Thursday 18 September 2014

help ex - Indi and Charlie



Indi and Charlie arrived a couple of days ago - a young couple who have been travelling around Europe visiting and volunteering on eco-communities.  Both are interested in philosophy, ecology and spirituality and so far it has been a rich exchange of ideas.
 
Insulating the stair wall with a thermal corrector
 
The first project they are tackling here is insulating the stair wall.  We are using a thermal corrector rather than the 20cm of terre paille (straw and slip) here as there is not much width on the stairs to spare.  This consists of a mix of one volume of chopped up straw (average fibre lengths 10cm), one volume of sand 0/4 and one volume of soaked clay earth.  It is called a thermal corrector rather than an insulation layer ... all mixed in the concrete mixer.
 
Charlie uses the lawnmower to chop up straw
 
Indi prepares the straw
 
 


Indi loads the thermal corrector mix into buckets
before applying to the wall
 
 

Indi applies the thermal corrector mix to
the wall with her hands




Charlie and Indi applying the thermal
 corrector render to the stair wall
 
Applying an earth render (corps d'enduit) to the terre paille insulation
Charlie applies the corps d'enduit to the
terre paille insulation
 
Indi applying the corps d'enduit earth
render to the downstairs wall
 
Cooking at La Mariais
 
Indi spent a day perusing my collection of vegetariancookery books and planned a menu for the week
 
Deep in creative thought with the
 cookery books
 
Indi puts her culinary research into practice
 
Charlie, an accomplished cook has
created many delicious meals using
fresh organic vegetables from the garden
 
Charlie chops wood for the outdoor
 woodburning cooking stove
 
He fashioned a blow pipe from a piece of metal
he found on the land and used it to keep the fire
going in the survival stove
 
Enjoying the kitty cats
Indi spends quality time with spotty cat
 
Charlie and spotty cat share the
same taste in colours


 
 

 











 
 

 


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