions electromagnetic pulse and all is lost, but there isn’t a great deal I can do about that. My data loss would be comparatively minor and I could probably reframe it as a lesson from God about non-attachment.

Links

Shawn Blanc has a well written article on off-site backups too

Hut Med is Happening

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 10:45:21 +0000

I finally cleaned up hut med, and it is beautiful!

Sitting up here in a comfy chair on my land, looking over the McKellar Ranges, my house, my garden and my trees. I feel so blessed.

There is still work to do on it, the door needs securing with two long pieces of ply. There are several holes in the fly wire.

But on the whole it is awesome and comfortable. We moved the big comfy chair (the ratty one) from the deck so I am off the ground. There isn’t a whole lot of space left, but enough. I love it.

I have a whole new perspective up here, it is beautiful I don’t even mind the mosiqutoes, because they are bouncing back and forth into the fly screen that (almost) fully encases me.

This is a sublime spot.

I am so blessed and lucky.

I didn’t come up here to reflect on my good fortune though. It needed this chair to be comfortable. And I needed this ipad and keyboard to be able to type. I love it.

See the full gallery on Posterous

An ideal space to write my journal. Building a room of your own is worth learning how to build.

I do need to be mindful of the tree branch situation thought. I am surrounded by Massive Trees.

Can’t get your arms around them sized trees.

I want to improve this little space around the hut too. I want to my it flat and open with a ground cover so that I can train my martial art here.

I want to build my office out of the piles of wood that are lying around. Sitting here I can see them.

I am so lucky to have this spot. This space in the world. I am so grateful.

A change in the seasons

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 10:40:43 +0000

The loquets are flowering, we have never beaten the birds to the fruit. Maybe this year?

Bath Frog has moved back in after an extended and unexplained absence from the faucet.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Other friends of the house are back too, looking for a place to stay for the winter but still catch the sunny days.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Clean up as you go

admin — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:58:18 +0000

This is a new principle that I have been working on and is grounded in the three permaculture ethics.

Care of People

Emotionally cleaning up as you go. This means dealing with the stuff that comes up when relating to others in the moment, not leaving it for later when it has gone stale or festered.

Emotional Energy is powerful. It can make people uncomfortable, but it is there to make our lives rich. It really points the way and inspires us to care.

Care of the Planet

The planet is a very big place compared to you. Yet everyone has a place where they live, work and play. Often when we do some these things we can mess that space up a little. Clean that up before moving onto the next thing.

Cleaning up is a valuable integration time. It is often work that doesn't require your complete focus so the mind, body and spirit can absorb and integrate the information from the work without being overwhelmed with new stimulus.

"But I don't have time right now, i'll do it later" – Trying to work where there are unfinished jobs stacking up and cluttering the space takes more of your time and mental energy. Starting work in a clean space feels great.

My tools are ready & waiting for the spark of my inspiration.

Fair Share.
It is only fair to leave a place at least as beautiful as how you found it. Who knows how many generations are going to walk the ground after us.

Committing to this principle now and demonstrating your integrity by following it even when you're the only one around will be passed on like magic to your children and others around you.

People will welcome you and appreciate your company because unconsciously they know you aren't going to tax their time by leaving a pile of work for them.

When this principle is fully integrated there is no difference between making sure your food scraps end up in a compost, your dishes are done after a meal and your mine tailings are stable under a revegetated native forest.

When you clean up as you go, you can always manage it. It never becomes overwhelming.

The overwhelming part comes when you are attuned and balanced in your work / clean ratio and you meet someone who is so unconscious of their trail of disorder.
Fortunately if you are ready everything will be clear.

There is a powerful ally force. When a space is clear and the first element of chaos enters, it is very obvious.

If the space is already cluttered then other clutter will very quickly accumulate around it. The additional stuff become invisible, cloaked in the aura of general disorder.

A dirty mug (that only needs a rinse) on an otherwise clean counter is very obvious. It is essential to bring awareness to that moment.

People will often be quite obliging to finish before they start something else, The space will relax when it is clear again.
The balancing force to this is that a clear space will inspire people to use it, to fill it with life. That's great and the whole point.

Once you reach the zen master level, there is no more cleaning up to do. Everything is done in the moment as it happens. When it is time to put something down, it is placed where it belongs and that is it.

I came to this principle because I had a lot of stuff that needed finishing. I realized that those are ties to the past but I can't go back in time and finish them properly. Knowing that I am unhappy with the unfinished stuff that i'd accumulated and accepting that I couldn't go back and clean up as I was doing it, I resolved to start now, cleaning up as I go.

The change of state was empowering and I immediately noticed results. Things that were around for well past their time
Moving something that has been bothering you in the back of your mind for a long time is like a wave of relief and power. You can change and you can change your environment.

The swollen northern rivers

admin — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 08:27:00 +0000

We’ve recorded about 200 mm of rain in 3 days.
When it eased a bit we took a drive around some of the rivers crossings.
Our first stop was the luminous heart community on Oxbow Rd. On the way a stream was emerging from the paddock.

This is where a tributary to hanging rock creek crosses the road. It’s comforting to know we have a home on both sides of the water.

Next we went to check out Leycester Creek where it crosses into Billen Cliffs. The level indicator is no where to be seen. Billen is a community of several hundred, so I was surprised to see no one waiting to get in.

This is hanging rock waterfall. It starts up at the Pinnacle in the Boarder Ranges National Park. It is normally one of our favourite water holes, today it looks pretty treacherous.
There has been a landslip and a large tree has blocked the way.

It isn’t just the big rivers though. Some of the most beautiful tiny waterfalls appear. These are from the gully below our house.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Charity: Water’s fine taste in mandatory annual reporting

admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 11:27:08 +0000

This Charity: Water doc is the only financial report that I have ever enjoyed reading, I am actually looking forward to seeing what they produce for this financial year.

That’s the power of good design. I’ve already donated.

Check it out, it’s beautiful.

Download 2009 Annual Report

Lion’s Tail harvested from the Nimbin community gardens

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:52:23 +0000

Rampant tropical overgrowth

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:38:24 +0000