Tomorrow my husband and I are scheduled to close a real estate transaction
and become the proud new owners of a parking lot. Well, former parking lot.
As part of the deal, we requested that the gravel and cement be removed and
a tall fence with barbed wire and razor wire be torn down. This plot is one
hundred by one hundred feet square and will be the biggest garden I've ever
had.
Part of the site's appeal was that it was so ugly. In the past my husband
and I have transformed an asphalt parking lot, cement driveway, and gravel
garage floor into garden, so that part isn't too intimidating to me. This
will be the third permaculture-style garden I have been involved in
designing and implementing. I love to take abused land and restore it to
healthy ecosystem. Yes, it is a very small part of our mistreated planet,
but I hope what I'm doing will inspire others to do similar restoration to
their own small plots of land.
The scary part to me is the rest of the vision: to build a small cottage
and a sustainable lifestyle. I want to demonstrate to myself and to others
that one can live gently on the planet even if one lives in a large city
(Portland, Oregon in this case). This is the part where I need knowledge
and skills that I have not yet acquired, and I would appreciate all the info
and support you all can give me.
My first building project will probably be a small shed. The city building
permit office tells me I can build one without a permit if it is not more
than 10 feet tall and has a footprint of not more than 120 square feet. I
am considering either cob or straw bales for this project, but have never
participated in either technique before. I have read Becky Bee's "The Cob
Builder's Handbook", "the Straw Bale House" by Steen et al., and "Straw Bale
Building" by Chris Magwood and Peter Mack.
After the shed is built, I want to build the cottage and am exploring the
idea of straw bales for that. My chief concern is getting the city to
approve a load-bearing straw bale structure. Another possibility is a
timber-framed structure of re-used timbers. There is a company in Oregon
that builds these and their engineer can make the code people happy. The
problem is that this company has not worked with straw bale in-fill and does
not know how to go about it. Also, it would cost a lot more than using
load-bearing walls.
Comments? Suggestions? Web sites? Other resources?
Carol (and Angel)
