Back in London, I am now attempting to collate my thoughts and experiences from the last two weeks in Finland. I still remember the feeling sitting inside the wooden skeleton of my to-be-cottage yesterday, in the warm sun, hearing the little insects all around me, the busy bluetits, pretty blackbirds and one tireless cuckoo somewhere in the forest. My mood elevated, I was thinking: I can actually sit inside this thing! It is a THING - not completed, not even close - but - it is a shelter! Built with my very own hands, and the hands of my family members. How special is that...!

My work in progress cottage covered by a tarp, ready for my next working trip to the forest.

It may not look like much yet, but has so much heart for me already. When I flew to Finland two weeks ago, I really didn't know what to expect. In some ways it was, and still is, much like guesswork. I have lots of ideas but have no ideas on how long it will take to make them into reality... :)

The site in the Spring time, after the foundation hole has been dug and some large tree stumps removed from the area.

The foundation trench, or rather a big gaping hole, had already been dug when I got to the site. It was  about 70cm deep and I could see that the bottom of the foundation was partly on hard clay, partly on sand. It wasn't sloping quite enough downhill to my liking, considering that I wanted it to be able to drain well in case of a heavy rain.

The first few days in Finland I spent ordering and buying tools and supplies, opening builder's accounts at local hardware stores and thinking things through. The gravel ended up costing much more than I expected but I did order about 18tonnes of it, because most of the soil in the foundation was replaced by it (and sand). Maybe I'm daft but it somehow made sense, to improve drainage, stop moisture from getting to the walls, roundwood poles or the floor.

In regards to the other main building materials, I was lucky that just around the corner from my parents house, there is a disused sand-pit, where we used to play as kids - I got permission from the elderly owner to take some sand for my building needs from there. My parents' friendly neighbour was kind enough to help us out with his pick-up/trailer combination to get the sand from the pit to the site. Even the heavy rain showers and us workers getting completely soaked, didn't stop us from shoveling the sand, tired, on a Friday evening. Just a small problem, which sauna will ultimately cure... which seems to be the thinking with most Finnish ailments. :)

I have added a compilation of photos here, to show you the progress so far. I have tried to write captions for the photos instead of writing the entire story, because it would take me the other two weeks I have in London and not get anything else done! I still have a life you know... ;)
 

Strawbales were delivered, only for me to discover that they were far too loosely baled! Many bales fell apart when we were transferring them to storage. Which means in order to use them in my cottage wall, I will need to re-string most of the bales (those that are used in the cob mix obviously do not matter).

Regardless of the first setback of the poor bales, I set to work and started working on improving the drainage of the site. Here I am, shoveling away, with my son showing me his Lego creation in the latter photo. :)

I dug a drainage channel from the foundation trench downhill, for the rain water to run away from underneath the house. 8cm perforated drainage pipe was installed at the bottom of it.

After the digging, we started filling the hole with all that gravel. Wow, the amount of work involved, particularly as the gravel was located about 50-70metres away. I feel my biceps have definitely grown! :) I hired a light-weight compacting machine, which I used regularly over the gravel, to compact it nice and tight. Much better result than doing it by hand, although it was not exactly any easier on my muscles.

Round and round we go :)

A digger came for the 2nd time to dig a clay pit in the woods. After excavation, this pit was covered with tarp until later use and will become a natural swimming pool in the future (well, I would like to think so at least).

Because I was too worried about the quality and strength of my strawbales, I consulted few professional natural builders and decided to build a wooden structure for my cottage- so rather than using the bales as supporting walls, I would have the wooden skeleton to support the weight of the roof. As it happens, Charlie Jespergaard from the Natural Building Company, whom I visited in Fagervik during my first week in Finland, showed me how the bales could be re-compressed, re-strung and in fact used as I had initially intended, but I still decided it would be less risky to build the wooden frame and use the bales more as an infill material.

Here I am fetching one piece of wood to be used in the wooden frame structure. These logs my father had cut down from the surrounding woods a few months earlier and peeled and stacked them up to dry.

Measuring the wood poles to correct size.

My father cutting the poles with a chainsaw.

Here I am placing the roundwood poles in their final positions. The shape of the cottage won't be exactly round, more like oval shape, with a larger gap between the logs in the south facing wall, to accomodate the window frame or frames (as I haven't decided which way the windows are going to lie, vertically or horizontally...)

My father working on the wooden frame. We used Tony Wrench's book 'Building A Low Impact Roundhouse' as a rough guide and reference book. My father was a bit unsure about the whole procedure at first but after a day or so, he really got into it and the quality of his work improved massively. I am very proud of him and happy to have been able to have worked and assisted him. :)

The completed wooden structure (without roof obviously).

Here I am tarring the logs that were used in the wooden frame. We attached the ends of the poles onto watertreated wood panels along with some tarred roofing paper and then the 'legs' were set onto compacted gravel base and more gravel was spread over them and compacted well (the ends of the logs are therefore not in direct contact with soil and hopefully never too much water either, to prevent them from rotting). The tar smells wonderful, although I must admit, whilst applying it, the smell was slightly OVERWHELMING! ;) I could have used concrete and steel posts with the wooden poles to avoid all this hassle, but I don't want to pour concrete into my sacred space (which this for me is, as a place where I grew up as a child)

While my father was working on the wooden frame, I kept on filling the area around the wooden poles and compacting the gravel and sand that was added in the central area (which is to become the internal floor). The wooden roundwood poles are the internal dimensions of the cottage, which will be about 3.70-3.80m in diameter.

Peace!

When the wooden frame was joined to form a uniform, stable structure, I had only few more days left in Finland. This meant that the whole structure needed to be covered, to be protected from elements but also to enable me to keep working in dry conditions underneath. To be honest, until then it had only rained briefly on few occasions but the idea of attempting to build cob and strawbale walls in rain, with swarming mosquitoes around (there are many!), didn't appeal to me too much.

Preparing to get the tarpaulin on the structure.

Here I am on the top of the ladder, trying to maneuver the massive blanket of plastic on this thing (with my brother and father)!

I started filling the first rows of earthbags with gravel (the same that was used for the floor).There will be in total of four rows of bags in the stemwall, on top of which the cob, cordwood cob and strawbale walls will be built.

I managed to fill the first row of bags, almost all of them with gravel. When that run out, I filled the remaining bags with clay/sand/earth mixture, which I left to dry and harden under the tarpaulin, while I am away. This will also give me a good indication of whether the mix I used has a good ratio and consistency for the remaining earthbags.

So, here we are. There is so much else to say and write but I am still quite exhausted from the first episode of build and want to focus on the next time I get to go there. I have done some video filming also and my friend and regular cameraman Mikael will come and visit me in the next few months to do some dedicated filming of the progress (with me included in the footage, which doesn't hugely appeal to me as a director...)

I am so very grateful to my family in Finland, who have worked so hard on this with me, particularly my father, without whom getting to this point in the build would have been incredibly slow, difficult, maybe even impossible. But, I still believe, as I have done before, that nothing is impossible where dreams and heart are involved. Not with me, not with anyone. Even though this cottage is far from finished, it is incredibly satisfying to be able to work with one's hands - and see, touch and smell the results.I kid you not, it may be one of the best experiences in the world!!! So, please try it, if you haven't... :)

A few days ago, on the last evening of my first two weeks in Finland, I poured a glass of red wine for myself and went out to the cottage, sat in front of it and watched the forest in the evening sun, with my giant wishing tree and its leaves fluttering in the gentle breeze. I was so loving the look and the sound of it. It brought a tear to my eye to think that I am allowed to be here, to dig up this earth, to use this wood, to work with people I love, to listen to these birds, to participate in nature, to feel gratefulness, to witness beauty, to feel with all my heart, to learn, to appreciate, to be grateful, to be human. To be part of it all. Part of nature.

That is all I ever could have wished for. Thank you tree - for listening to me.

My giant wishing tree (aspen) in the background, as seen through two conjoined birch trees.

                 
  

In Finland. The time has come, finally, for me to start work. And it has started. These were my plans. My sketches, my ideas:

This is the reality, the now, working on these ideas:

The weather has been good, hardly any rain, mild, mostly sunny - mosquitos and midges are the only nuisance. And my failing muscles, but I am expecting some improvement on that front over the summer.
I have felt guilty for not being able to write this blog on a daily basis, but there are so many things to think about, so many things to do, that in the end of the day, writing a piece of anything is the last thing on my mind. However, I shall try. Because it's good for me. It's good to think, reflect, take a step back, find a perspective.

Next week I will return to London for two weeks and immerse myself in my art once again. I miss my life in London, even though I thoroughly enjoy my time in the forest. But as I already knew, my heart is in two places, maybe, my heart has no particular place, it is a traveller by heart. I suspect many of us have a similar dilemma, challenge or a blessing, however one wants to see it.


I am so very grateful to my parents and my family and everyone who is helping and supporting me with this project - it is my dream but it is not a dream I can achieve on my own. Some days, I admit I cannot see the cottage in my mind's eye and wonder what the hell am I doing here. But most days, I can see it - and feel it. I am getting there.... it is a journey after all. I shall be back here soon, very soon....... :)

The wheels keep ever so slowly turning...

It's been a long winter for my young old bones and my cottage dreams have been buried under the deep Finnish snow. When I visited there last month, this is what the future building site looked like:

Sometimes it is hard to imagine how anyone can survive these conditions. :) Don't take me wrong, I was brought up here and love the snow for few weeks when I visit, but to endure the cold, dark and snow for months on end, requires particular patience. Perhaps I never really had it, since I always dreamt of foreign lands and eventually moved to slightly warmer climates (if you can call UK that!) almost 15 years ago. Looking at this scenery of my childhood, I can just about picture my little Earth Tree House in the midst of the snow and trees. How cold! Or, how cozy! :)

The circle of sticks I placed for my planned build in November are still just about visible under the 70cm layer of snow. But, as the seasons change, also my plans have changed...

During my visit in wintery Finland, I met up with Paul Lynch, whose Natural Building Company in Inkoo builds and renovates natural and traditional buildings in Finland. Paul drove me around some strawbale houses they had built through workshops in the past years and introduced me to some interesting people, who are all part of the natural building movement there. It was very exciting, though somehow very strange as well, to be sitting in a very traditional Finnish wooden log cabin in the middle of a forest, sipping coffee, watching a snow blizzard outside and talking about natural building with an Irishman, Englishman and a Dane... it almost felt like home...! :)

After our discussion and all the information Paul gave me, I was completely overwhelmed to say the least. There was this huge fear in my mind, wondering what have I gotten myself into... I don't know anything about building. I don't have any money... real skills... I don't even live here! I could see myself just ditching the whole idea and saying: I can't do it!

But, while driving back from Inkoo to my parents place on snow covered roads with horizontal snow whipping against the car, the powdery scenery put me almost into a dream-like state... I thought, yes, maybe I can do it. Maybe there is a way. I will have to take in what has been said and feel my heart, what is that saying. And my heart as usual, was jumping up and down, shouting: yes yes yes I want to do this! I just have to do it in a way, which is not going to break my back, my bank or my brain. Or my heart. I wouldn't want to start a project I couldn't finish, and that was Paul's one concern, that even though my plan wasn't big, it was huge enough for a beginner, building slowly with cob and in limited time (max. three months). What if I build a tiny one, less than 10m2? First I thought it's like giving up, but the more I thought about it , the more it started to make sense. I would need less materials, less time, less money, less help, less brains... hahaha... well, at least the right side of my brain would be able to play more, because the left side wouldn't be so bloody worried about everything...

Yes, I will build a tiny house, with what I have, try out everything, make a lot of mistakes, have a laugh, enjoy, connect with my heart and nature and complete it to a point where by early Autumn, it will withstand the scenery in the photo above. And then continue the following year. And then the following year. And every year build something else, maybe something bigger, maybe something smaller...

So, today, my flights are booked. I start digging the ground on the last day of May, which is accidentally quite meaningful, as it always used to mark the last day of school and the first day of long Finnish summer holidays (2.5 months). The last day of May was always full; full of magic, happiness, sadness, anxiety, memories, excitement. It is funny that I start the build on that very same day, many many many years later, as an adult, probably going through those same feelings in a way. I am very much trying to get my head around different things I need to buy, and how to avoid buying some of them. Luckily I have my cob already (in the ground), the strawbales, few windows and all the wood I will be needing. There are many things that I am completely clueless about and which create terror in my mind, yet there are many things that I know aren't as important as my mind makes them to be - people have been building little huts and houses for thousands of years - I am one of them and I have a lot of love and enthusiasm for this build.

I am so grateful for the advice I have been, and am continuously, given, as it means I don't feel completely alone in this, even though in many ways it is my lone project. I am hoping I can meet and work with people through the summer, who are interested in the same things than I am (and maybe even some who yet aren't). In a way the natural living and building is a beautiful movement as 'natural' will always be a choice people are drawn towards instinctively, maybe now, in this increasingly commercial and hard world, more than ever. If I can help for my part to bring some awareness to it, I will gladly do that, if only to show that yes, you can - and yes, you should. It is a positive thought to carry inside.

In the evening, when my chattering mind has gone to sleep, I lie quiet in my bed and return to my heart, and know that whatever happens, I must at least try, because, in a way there is no other choice. The forest that was my playground as a child is now going to be watching me play as an adult. So, if the build becomes only hard work and no play, I will stop. I owe it to the forest to live the build through my inner child, some twenty odd years later. I made a promise to the tree. But shhhh - don't tell anyone! :)

Me and a snow buddha I built :)

I will aim to write this blog a bit more often from now on. If you are on Facebook and want to follow the process there, please join my group The Earth Tree House. Many thanks for reading! Namaste xx

Visiting My Dream

On Tuesday I returned from a short trip to Finland, where I dug up the soil in the forest next to my parents house in order to find out whether this whole project is viable or not. Not finding enough sand or clay in the ground would mean that the whole point of building ecologically and economically is lost - and my dream - well, it would remain just a dream... so it was important for me to test the soil, digging while all fingers and toes crossed - not very easy as you can imagine...

Digging test holes up to 80cm in depth

To begin with, I had a dream. A dream about where the hut will stand. So I marked it out roughly and started digging. My father was pretty certain that I would only find sand, this is because the house they built, in which I spent my childhood in, was built ten metres away on a sandy soil, even at 2-meter depth there was only sand, no clay. Which of course is a better scenario for building foundations on, because groundfrost doesn't really affect foundations in a sandy soil, the opposite of which is true for clay-heavy soil. Having read that the frost line in Southern Finland is at 1.5metres and not intending to dig my foundations that deep, I was relying on finding a sandy spot to build my dwelling on.

So enthusiastically, I start digging, and after lifting the dark topsoil aside, I discover this really lovely rust coloured sand beneath, just perfect for using in a cob mixture. So happy. My dad's watching me and saying, 'I told you, it's only sand there.' But I am determined to go deeper, just because. Yeah, I am a stubborn taurus too. And all goes well, until in about 50cm depth I hit something hard, and grey. And there I discover the other stubborn matter called clay, which is so incredibly packed and solid, that digging becomes impossible.

Clay - no go

Not good. My dad is surprised. So I move two metres up the gentle uphill and start making another hole. The same story repeats, except this time I find the clay in about 70cm depth. Another hole. Another hole. Another hole. Here I am inspecting one of them...

Looking for my gold (and eventually finding it)

After a few days of digging, the ground within 10-15 metre radius is full of several holes and I realise that the hut location (of my dream) wasn't quite as exact as I had thought. But eventually I do manage to find a spot which fills the criteria - lovely golden sharp sand and no thick clay at least up to 80cm depth - wahey!! We change the positions of the posts with my parents to roughly mark the outline of the area and I take a deep breath. There is one young fir tree in the way of my hut, but as I venture to the grocery shop, on my return dad is holding a warm chainsaw in his hands and the fir tree has fallen...

One issue is that there are many large tree stumps from last year's felling close to my marked area, the thick roots of which crisscross the soil deep within - all that has to be dug out with some form of machinery, as there is no way I can manually shift ancient silver birch stumps without breaking my back and losing faith in life and this project. But that's a worry for next summer - I have enough for now.

Then it's soil testing time. I dig soil samples out of the pits into glass jars and mix them with salt and water, shake vigorously and let set overnight, to see how much sand, clay and silt is in the ground. It is fairly quick to tell this by colour and texture alone - and even though the tests show varying amounts of clay and sand, none of the samples would make good cob on its own, so I realise that I will have to make some experiments. Getting hands dirty time..

Lower down my parent's plot, I find a really wet, swampy bit and start digging. The exposed muddy clay is making moist kissing sounds as I dig, which is funny but doesn't make the digging easier. My mum has an idea of making a natural pond out of my future clay hole and I think that sounds fantastic. Anyway, I eventually find a really lovely clean clay few metres away and slight excitement fills my heart.

Now I have: a) lovely, rusty coloured sand  b)sticky, grey clay in abundance c) some oat straw
 - and that's all I need for making cob! 

Getting a big tarp out, I make a mixture of about 1 part clay to 3 parts of sand and mix it altogether using my feet power, turning the mix inside the tarp fairly often for even consistency. I just love the colour of this mixture and it feels almost magical to be mixing something so basic to make something so fantastically interesting! I am again in love but hey, loving nature is easy, particularly as it doesn't argue with you!

Mixing cob (sand and clay)

 

 

 

Adding straw

Doing the cob dance

I add some straw my mother had bought few weeks previously and jump on the mixture, digging my heels in, getting all my frustration out, dancing to a silent tune inside my head, thinking about doing this over and over again for two months and the slowly descending madness that follows.... it is truly a lovely, warm feeling!

As I do my silly moves and look totally ridiculous, even my 8-year old niece warms up to the cob, gets wellies out and jumps on the pile (she had initially looked at me very disapprovingly), so we do a little jig on the mix and she has a chance to get her hands and feet dirty. I keep turning the cob mixture around with the help of the tarp, which is the best way to do it when one is working alone, and finally, I can see it - the perfect mix. I grab some of the stuff, form it into a ball and throw it on the ground. The ball flattens a bit due to the mix being slightly too wet but doesn't break. Me thinks that's purfect!

I shift all the mixture into a wheelbarrow and I suggest to my niece that we make a little sculpture with it, since it doesn't keep (due to the straw being in it). In any case, I might as well experiment how easy it is to build with this and perhaps even how well it survives over the harsh Finnish winter - the ultimate test of fire (or ice rather)! My little animal lover niece says I should make a cat and I agree. I start building the cat on top of a tree stump but quickly realise that the cat is taking the shape of a bear. Well, considering my niece doesn't mind and bear being the national animal of Finland, I let the hands do their work and the result - a hybrid of a mole, cat and a baby bear... Good fifteen minute effort though, playing with the cob, and of course I was over the moon about how easy it was to build and sculpt with the mixture. Now it's up to the nature to take care of the rest...

My animal cob sculpture

After these busy five days, I sigh of relief - I now know that the project is possible, as far as cob is concerned! THE JOY!

Getting a morale boost

Last Saturday morning I wandered into the well hidden Meadow Orchard Project in North London and was greeted by a happy, smiling organiser Linda from Cob in the Community and a number of chirpy volunteers ready to take part in the eco-hut build. Chatting with people, many originally from other parts of the world, yet all excited about the same thing, the weather being so sunny and lovely, I couldn't help but smile most of the day while working on different things; mixing cob, making earth plaster and carrying straw bales.

Linda working with a volunteer.

I told Linda and the rest of the group about my own eco-build plans and she was really brilliant in answering all my questions about different issues and techniques I should be considering. That's all you sometimes need to get a real morale boost, a friendly face to talk to, whose heart is in the same place as yours! I will definitely be back in North London to watch the progress and take part in this wonderful project, as in my opinion learning is best by doing and even better when done with a lovely bunch of people all pulling together just for the love of it all! :)


Strangely enough the to-be Meadow Orchard meditation and community eco-hut is very similar in design to the one I am planning, so it will really help me to visualise my cottage and understand how to best tackle the building process. So excited about stumbling on this Meadow Orchard project - a truly lovely coincidence!

Working on the Meadow Orchard Eco-Hut

Adding Earth plaster/slip onto the strawbale wall

In about a week's time I am flying home to Finland and there is a lot of sketching, research and mental preparation to be done before then. I have bought and read few more books, including Tony Wrench's 'Building a Low Impact Roundhouse' and Nigel Dunnett's 'Small Green Roofs', as well as 'The Straw Bale House' by Athena Steen. All worth a read, but I would still say that there is one book above all others: 'The Hand-Sculpted House' by Ianto Evans, which I have found most useful and inspiring out of the many books I have bought on the subject. His is a truly wonderful book, which covers not only the technical aspects of cob building but also the spiritual side of it all, including how to best respect the land and environment as well as considering the natural cycles of the Earth, all things, which for me, as a learning, spiritual entity, are really important.

Sometimes the first snow falls quite early in Southern Finland, even as early as October, which for my inner child is lovely of course but for my soil testing purposes I am hoping for a mild, nice autumnal 'digging weather' for next week. I will report back here with photos and few video clips after I return on what my excavations into the land of my childhood reveal. Until then, sweet (day)dreams! :)