Turkey's Nest Rainforest Accommodation, Mt Glorious

We need to talk about Kevin!

2012-02-28T19:02:00.000+10:00

I've just finished reading Kevin McCloud's Principles of Home - Making a Place to Live.

You may or may not be a fan of Kevin and his Grand Designs (I admit to being a real Kevin tragic!), but he has a sensible and refreshingly positive approach to sustainable living. He believes we need to embrace a slower, more enjoyable and gentler way of living that is less taxing on the resources of the planet, but that we don't have to compromise our comfort or lifestyle to do it.

He also believes that despite our current depletion of the planet's resources, we will be saved by our own resourcefulness and imagination, by returning to good design and craftsmanship, and by embracing a philosophy of sharing rather than wanting everything for ourselves.

The book offers practical suggestions on both building and retrofitting your home to make it energy efficient, how to shop sensibly and ethically, and what items are worth investing in (and what aren't), as well as looking at what a home offers in terms of social and personal values.

Kevin McCloud practices what he preaches. His building company, Hab (It stands for Happiness Architecture Beauty.) builds low-cost, affordable and sustainable homes, designed in the belief that they should enrich the environment, create a sense of community and make people happy.

Bunya Nuts

2012-02-19T18:56:00.000+10:00

It's Bunya nut season, and the massive cones are crashing down every day, spilling scores of nuts onto the driveway.

Bunya Nuts in the cone

It's not surprising that the Aboriginals travelled vast distances to take advantage of their bountiful harvest. One large tree can produce an enormous number of nuts.

Bunya nuts in the husk

They require a fair amount of work to cut open the tough husks and release the nuts, which are about 6cm long.

Russell bought this Bunya Nut Recipe Book from the Bunya Nut Cafe at Blackbutt, and will be experimenting with new uses for the nuts. They taste rather like potatoes, and can be roasted and used in soups. The ground nuts can be used instead of flour in soups, breads and cakes, and also as a pesto.

Eco-friendly wood finish

2012-02-06T15:15:00.000+10:00

We've tried wherever possible to use low VOC, non-solvent based paint and wood finishes, so in Rose Gum cottage we finished the floors and the timber kitchen and vanity tops with Cabots CFP water-based wood finish.

Unfortunately it has been a disaster. Within weeks there were splash marks on the benchtops, and rings where people had left cups, wet dishes or the dishwashing detergent. With the help of our humid climate, these had soon turned to black mould. When someone spilled red wine on the floor - and I have no doubt they hastened to wipe it up - it nevertheless left a red stain.

A phone call to Cabots technical section revealed that if we wanted to recoat the benches with something else, we would have to sand them back completely to remove all the water-based finish.

We've now taken out and sanded back both the kitchen bench and the vanity, and refinished them with two coats of matt Estapol followed by Scandinavian oil.

Kitchen - Rose Gum Cottage

It was frustrating to have to redo what had already been completed just recently. It's also disappointing to know that the environmentally friendly approach did not produce an acceptable finish.

There may well be eco-friendly products out there which are suitable for wet areas, and if so we'd love to hear about them, because there's still a lot of the house to go!

Even more eco-friendly cleaning!

2012-01-25T14:33:00.000+10:00

In line with our philosophy of using eco-friendly and healthy cleaning products, I was pleased to come across Norwex microfibre cloths.

It came about when one of our cottage guests told me she’d cleaned the windows in the cottage. It is not every day our guests do the cleaning for us!

Judith explained that she was an agent for Norwex, and had cleaned the windows with the antibacterial envirocloth and the dry window cloth, using nothing but water. They looked amazing.

Windows get particularly dirty here, with a combination of mould and cobwebs, and cleaning them is not a job I enjoy. Seeing the streak-free result of her efforts, I quickly ordered three cloths - antibacterial envirocloth, window cloth and kitchen scrub cloth.

Norwex antibacterial envirocloth

I can honestly say they are a delight to use. The antibacterial cloth can be used dry for dusting, or wet for general cleaning. The window cloth dries off after the antibacterial, leaving no streaks, and the scrub cloth works on stubborn bits without the use of abrasive cleaners.Windows and shower screens are cleaned really easily and well, while the antibacterial cloth and scrub cloth make light work of bathrooms and kitchens.

I have since bought their floor cloths – one dry for dust (saves vacuuming) and one wet for washing - both interchangeable on the one velcro-tipped mop head.

The initial investment may seem high, but using microfibre cloths, which require only water, avoids the use of standard cleaning products, which can cause skin irritations, pollute the environment, and are expensive - making them good for the budget as well as the environment.

Durra Panels - the new light earth

2012-01-03T21:37:00.000+10:00

Despite our best intentions with building in light earth, the experience has been fraught with problems. Given the time it was taking to complete them, we decided to pay someone to help us build them, only to have the finished walls fall down after he left, when we discovered his technique had been flawed. So we started considering a different approach.

We had already experimented with a pseudo-earth wall in the dining room. One of the dining walls is half internal (backing onto the entry) and half external (backing onto the verandah). Instead of making a half-and-half wall of earth and timber, which would have looked silly, we filled the internal section with gyprock and rendered it to look the same as the earth wall. It’s impossible to see which half is timber framed and which is earth (it requires another fine coat to cover the centre stud).

Left side - render over light earth. Right side - render over gyprock

Russell suggested we do the same for the remaining walls under the verandah. I was initially horrified. Gyprock instead of earth?? Was he giving up the dream, selling out to The Man??!!

But then I remembered a compressed straw panel called Durra, made by Ortech in Victoria. It is 50mm of straw held between two layers of thick paper – no chemical binders, nothing but waste straw in recycled paper. Its credentials were good.

We ordered panels cut to an exact height, and cut them vertically to fit between the studs on the external walls, and inside the studs on the internal walls. Between the two layers we added an air gap and some R3 insulation.

External panels set between studs.

Internal panels placed over studs, with insulation in between.

The Durra walls were cut to size and in place in two days – compared with what would have been months of work doing light earth. On top of this the walls now have a total R value of about R6+ - way better than the earth walls would have rated.

We’ll probably need to ‘rough up’ the Durra a bit to accept the same clay render we are using on the earth walls, but the finished product should be indistinguishable.

The magic of seeds!

2011-12-01T12:34:00.000+10:00

In the past I’ve always bought herb and vege seedlings, at reasonable expense and with mixed success. Now I’ve started growing my herbs and vegetables from seed, and I’ve been excited by both the ease and the success.

Seeds fascinate me – how can something so tiny – like a speck from packet of hundreds and thousands – grow with just a little water and sunlight into a plant that provides food?

I started planting seeds in pots on the sunny windowsill in the dining room. As they’re in prime view, they’ve got a fair chance of being watered regularly! Within days they had shoots, and in a couple of weeks I was planting them out in the new vege patch.

Last night we ate mixed salad leaves and snow peas from our garden, with avocado from the neighbour’s, and tonight there’ll be home grown bok choy and snow peas in the stir fry.

In a few weeks we’re expecting pumpkin, zucchini and capsicum, as well as an ongoing crop of tomatoes, together with fresh basil for the pasta, and coriander for the Thai dishes. It’s not self-sufficiency, but it’s a start!

Restoring a cane daybed

2011-11-09T19:47:00.000+10:00

I've got a couple of old cane daybeds, and while they are quite comfortable, they were looking a little the worse for wear. The cane binding that wraps the joints was disintergrating, and the cane slats were weathered and discoloured.

I thought the larger one would make a good addition to the new cottage, as a single bed suitable for a child.

I replaced some of the broken cane binding, and we painted the whole thing using a spray gun (by far the easiest way for something so fiddly). A new 40mm foam mattress replaced the three existing cushions. I made covers in a tapestry fabric from Spotlight, and covered over the padded base with a pleated valance in the same material. The cushion covers are removable and the valance goes on and off using velcro strips on three sides.

The daybed is about the same size as a folding bed, but more comfortable and much more attractive. It's been used by a couple of youngsters, who have given it the thumbs up.

Butler's Bell

2011-10-28T21:09:00.000+10:00

Rose is not at her best in the mornings until she has had a good cup of tea. As I am frequently up early it falls to me to supply this while Rose is still in bed. The problem lies in knowing when to present the said cuppa!

My solution - a butler's bell.

We purchased one from Doorchimes.UK and it duly came, complete with string and three brass pulleys. The rather limited instructions suggested the length of string and number of pulleys be limited.

Original brass pulley

el Cheapo pulleys

Of course I had to get the string through a wall, upstairs through the ceiling, along a kick wall and then over a cathedral ceiling. This meant I had to purchase two more pulleys.

Old rock drill bit for weight

To get over the ceiling I used some heavy twine in a plastic conduit and then to overcome the friction I placed a large weight at one end. A hefty pull down from the other end lifted the weight. When it was released it was meant to pull down on the string leading to the chime. Unfortunately the length of string and the number of pulleys meant the whole thing didn’t work. I increased the weight (to 0.8 kg - using an old broken rock drill bit!) but still no action.

Ball bearing from old router (1)

Ball bearing from old router (2)

I surmised that the friction on the el cheapo pulleys was the problem and I needed two decent ball bearings. These came from an old router that had blown up. Luckily I was able to make them with grooves so the string didn’t come off. A few bits of home-made mounting brackets (which would have impressed my Dad!) and we were in business.

So now I can rest easy in the morning knowing that I will be summoned at an appropriate time to supply a cuppa and some toast – As a friend of ours once said, “It's not breakfast, but it's certainly a good start!”

Actually come to think of it, I'm not sure if this was such a good idea of mine. Maybe it wasn’t my idea at all?

The joys of hand-made

2011-10-23T17:08:00.000+10:00

I'm always amazed to see the money some people spend on kitchen and bathroom fittings, and the sort of prices some manufacturers charge for what is perceived to be 'fashionable'.

Maybe I have some deep biological memory of life in a more primitive culture, but I honestly enjoy making something out of what I have, rather than spending money on something that has been made in bulk in an anonymous factory.

When we needed a vanity for our new cottage, we worked with what we had - lots of assorted pine timber, some really nice left-over Ironbark flooring, and our own Rose Gum, milled from the property.

The result, which Russell made quite simply yet beautifully, is this - with Ironbark top, painted pine legs and slatted Rose Gum shelf.

Yes, it's more work than walking into a shop and taking something home the same day, but also a whole lot more satisfying.

Fireflies!

2011-10-17T10:16:00.000+10:00

It's firefly season on the mountain. These amazing little creatures only appear for a few days every year, just on dusk, and flash their bright halogen-like lights to attract a mate.

They like the moist rainforest, and for the last few nights we have seen their twinkling lights in the bush around the house. It is a really magic experience to walk around amongst them, and one we look forward to. By tonight there will be just the odd loner still looking for a mate, then they will be gone again for another year.

International Year of the Forest

2011-10-10T10:30:00.000+10:00

I read just recently that 2011 is the United Nations International Year of the Forest.

I'm not sure how many forests are going to be saved because of it, but I thought it a good opportunity to celebrate our beautiful rainforest at Mount Glorious.

In the early part of last century the forests here, like so many, were used for logging. The bright red new spring growth of the Red Cedar tree would alert the loggers to the location of this valuable timber.

Now the area is largely National Park, with beautiful walks through the rainforest. We are fortunate to have our own patch of untouched forest at Turkey's Nest, and are gradually extending the rainforest walk for both our guests, and ourselves to enjoy.

Rainforest Walk


Giant fig - Turkey's Nest Mt Glorious

Rose Gum Cottage - finished at last!

2011-09-30T20:36:00.002+10:00

Our new cottage, Rose Gum, is finally finished, after many months of completing seemingly endless details. We've had our first guests, and feedback has been very positive, with one couple becoming engaged on their weekend here, with plans to return each year for their anniversary.

It's full of crafty details, like the staircase and the fork handles in the kitchen. The balustrade of the staircase was particularly tricky, but worth the trouble.

The attic bedroom (still to be painted - one day!) is cute and cosy.

And the bathroom, with its big bath and a view out to the forest, is truly a place to relax.

Recycling - kitchen cupboards

2011-09-23T20:34:00.000+10:00

We’ve installed a few kitchens over the years, and in all of them we have made extensive use of recycled materials.

I have to say we can’t go past IKEA for the base cabinets. Their system is so simple, flexible and easy to use that it makes setting up the structure painless. I do feel a bit guilty about using melamine units, but we have to be conscious of providing a squeaky clean environment for our guests, so it’s an obvious easy-clean option.

The kitchen in our first cottage, White Gum, was made from IKEA bases, with recycled hoop pine from old Queenslander houses for the doors and drawer fronts.


Recycled hoop pine kitchen - White Gum Cottage

Russell used old silver forks to bend into handles.

Silver forks become door handles

We used hoop pine again for the kitchen of our house in Toowong, where we lived before moving to Mount Glorious.

New kitchen from hoop pine - Miskin St, Toowong

The old kitchen we had pulled out at Toowong (a real shocker) had a few further incarnations. First it was a work bench in our shed here. It then got reused as a temporary kitchen in Rose Gum, which we were living in while we were working on the house when we first moved up the mountain. Most of it finally got turfed, but the drawer unit was resurrected to be incorporated into the new kitchen in Rose Gum.

Constructing the kitchen in Rose Gum Cottage

Both the bench top and the cupboard and drawer fronts in our new cottage kitchen are ironbark. It’s a beautiful, very hard wood. We had a few boards left over after having floors laid in the B&B suite in the house, and they were way too beautiful to waste. To continue the theme from our first cottage, Russell has again made his fork handles.

Completed kitchen in Rose Gum Cottage

The economics of milling

2011-09-14T22:17:00.000+10:00

Given the fact that we had to cut down some trees to build our house and new cabin, we were keen to make use of the timber. The question remains, however, on the economics of milling your own timber.

Our Rose Gum was initially milled into flooring and wall linings. This required a Lucasmill on site, plus sending away for kiln drying and profiling into tongue-and-groove boards.

The recovery rate was not high. The timber for profiling can only be taken out of the larger logs, as both the soft outer wood (sapwood) and the centre of the log, which may later split, are not suitable for profiling. So apart from the large trees that were suitable for profiling, there were several that was simply cut into slabs or large beams. Even among that timber which was profiled, there was quite a bit that was badly knotted or split, and ended up being unusable for walls or floors.

In addition, the timber was not nearly as easy to work with as new timber from a plantation. Many of the trunks were bent, which resulted in bent boards which were very difficult to put in.

We did a costing of the milling and profiling, as compared with the final area of flooring and wall linings we ended up with. On a $/m² basis, it was not much better value than buying the flooring commercially. There were, however, other advantages:

We made use of the timber that had to be cut, rather than mulching or burning it.
There is a natural connection between what we are building, and what grows here.
We got timber that is quite different to what is commercially available.
We have additional beams, posts, stair treads and slabs which have been used around the house, creating an individual style.

Is milling your own timber worthwhile? On a small scale, possibly not. Profiling is expensive, but if you had a large quantity that could be rough sawn into framing and construction timber, then maybe the savings would be there. And if you are keen to use timber in interesting and creative ways, then having your own supply is definitely a bonus.

Iron balustrade

2011-09-01T21:37:00.000+10:00

One thing we felt was important in our building project was to incorporate lots of hand crafted details. It’s probably also the reason some things are taking a long time!

The verandah balustrade, which wraps around the north and east faces, was always going to be a major and very prominent element of the house. We wanted something that would reflect and complement the natural environment around us.

Working with the guys from Dean WilsonIron, we designed a balustrade with a trailing vine that follows through from one panel to the next. Incorporating a hammered finish, twisting tendrils and curved leaves, it mimics nicely the vines in the rainforest below the house.

It is both beautiful to look at, and open enough to see through it to the trees and garden beyond.

Spring must be coming

2011-08-15T14:51:00.001+10:00

Spring must be on its way, as so many of the birds we hardly saw through winter are reappearing.

We were delighted to see a Fairy Wren today. We very rarely see this lovely little bird on the property, and it was exciting to see the flash of bright blue in the bushes.

Meanwhile the three Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos we saw earlier in the year are back visiting us.

And as I sat at the computer, I watched a Satin Bowerbird take some straw from the pile that we're using for our light earth building, and carry it off to build his own nest. Now that's co-operative living!

Restoring old doors and windows

2011-07-20T18:19:00.000+10:00

We’ve tried as much as possible to use recycled doors and windows in the build, but it’s a good thing we don’t have to pay for our labour! Reusing old joinery is certainly labour intensive.

In our new cabin we wanted five pairs of casement windows in the dining area which looks out to the forest. At a new cost of over $250 a pair, that looked to be rather expensive. Sourcing five identical sets from secondhand yards also proved difficult.

My friend Chris was renovating and had five matching sets which she sold us for $300. They were in fairly good condition, but like a lot of windows from old Queensland houses of that era, they were glazed in green and brown glass, which would have blocked out the entire rainforest view.

I set about reglazing the windows. Each individual window had five panes of glass, so that was 50 panes in total. In addition, I wanted to save as much of the coloured glass as possible, to use in future leadlight projects, so I couldn’t just smash out the old glass. I had to painstakingly chip out all the old putty from each pane and carefully remove the glass. Each window took hours!

Instead of using putty (which I find both messy and difficult to do neatly) I used clear silicon and an 8mm triangular quad to hold the panes. After a while I became quite proficient at cutting the mitred corners of the quad.

The windows required a fair amount of sanding before finishing with three coats of paint. It was also a bit of extra work for the builder to trim and fit the old windows (and I'm sure he wondered why we bothered), but we’re glad we managed to reuse them, and the multiple panes provide an interesting framework for the forest view.

Country Cookbook

2011-07-13T18:24:00.000+10:00

I’ve just come across a book that encapsulates the lifestyle we are trying to create here.

Belinda Jeffery’s The Country Cookbook is part cookbook, and part journal of the life she and her husband share since moving from Sydney to the NSW Far North Coast town of Mullumbimby.

She talks about the satisfaction of growing herbs and vegetables, and cooking what is seasonal in the garden, the pleasure of watching the wildlife and the weather, of delighting in both the peace and solitude of the country, and the conviviality of friends and family. Scattered throughout are many of her favourite, very down-to-earth, and simple recipes, together with stunning photos of both the food and the environment.

Belinda refers to their new life as a ‘kinder’ life. It reminds me that we should all be looking for a better quality of life, rather than a better standard of living.

More eco-friendly cleaning

2011-07-05T18:23:00.000+10:00

I blogged earlier about our change to Herbon cleaning and personal care products, which are free of nasty chemicals, and are guaranteed hypo-allergenic. I’ve been very happy with their liquid soap (which we use as both hand and body wash), laundry liquid, prewash stain remover, and automatic dishwasher powder.

However I hadn’t been able to find a washing up liquid in their range from the wholesaler I buy through, so, somewhat un-optimistically, I went checking the shelves of the supermarket for an eco-friendly washing up liquid.

I was pleasantly surprised to come across this one made by Eco Store in New Zealand.

Their products are free of petroleum products and harmful chemicals, using only natural plant based ingredients, mineral salts and essential oils, thus reducing the possibility of rashes, allergies and eczema. Their products are only available online in NZ , but are stocked by Woolworths in Australia.

After checking out their website I will be looking for more of their cleaning, skin and body care, and hair care products in Woolworths. It’s encouraging to see the supermarkets are at last responding to consumer demand for environmentally friendly products, and despite my reservations about large corporations, I feel obliged to encourage them!

Rose Gum stairs

2011-06-28T21:17:00.000+10:00

After milling our Rose Gum into flooring, (see our last post) as well as wall paneling, posts and beams, and slabs, (we’ll blog about these later) it may have seemed there was little more to be got from it.

There were only the smaller limbs left (for a seemingly endless supply of firewood!) and the flitches – the curved outside edges of the logs- which are mostly discarded. These seemed too good to waste.

I’d seen this picture of a staircase using flitches as treads,

so we decided we could use our flitches for the stair treads in the new cabin. One of the smaller Rose Gum branches was installed as a support at the end of the stairwell. We ordered a steel stringer with three winder steps at the top from Uprite Steel.

Russell then carefully cut, leveled, sanded and fitted the flitches to the steel tread supports. This is the result.

The recycling continues, as some other smaller bits of the Rose Gum will be incorporated into the railings.

Recycling - timber and slate

2011-06-17T16:17:00.000+10:00

Before we built our house and new cabin we had to fell some of the huge Rose Gums near the edge of the forest. These trees had been planted some 40 years ago as plantation timber, and we wanted to reuse as much of the timber as possible.

We had the trees milled onsite by a mobile Lucas Mill, then sent away for kiln drying and profiling into T&G wall linings and flooring. We planned to use the flooring in our new cottage.

Then last year we bought a little rental house (and future holiday cottage) in Mount Glorious. Hidden in the garden we found a large quantity of old slate tiles. They didn’t look too great, but we found that it wasn’t hard to clean them up, and beneath the dirt was a lovely range of colours. We thought they would be an excellent choice for the entry and the hearth in the new cottage.

Rose Gum Cottage now has its Rose Gum floors and slate tiles, and we're pretty pleased with the result.

While the actual economic viability of milling your own timber is debatable, we're now planning all sorts of other uses for the Rose Gum. But both these subjects are for later posts!

It's the little things.....

2011-05-29T19:52:00.000+10:00

It's been a hive of building activity here over the last few weeks, and blogging has been low on the list of priorities.

Building can be very stressful, but little things like the first daffodil of the season, and the moon through the trees at night are a constant reminder of why we're doing it!

Hydronic underfloor heating

2011-05-18T17:58:00.000+10:00

Mount Glorious has cold winters, and we decided to opt for under-floor hydronic heating in the house and B&B suite, as well as a slow combustion wood heater. The gentle constant heat of the hydronics would warm the whole house, while the fireplace is an added delight and would provide extra warmth at night.

Finding someone who does under-floor hydronics in Queensland proved difficult. Apparently it doesn’t get cold enough here! (they’ve never tried Stanthorpe in winter!). Those we found were not experienced at installing it under a suspended timber floor, which makes up the majority of the house. We contacted a company in Victoria who agreed to come up and do it. Pipes were laid in the cement slab of the kitchen-dining, and between the joists of the rest of the house.

We had hoped to heat the water with a solar hot water tank, but our cold misty winters mean we would have no hot water for heating when we most needed it. We opted for an energy efficient heat pump.

By the time we were ready to put in the heat pump, the company who installed the pipe work had gone out of business. We eventually found Ecological Solutions in Currumbin, who were able to install both the hydronic heating and our hot water.

It’s now getting pretty cold at night on the mountain, and our underfloor heating is working a treat!

Meanwhile this lovely thing has to wait a while till our lounge room is finished.

Visiting wildlife

2011-05-02T13:59:00.000+10:00

It’s a delight to see the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos back again. Yesterday they were shrieking and swooping between the tops of the tallest gum trees, which swayed wildly from their enormous weight.

Unlike the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos, which regularly come down to the house to feed, the black cockies stay well away.

Meanwhile, this fellow made his way across the driveway this morning.

He headed up the cedar tree, only to be swoooped by the kookaburras, which didn't seem to like him invading their territory.

Moon over the mountain

2011-04-26T09:02:00.000+10:00

Last week’s full moon shining brilliantly from a (currently rare) cloudless sky made me think of my childhood. As a kid I grew up on a farm in western Victoria – over 20 miles (and at least that many kilometers!) from the nearest town and source of light pollution. The regular cycle of the moon was a thing you saw but perhaps, as a young kid, you didn’t fully notice or appreciate.

Over 30 years of living in major cities had made me forget the small things about the lunar cycle. Sure you catch glimpses of the moon in the city and, if you take the time, you can follow the cycle. But, in the country, with no artificial lights to obscure your observations, you notice the smaller things. The feint outline of the entire moon as the new moon starts to wax. The minute detail of the moon’s surface on a clear night. The wonder of moonlight casting shadows as you take an evening stroll. The inky blackness of a new moon.

There are other things I am starting to appreciate that I must have seen as a kid but had forgotten. The “quiet” of the early morning that is filled with the sounds of numerous birds heralding the dawn. The cacophony of cicadas and frogs in the evening. The mist wafting though the trees as it rolls up the mountain.

Joni Mitchell sang (in Big Yellow Taxi) “you don’t know what you’ve got 'til it’s gone”. I would say (don’t ask me to sing it) “you don’t realise you’ve lost something ‘til you get it back again”!

Earth building #2 - framing and filling the walls

2011-04-17T22:52:00.000+10:00

Here are some more details of the method used for the light earth walls.

Framing - The wall framing for the house is a double timber frame – two lots of 90mm x 90mm posts, with a gap of 70mm between, making a total thickness of 250mm. In places these are braced with a 70mm x 70mm diagonal to cater for our wind loading.There's no real need for light earth walls to be this thick, but we liked the idea of deep reveals around the windows and doors. Members of the Earth Building Association of Australia have used light earth infill in standard 70mm stud frame walls.

Filling the walls - One side of the frame is completely covered with ply, and the other with a series of narrow shutters (we used hardwood weatherboards), starting at the bottom and moving up as the earth mixture is placed in. As you move up the wall, the lower shutters can be removed.

filling the earth walls

We found that a cut-down wheelie bin was ideal for moving the light earth mix into the house, and could be lifted up using a block and tackle.

Each layer must be tamped down around the edges to ensure the corners of the framework are filled, but the whole thing does not need heavy ramming – this would only squash the straw, which has a tube-like structure which provides insulation.

the last little bit!

The tops of the walls are tricky – not much room to manoeuvre here, so it was it was a case of shoveling it in by hand.

The process is slow, and as Christmas was approaching last year we were at 33% completion of the earth walls. We wanted some more progress before the family arrived for Christmas day, and decided to relent and hire some cheap manual labour from down the road. Toby (a real guy – not our cat of the same name) got into it. He increased it to almost 50% and allowed us to get the house almost weatherproof by Xmas.

Unfortunately our excitement at the progress was short lived. Toby was a little too enthusiastic in tamping down the straw. A month after he left us to travel overseas his walls – like the walls of Jericho – came tumbling down! Closer inspection showed he had rammed so hard there was no strength left in the straw, and the walls, now little more than clay, did not hold together. So we’re now back to not much more than 30% finished.

Drying – depending on the weather, the walls took several months to dry out. Initially they would sprout shoots from the straw seeds, but once the earth began to dry, these would die off. As the walls dry, the clay shrinks, so the fill can subside a bit, and may need some topping up. The fully dried walls are hard, with no ‘give’.

We managed to get some of our earlier, well-dried walls rendered before Christmas. We'll show the results in a later post.

Autumn and owner building

2011-04-09T17:03:00.000+10:00

The huge red cedar that dominates the grassed area next to the house is starting to get ready for winter - some of its leaves are turning yellow, and in a few weeks there will be masses of leaves raining down with every gust of wind. The tree will be bare and stark for winter, but the advantage is that that will let in lots more sunshine on the clear cold winter mornings.

The Red Cedar is one of six native deciduous trees . We also have two of others on the property, the Illawarra Flame Tree and the Silky Oak.

Next to start losing its leaves will be the big Liquidambar near the cottage. Seeing the seasons is one of the many things we enjoy on the mountain.

In other news, our house features in the current edition of The Owner Builder magazine - very exciting! We'll be contributing a couple more articles as the light earth building continues.

Earth Building #1 - light earth mix

2011-04-03T18:22:00.000+10:00

For the earth building enthusiasts, here are some details of the method we used for the light earth walls.

Mixing - The light earth is a mixture of sieved clay soil, water and straw. A mechanical sieve was made from an old metal frame (picked up at the tip), some expanded aluminium grating (found at an old dam site), some 50mm mesh (from a driveway gate being thrown out) and some 6mm mesh (actually purchased from a store!). The whole thing is vibrated using a old drill and some eccentric weights. It works a treat!

The sieved soil is put into a cement mixer with enough water to make a thin clay slurry, the consistency of cream.

This is added to straw in a large mixing tub – we scrounged an old exhaust fan canopy from a commercial kitchen, turned it upside down and sealed the holes. The mix should result in each piece of straw being coated with mud, but the whole mix should not be too wet. We had the tub on an angle, with a draining grid at the high end. We piled the mix onto this and let it drain for a few minutes before taking it in to the walls.

We'll continue to add further details about filling and finishing the walls in future posts.

Currawong chorus

2011-03-28T10:35:00.009+10:00

For the past couple of weeks the pied currawongs have been making a splendid chorus (check the sound file here).

They seem to love this time of the year – the clear blue skies and the temperatures starting to drop. They are around at other times of the year but generally as solitary birds that only occasionally are heard to sing. But recently they have been congregating in groups of up to a dozen, chasing each other from tree to tree and caroling (or is it arguing?) continuously in a glorious array of sounds.

Recycling tyres

2011-03-24T21:03:00.000+10:00

Building on a steep block there was a need for a retaining wall under the front of the house, to enable us to have a level access into the house.

We didn't like the idea of more concrete besser blocks - we had been forced to use enough of them in the foundations - so we chose used tyres as a way of utilising a material that would otherwise end up in landfill. Tyre retailers are more than happy to give away used tyres, so they cost us nothing.

The tyres are stacked up in overlapping layers, and backfilled with earth, which gives them rigidity. Even the torrential January rains did not shift them. The spaces between provides spots for rockery plants, which are now thriving.

Growing veges - the minimalist approach

2011-03-17T15:29:00.000+10:00

Building a house doesn't leave much time for gardening, which seems to be relegated to the lowest priority. So late last year, desperate to have some sort of vegetable garden, I hit on the idea of a mobile vege patch. It would catch the sun as it moved through the seasons, and could be shifted out of the way when other work was being done.

Unlike the rest of the garden, it survived very well over the summer. The wheelbarrow provided good drainage when torrential rains left everything else waterlogged, and being above ground level, it was out of the way of many of the bugs.

Coupled with various pots of herbs, it provides a bare minimum of home grown produce until I can get a proper vegetable patch established.

Red browed finch

2011-03-13T10:40:00.000+10:00

We usually have our coffee and lunch out on the verandah overlooking our garden, a grassed area and a lovely big red cedar. Over the past week we have been watching a very energetic red-browed finch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-browed_Finch) collecting pieces of grasses and small twigs that it is using to construct a small nest hidden in a plane tree.

The bird is tiny and the twigs quite large, and its flight back up into the trees is like an overloaded plane that is struggling to lift off!

Apparently both the male and the female share in nest-building, incubation of the eggs, and feeding of the young when they hatch. We thought that the start of autumn was a strange time to begin breeding, but it seems they breed all year round, with incubation taking about 13 days. The untidy, domed nest is well hidden, but we hope to see the emergence of the chicks a couple of weeks after hatching.

Eco friendly cleaning

2011-03-09T10:22:00.000+10:00

I'm always on the look-out for products that are friendly to the environment as well as healthier for ourselves.

So I was pleased to find recently a range of products from Herbon which tick all the boxes for having no nasty chemicals in them, a well as being hypo-allergenic. Their cleaning and personal care products do not contain any artificial fragrances (which mostly contain phthalates, a real baddie) or paraben preservatives (methyl-, butyl-, and so forth), are made from 70% organic ingredients and are not tested on animals.

We’re now in the process of changing over all our moisturiser, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, as well as cleaning products and soft soap for both our cottage guests and ourselves.

Light Earth

2011-03-04T09:16:00.000+10:00

We are currently building some of the walls of our house in light earth, and environmentally friendly method which we hope will help deal with the moist, humid climate at Mount Glorious, as well as provide excellent insulation. Light earth is not used much in Australia, but has been round in Europe and The US for a long time. We found out about it in Econest, a great book produced by a company in the USA who do light earth building.

This is how a finished section looks before it's rendered. We'll be updating the blog with information about this method, how it's done, what we've learnt, and how it works for us.

Summer's end

2011-02-27T10:12:00.000+10:00

Summer is at an end, though up on Mount Glorious we seem hardly to have had one.We lit the fire every night till mid December. Temperatures have rarely been above 25 degrees, and we still sleep with a blanket most nights. The gardens are lush with the summer rains (too much at times!) and the tanks are full. We’re looking forward to autumn bringing the daffodils and jonquils popping up all over.

Late last year we found a rather sad looking young magpie on the driveway .

It was having trouble flying and didn’t seem to be able to feed itself. We looked after it for a few days, and it’s now a firm friend, following us around with a ‘feed me’ look on its face! (like a hungry teenager!)

He’s flying alright now, but seems to prefer walking! We’ve christened him (perhaps unkindly) Loser Bird.

Some of you will be sorry to hear we recently lost our lovely cat Toby to kidney disease. We always feared for his safety when we brought him up the mountain, and thought it might be a tick or a snake that would get him.But even the snake that slipped into bed with him one night didn’t slow him down.

Toby was a real favourite with our guests, and he always liked to check out who was staying in the cottage. I imagine he was given the odd treat when he visited! We’re going to miss the little fellow.

Welcome to our Blog

2011-02-15T16:00:00.001+10:00

Turkey’s Nest is 15 acres of rainforest in the D’Aguilar Range, 45 km N-W of Brisbane. At 620m above sea level, it is much cooler than Brisbane, with fresh, clean air, mists in winter (and sometimes in summer), bright starry nights, beautiful rainforest and wonderful bird life.

We bought Turkey's Nest a year after we married, and since then it has been our haven from the hustle and bustle of city life.

We wanted to share the peace and tranquillity with others, and soon renovated the existing forestry cottage to create a romantic and peaceful holiday getaway for guests to enjoy.

In 2008 we started building our own house and a second B&B cottage so we could finally move from suburbia and become more self sufficient. We are concerned about the environment and healthy living and the house is designed and built with environmental principles in mind.

The house was partially completed by a builder and we are now finishing it off as Owner Builders. We are using light earth, a straw-clay mix, and many recycled materials in the construction, with the aim of making all new work on both our house and the accommodation as environmentally friendly and non-polluting as possible.

Follow us on our blog as we create our eco home in the rainforest, and share our lifestyle with both our real and online guests!