La Calera La Calera is what remains of a Lime Kiln in use some 70 years ago. Because of its placement, to the left of the sweat lodge (in the spiritual center of the Valle) our objective is to turn it into a tiny abode for napping and other acts of giving in to serenity. To begin, I leveled a 40cm edge around the top, sloping to the back side to help the water drain away from the structure. Once we chose the logs (lying in waiting) for our roof beams, we set to stripping them of their bark. Peter is using a tool for this purpose; Sol (from Chile) is finishing the job with a curved machete. One of the logs had worms, so Peter set a torch to it - which seemed to work. Other tech- niques would be treating the logs to a 3 day Boric acid bath, or a paint... Before putting the roof beams in place, we stacked a few, largish flat stones – also sloped to the back for water drainage – beneath their rear ends. The front end of one is held is perfect position by the crook of the olive tree in front; the second rests nicely on top of the first. The door “lintel” went up next, held in place by straps for now. After finding the level at which we wanted the base of our door, we dug in one very large stone on each side and leveled them to each other. After taking the measurements from top to bottom on both sides: we cut logs to length, cut 4 cm tongues at the top of each, marked their placement on the lintel, then took the lintel down to chisel in the grooves. With the three pieces together, we erected the door frame back into place. The ground here is already a perfect mixture of dirt and clay for cob. Too many rocks, sure, but small enough so that we didn’t bother sifting them out. We mixed several wheel- barrow loads in la calera itself: keeping the dirt to one side, we filled the other side with water, then added a few shovels at a time while we stomped, danced, and mixed with our feet. Achim’s philosophy, and now mine, is that it’s much more enjoyable to mix wet, then put it all in a pile for a day or two to expire some of its moisture. Achim explains his cob technique... The glass he refers to in the end will showcase the baked earth from La Calera’s time of use. Using this technique, begin the next day by tamping down the horizontal course thrown the day before, on the top and on the sides (we used a rubber mallet for the sides); then, also, water it. Throw on your next course. Naked if you like. Putting in a window is just that easy with cob; you don’t really need a frame. Now that everyone else is gone, I’m finishing the walls on my own... Yeaaa! That’s it, for me anyway. At some point in the future the roof will be completed: the rafter coming across the middle (that you can kind of see in this picture) will be moved a bit more to the center, then two more added. These will be secured with nails or a screwed-wood sandwich. Caña will laid across these, then a layer of black plastic, then earth. A green roof not only provides excellent insulation, but also good cover from building code radars. Natural Building: Abroad Friday, May 30, 2008