At 9, we began with introductions before we headed out to walk around the house that we will be working on. It was interesting to hear about the different structural (pier and beam) and design choices. There were glass bottles, many random windows, and a section of cedar shingles on the side that gets the most weather.
Then I packed my phone away as we started working. Our first project was to mix cob. We took turns wheel-barrowing loads of clay and gravel nearer to the house. On the ground were set out various square tarps. Each team of 2-3 brought 3 parts gravel and 1 part clay back to their respective tarps. Then we all started stomping on it, doing the twist, basically dancing without music, all in order to mix the clay and gravel together. The mixture didn't have the right consistency,, so, it was changed to 3 to 1.5 parts. After a good mixing, we'd add water, at which point the cob would start clumping to our boots. Some participants even mixed with their bare feet. Eventually, when the mix was right, we'd add straw. There was no ratio for this, just until it was right. After mixing in the straw, we'd drag our tarps of cob to the foundation of the house to add to a growing pile.
Soon it was lunch break. The cook made an amazing meal of salad (with whole pecans!), a sweet potato/grain mash, beet sauerkraut, and amazing figs in a vinaigrette sauce. I should have taken a photo! I went back for seconds.
After lunch, at some point, volunteers were needed to sieve manure, so, I spent a while doing that. It was a combination of horse and cow manure. This will be used later for plastering. The gloves that I used for that, I've left by the manure pile.
Then, there was a quick demo on how to build the cob walls with all the cob we had made. Soon, we were all hauling buckets of cob to different parts of the crawl space around the house to do our first cobbing. Two people would work on a wall, one on the inside and one on the outside. They'd take turns balling up cob, placing it on the wall, and mushing it in, using their other hand to try to keep it level vertically. I started with my hands but all that gravel was not comfortable. It was much easier after putting on gloves but still a ton of work. Can't imagine anyone trying to build this way solo. It really takes a lot of people!
Supper was more of the delicious salad as well as a cauliflower curry with chapatti. Afterward, I went on a hike to Central Park. Our host assured us that currently there are no bears on Denman Island, so, it feels more comfortable hiking through all the natural beauty. There was a little gravel walking path all the way past the school to the park entrance. It was raining the entire time. At the park entrance, there was a small bucket where people tossed their dog poop bags. However, I didn't see any people or dogs during my hole around the park.
After studying the map at the entrance, I decided to walk toward Beaufort View Path for the ridge view. Everything was wet from the insistent rain. Soon, I my feet were soaked from my supposedly waterproof Columbia boots. But, it was worth being outside in the gorgeous park with the beautiful views! A loud crashing brought me back to the moment, as a young buck regarded me from the trees. Soon, I was at the ridge lookout. Hiking further, there was a wooden bridge across a marshy stream. The lack of mosquitoes the entire hike was quite amazing!
Finally, I made it back to the road as the sun was setting. More deer were making an appearance. along the edges of fields. I even saw a doe with two fawns. These smaller deer are called black tailed deer. Eventually, I made it back to camp, in the dark, to roll into a still dry tent (woohoo!) and fall asleep.
Working with cob sounds like a lot, I mean a LOT, of work.
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