cal earth

we just spent a few days at a place called cal earth, a six acre village of earth domes, vaults and sandbag shelters in the mojave desert.    one of the musicians that nicole has been playing with, and a really good friend, chris pureka, suggested that we go and meet her friends, lori and heather, and learn about their building methods.

cal earth is a place that teaches people how to build dome and vault structures.   some are brick, but mostly they use a method called superadobe which is a mixture of earth and cement, poured into bags and then tamped down, and then layered on top of each other to form the structure.  afterwards, the bags are covered over with an earthen plaster.

nicole got to have a concert in the model superadobe home, and it was great because we met a lot of really nice people who were passionate about alternative building.   it was also great to meet lori and heather because they are another couple who are not only on the verge of building their own house, but we just really liked them a lot and are really excited to help them and maybe have them come help us when we all start our projects.

some of the brick domes at cal earth are made into a perfect hemisphere, which amplified sound in a really intense way.   it was a lot of fun to practice our instruments in there, and sing.  the brick dome on the left here is called the rumi dome, and it was our favorite to play in.  and the triple vault on the right was where we slept.

we went with heather to a nearby farm called aquarius ranch.  they have worked on their soil for years adding compost and manure from their animals and now are at the point where they have a csa and can grow many things right there in the desert.   heather and lori have been teaching them how to build a dome, and we went with heather to help out for a day.   we made some earth bag steps leading down to the dome.    anyway, now we’re on our way back north through san francisco and then portland.

here is the website for cal earth:

http://calearth.org/

pillow fight and anemones

on valentines day, we attended the great san francisco pillow fight of 2010. it’s an annual event here where thousands of people gather to have a pillow fight in the square at 6pm. once the clock rang six times, everyone started smacking each other with their pillows. nicole mostly got whacked in the head and face because she’s so short. it was funny to see how guilty people looked after hitting her.  some big guys would just carefully give her a little tap.  some would put all of their might into it.  there were so many people that it was hard to swing the pillow. and then after a few minutes, peoples pillows began bursting open and feathers were flying through the air. we started to make our way out because it got hard to breathe and there were so many people that it got to be overwhelming, but we did have fun.

this is a picture someone else took because we put our camera away once the pillow fight started:

and here’s a short video someone put together:

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also, we found a really nice tide pool on the coast.  there were lots of sea anemones.  they look like big sunflowers and then when you put your finger up close to them, the petals start wiggling around.  they are actually carnivores, and we saw a few that were working on eating some mussels.   when they close themselves up, they camouflage by attaching rocks and shells to themselves.

here’s one half closed up eating a mussel:

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there are many farms and ranches along the california coast. it’s kind of strange to see cows near the ocean. here are some cows we saw on our drive:

we bought a house!

it’s really messed up and condemned, but that’s a good thing for us because we were able to get it for 27,000 and we can basically keep the foundation and rebuild it using sustainable methods and make it into something totally different.    it’s on a wooded acre of land too, which is really great.   there used to be a pretty big garden in the back, which hopefully means we’ll be able to grow some of our own food.   the man who lived here last passed away about 5 years ago and his possessions are still in the house, but everything is pretty trashed… like more trashed than anything we have ever seen.   oh, and it’s in deptford, new jersey, which is only a few minutes away from woods sisters house.  her father, ron, helped us out a lot to get the place and nicole’s mom flew us over from los angeles so we could see the house before making a decision.

all of the rooms have had something like a hurricane go through them, because they all look like this:

we’ll begin working on it at the end of march when we get back from our trip.  if anyone happens to find a truck that is cheap and sturdy, let us know, because we’ll be looking for one.