Edinburgh Treefest
At the 7th anniversary of the Edinburgh Treefest I built my first own bottle wall unsupervised. With the help of friends and keen children we raised a small wall to demonstrate the ease and beauty of a wall made of natural materials. Again check www.madamekunterbunt.com to read more about it and see some photos.
Earthship training Jamaica
In the beginning of the year when the air was still wet and the sky grey I went to the sunny island of Jamaica to not just experience rum and caribbean sunsets but also real working experience alongside the Earthship commando crew of Michael Reynolds.
We built a Hut Earthship, one of the smaller systems but not less beautiful. Tire pounding, creating bottle walls, plastering and getting to know the technologies was all part of the far too short working experience. To read more about it and view some pictures check: www.madamekunterbunt.com
Building with Earth in Belarus
For three weeks we lived in a small village in Belarus with families that were victims of the Chernobyl katastrophe. Every year a German aid organization builds more houses in that village to make more people that live in the still contaminated area in the south move to the north.
The houses are a simple construction of a timber frame with Earth infill walls. The earth mix contains regular loamy soil, wooden chips that are leftovers from the nearby timber factory and water. With wooden bat-looking rams the mix gets rammed between the timber posts and very quick raises walls that will provide an excellent indoor climate and a beautiful home for the family.