Laugh, cry, and marvel at how messy dacha land is. A group of amazing women make a movie and the Dacha Project is in it. If you haven’t seen it yet, check check it out. The clip below is all about us! See the whole thing and learn more about this ongoing project, and how you can get to screen it near you at http://empoweredthemovie.com/.
http://vimeo.com/35600579
Every extra hour that the weather holds out, is very possibly an extra hour of serious outdoor business getting done at the homestead-in-progress. Check out this photo essay of vital last minute projects, and some less vital – but still very nice projects, we’ve been up to.
We put windows in the sun room, goodbye wind-torn plastic, hello warmth and being able to see. Also, notice the sweet mortar job at the bottom;)
Our very first snow stuck, until midday the next day, when the shining orb in the sky worked it out that it turn back into water. The sunny day heated up the house to 70 degrees. At this time of year the direct sunlight comes more than half way in, heating up the floor, and making it unnecessary to fire up the wood stove.And, all praise the large orb in the sky! By February, it will come out like once a week, and we’ll all turn South and say things like, My God Woman, what in the? Over there! Ahh, it’s burning my eyes. Could it be, that the tales hold truth? And so on… For now though, the sun is still shining and the passive-solar, earth-bermed design of this house is winning.
Here’s a slideshow of The Dacha Project this fall. Enjoy! Note- Play with music for increased joy.
Friends Libby & Tristan built a gypsy wagon, or as they’re calling it a Contemporary Prairie Schooner, on a trailer bed and towed it from New Mexico- The Land of Enchantment– to the Northeast- The Land of Abstraction behind their Hyundai. It’s now their very own little house!
The copycat art installation of the Gates serves two purposes.
The Dacha Project recreates The Gates at Central Park in an attempt to bring big city culture to the stix. You can see a visitor, Joe, enjoying the site and the magnificence.
Also we discovered that The Gates- luckily- serve a further function of marking where our footers will be dug. Thx Gates.
Also enjoy this photo of Gals Digging Footers, to prove that we don’t just make art installations but also dig footers. Thx Gals.
Gals digging footers for the addition.
-Lea LSF
North side of the main house with footers and the start of foam for the addition.
If you check for the previous photo of the week you will see almost the same view, but some things have changed. For one the wing wall has been knocked out to make room for the addition. The berm, which is the earth piled up behind the wing wall, has been removed. The area next o the house has been leveled, and graveled. The back and side footers have been poured, and what we see Danila and Joe doing in the corner is stacking block. The pipes you see by Danila and Joe are for septic. They are currently working right by the bathroom. I will try to remember that one day when I’m brushing my teeth in that bathroom with some herby toothpaste or something else that makes brushing teeth more fun. Yey.
The foam on the ground is for insulation, and eventually the entire area will be covered with it.
The front footer has not been poured with the rest, b/c it will be poured with the slab (floor) itself to ensure extra strength. The foam on the side of the building is to insulate the wall where bermed earth used to fulfill that function.
More updates soon!
-Lea LSF
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 lock down!
-LSF
All photos by Joe Fisher.
The key to solar passive is full frontage windows facing the south. They are placed at such a height that the house gets direct sunlight in the winter and indirect sunlight in the summer. This technique works around the sun's busy but well-established and much preferred primordial travel schedule- that is low in the sky during winter and high as a pie in the summer. The placement and size of the windows optimizes for maximum comfort, while minimizing energy use.
Danila and I are in shock that the Common House is so warm (see below) when outside it is like 18 degrees F! The snowbank behind us is caused by snowmagedden falling off the hell roof and onto the front field. I'm just back from Mexico, and feeling like this is warm enuf but where's the coconut tree?
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 monkey short of this fiscal year. Sponsorships welcome.
-LSF
[vimeo 10397150]
