Hoverfoam!
Only had to cut a tiny bit off two sections to fit around the bottom rocks. I've decided to make an overlap on the bottom, which will make a wider footing but include the rocks, rather than bodge around them with lots of foam cuts.
Less work to install at the cost of a bit more foam and concrete, but also a stronger, better insulated result.
This first section is taking forever, but a lot of things had to be worked out and the plan adapted many times.
Oh, I managed to get the concrete screws to grip in this stone - by hammering them in instead of screwing as they were designed 🤷♂️
So there is a row of anchor bolts under there as well now, in addition to the rebar hammered into the rocks.
30°C and I'm down in the trench, cutting glass rebar. Luckily on the side of the house with afternoon shade.
First time working with this stuff. Its nice and light, easy to cut yet has higher tensile strength (for the same diameter) than steel. Itches a tiny bit, but nowhere near as bad as fibreglassing a boat hull in Greece 🤣
Unrolling it is a bastard though. The 6mm is not so bad since I just need short pieces, but the 10mm reel will remain a garden ornament until I've used it up. Well, it said to have two people and I didn't 😝
Before I shoveled the bottom level and cleared around the foot rocks that will remain and have to be insulated around. They support the huge slabs the house sits on so I felt it best to not wiggle them.
Today in Labor History June 27, 1869: Anarchist, feminist and labor activist Emma Goldman was born in Lithuania. She helped plot the assassination of steel magnate, Henry Clay Frick, with her lover and comrade Alexander Berkman. Frick was fiercely anti-union and hired hundreds of Pinkertons to suppress the Homestead steel strike in 1892. In a gun battle, the Pinkertons killed nine strikers. Seven Pinkertons died, as well. Later that year, Berkman carried out the assassination attempt, but failed, and spent many years in prison. It was supposed to be an attentat, or propaganda by the deed. Like many anarchists of that era, they believed that their violent action would inspire working people around the world to rise up against capitalism and its leaders, like Frick. After that, Goldman publicly spoke out against attentats, because they weren’t inspiring the masses into action, but they were increasing state repression against their movement.
The state did imprison Goldman numerous times for other offenses, like “inciting to riot,” war resistance, and illegally distributing information about birth control. They even arrested her in 1901, in connection with the assassination of President McKinley, though she had nothing to do with it. They eventually released her and executed a mentally ill, registered Republican named Leon Czolgosz for the crime. In December, 1919, they deported her and Berkman to Russia. She had initially been supportive of the Bolshevik revolution and was excited to be there to witness its fruits, but denounced them after the massacre of more than a thousand sailors during the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921. Soon after, she and Berkman left Russia, completely disillusioned. However, in Germany and England, leftists were offended by her denunciations of the Soviet Union. Berkman died in 1936. That same year, she travelled to Spain to support the anarchists during the Civil War. She died a few years later in Toronto, at the age of 70.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #emmagoldman #alexanderberkman #feminism #prison #russia #soviet #Revoluion #spain #antifascism #kronstadt #rebellion #homestead
If a burrito is a wrap and a donkey eats hay, then these must be burro burritos, right?
Anyways, the big machine came by and baled all this nice dry hay into dense 1.3m diameter rolls. Unlike wrapped haylage, this smells nice and hay-y but must be stored under a roof.
You've been waiting a long time, and I finally remembered to bring my phone out with me for chores, so here are a few fun photos of the baby pigs :)
#Pigs #Pigstodon #SmallFarm #RanchoDeLaLibertad #Permaculture #Homestead
Thanks deer, those leaves were definitely going to get in the way of the camera.
#Deer #Homestead #Trailcam #Nature #Wildlife #TheHighway #Meadow
Today I chiselled off the sins of a previous owner. Concrete on wood :-(
Under the wrong concrete was an older layer of correct lime mortar, which is fine to use on wood because it will release moisture instead of trapping it. Forgotten knowledge.
Picked moss off some rocks and stuffed it to fill a gap in the corner. Moss is best for this job, and free.
After removing a wheelbarrow of concrete, I cleaned up, applied some wood preserver and then mixed up a bucket of fresh lime mortar to fill the gaps. After stuffing rocks in an old mouse hole first.
Lime mortar cures by binding atmospheric carbon dioxide, so I expect a fat payment for my carbon capture!
The rest was spent on a run to town for some paperwork and supplies.
A red tractor came with two big spinning rakes (Krone Swadro) and belatedly swathed our hay.
Unlike the fancy New Holland with the mower, the smaller red tractor did not have air conditioning and so the poor topless driver had to pick between hay dust and heat stroke. He chose dust.
Its ready for baling now, unless it rains.
Although with the heat wave coming here over the weekend, it may be best to wait a few days.
Al & Val's Modern Homesteading
Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar
MikeDunnAuthor
Rancho de la Libertad
Chloe