After mulling for weeks about how to finish the ceiling on our straw bale cottage , we still couldn’t decide what to do. Should we go with drywall, the (cheap) material of choice for nearly everything built these days? Or tongue and groove wood, which would definitely look amazing, but would cost at least 4-5 [...]
Category Archive for 'buildings'
From Straw Cottage to Straw Hat
Posted in buildings, reclaimed materials on May 4th, 2010
So here we are again. The summer is giving in to the spring and we are finding ourselves with some sunshine on our backs and tools in our belts. We can shed the insulated jumpers and slip into something a little bit more comfortable like a straw hat. We can take breaks outside. On one [...]
Photo of Week: West Side
Posted in Uncategorized, buildings on Apr 19th, 2010
Recycled Wine Bottles Add Good Churchy Feeling
Posted in DIY, buildings, reclaimed materials on Apr 18th, 2010
Visitors beware when you step inside the Dacha Haus you’ll see colors and glowing orbs. While not quite the illumination of the divine, all hail the awesome sun as it catches the diffused color of all-dry-now wine bottles. Yes, after seeing many pictures on homestead blogs and in straw bale building books, we have joined [...]
Earth-bermed, passive solar Common House .vs. Snowmaggedon 2010
Posted in DIY, Uncategorized, buildings on Apr 6th, 2010
Before we forget how awesome the Dacha Haus Part One preformed in Winter ’10 here are a couple of photos of February. They are also to remind this summer’s building crew that as we build Dacha Haus Part Deux a winter in the Southern Tier is no joke, but that we got it on [...]
Old Barn Boards Meet Restoration
Posted in DIY, Uncategorized, buildings, reclaimed materials on Mar 30th, 2010
We purchased some old for-cheap barn boards from the Fingerlakes Reuse Center to throw up as the ceiling of the straw bale cottage we built. Check out what some sanding and polyurethane and/or linseed oiling can do to a board. Will post photos of completed ceiling when that happens. -LSF
Straw Bale Hijinks
Posted in DIY, Uncategorized, buildings, video on Mar 24th, 2010
The Dacha Project presents a short by Lea LSF. Starring Joe Fisher-Price, Danilatron & Lea LSF. For more info visit. dachaproject.com. Strawbale Hijinks- A near silent comedy about the countless opportunities to act like a monkey one can miss if they choose not to build a straw bale cottage. Critically acclaimed as the must see [...]
Fall at the Dacha
Posted in buildings on Nov 12th, 2009
It’s true, we know. We have been very, very bad at updating. So much has happened and us Dacha folks have been working very hard so accept our apologies and photographic evidence, please. What’s new? First, the Dacha finished putting up its roof. Finally, our house did not get rained in. A big step for [...]
Here is our video entry into the Pay It Forward Contest, held by our local Alternatives Federal Credit Union. Alternatives gave out ten dollars to whoever wanted it, and those people were supposed to give it to someone else in the community, an organization or an individual.Then, the giver of the ten dollars is encouraged [...]
The Dacha Gets Plastered
Posted in Uncategorized, buildings on Jun 18th, 2009
Since our straw bale shed has been upgraded to the “Winter Palace,” it is time to plaster the structure and to fossilize our work for future archeological findings. We put on our clay covered uniforms and head out to work. Our main sources of power for mixing the sand, straw and clay are our hands [...]