building

May 12, 2012

Permaculture Plan – Our Garden Beds

lilygpad DIY, garden, Uncategorized Black Locust, building, garden, Garden Beds, permaculture 2 Comments

So recently the Dacha has been working on a new permaculture plan, thinking about our Zone 1 and how we can get food closer to the house. In the last few years we noticed that things were growing really well right in front of the windows so we made some new beds.

What started out looking more like Dacha graves, soon took on a better look. Here is our first bed:

Danila picked up some black locust wood – a truck full of odds and ends which made pretty sweet boxes.

Thanks to our visitors, Lauren and Brian, we took a day to cut and put it all together.

This snake was watching us lazily from the pond rocks!

Well, we were goofing off a bit…I mean, we were just measuring the beds to see how comfy they would be…yeah…

As of now, we’ve planted some broccoli, lettuce, kale, more kale, and beets into these babies. More to come as we make room for our many plants, which I can’t wait to eat.

October 28, 2011

First Snow Meets Shining Orb in the Sky

LeaLSF buildings, heating, winter alternative building, building, earth-berm, homestead, ithaca, passive, passive-solar, photos, solar, solar passive, southern tier, sustainable living, upstate ny 0 Comments

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.

July 26, 2010

Contemporary Prairie Schooner aka Gypsy Wagon Visits Dacha + Makes Us Happy

LeaLSF buildings, DIY, visitors= we love you alternative building, blog, building, contemporary prairie schooner, dacha project, DIY, friends, gypsy wagon, houses on wheels, movable home, road trip, sustainable living, tiny house, whittled down 0 Comments

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!

July 22, 2010

Art Installation of the Month: The Gates at Dacha Project

LeaLSF buildings, Cultura: art, film, writing, multi-media, DIY, multimedia, Uncategorized alternative building, building, community, construction, dacha project, DIY, footers, foundation, green nettle dacha, homestead, intentional community, photos, sustainability, the Gates at Central Park, tompkins county, upstate ny 1 Comment

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

July 22, 2010

Progress Report: West Side with Footers for the Addition

LeaLSF buildings, DIY, multimedia alternative building, building, community, construction, dacha project, DIY, earth-berm, finger lakes, foam, footers, foundation, homestead, intentional community, photos, recycled materials, sustainable, sustainable living, tompkins county 0 Comments

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

April 19, 2010

Photo of Week: West Side

LeaLSF buildings, Uncategorized alternative building, berm, building, dacha, DIY, earth-berm, earth-bermed, finger lakes, gorges, homestead, photos, solar passive, sustainability 0 Comments

West side of house, notice the retaining wall and the berm coming up to it.

April 18, 2010

Recycled Wine Bottles Add Good Churchy Feeling

LeaLSF buildings, DIY, reclaimed materials building, dacha project, DIY, finger lakes, gorges, homestead, passive light fixtures, reclaimed materials, recycled materials, reused materials for building, reused wine bottle, southern tier, wine bottle light 0 Comments

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 a movement of people using recycled wine bottle as passive energy light fixtures.

We’re just at the beginning stages of this, but these photos are cool! For more visit my flickr Dacha Project set.

-LSF

Marina plugs up wine bottle-sized holes in the oh-no-zone layer (our insulation) with wine bottles.

Wine bottles! Cut in half, with the bottoms of each bottle tuct taped together and fitted into a wall.

April 6, 2010

Earth-bermed, passive solar Common House .vs. Snowmaggedon 2010

LeaLSF buildings, DIY, Uncategorized alternative building, building, dacha project, DIY, earth-berm, eco buidling, finger lakes, fingerlakes, gorges, green nettle dacha, homestead, intentional community, ithaca, photos, snowmaggedon, solar passive, sustainability, sustainable, sustainable living, tompkins county, windows 1 Comment

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?

March 24, 2010

Straw Bale Hijinks

LeaLSF buildings, DIY, Uncategorized, video alternative building, bale, building, cabin, cottage, dacha project, DIY, eco-friendly, film, fingerlakes, gorges, homestead, southern tier, straw, strawbale, sustainable building, video 0 Comments

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]

July 23, 2009

For Ten Dollars, a Bag of Clay

LeaLSF buildings, DIY, video alternatives, bank, building, community, construction, contest, cottage, credit union, dacha project, DIY, earthen plaster, entry, finger lakes, ithaca, shack, shed, straw bale, strawbale, stucco, teaching, tompkins, top coat, truth window, video, workshop 3 Comments

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 to make a video or write an essay about their recipient, and in it illustrate what they can do with it that would benefit the community. Afterwards! A committee at Alternatives picks ten or so videos they like the best, and set them loose into the public, where anyone can vote on which entry they think should get the grand prize-oh- $500.

Taking advantage of some beautiful footage our friend Shira took of us, plus friends, plastering the straw bale cottage, I put together this doo-hickey.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKYrn9NQ9O0&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_profilepage&fs=1]