We’re going into our second hempcrete construction training weekend. We have completed nearly 3 sides of the house, moving through 8.5 tons of hemp and 11 tons of lime. It is an exciting process using an old building technique in a modern way.
We’ll, it’s taken me longer than I planned and I’m learning this ‘story’ thing, but the build is going smoothly and we’re 10 days away from the hempcrete construction training. Hopefully I’ll write more later. Enjoy!
It is almost unbelievable and it is almost the most normal thing in the world. This build has been a series of juxtapositions and it is underway. We have the gravel set (mostly) and the rough in plumbing in (mostly). The plumbing will be finished tomorrow and the concrete started on Tuesday. We are having hemp hurds delivered this week and need to figure out some strong folk to help us move it into the barn.
There have been a few things I’ve been learning as I’m discovering that what seems logical to me is not really how things are done. I don’t have the whole picture even though I am trying hard to understand it all, there are just so many details. I’ve always been a wait and see what fits kind of gal, but in building I am realizing that I can’t have the attitude, many different things depend of choices I’m making. Take the bath tub for instance, I was thinking of a freestanding tub with a floor mount tap, I hadn’t purchased either or fully decided on what those would be. The night before the plumber was to come we talked over text about the tub and it turns out that the floor mount tap is not recommended for slab foundations and the tub I had chosen didn’t have any place to attach the faucet.
Through a series of misunderstandings I bought the wrong tub and spent the evening trying to figure out how to make it work and what the problem was with the faucet and the slab. I was fairly unsuccessful in discovering anything major. In the end we decided to go with a wall mount tap and will just need to add a warm wall (another thing I’ll have to look up and learn about). I didn’t even think that the plumber would need to have the bathtub specs, but it makes sense and he has to put the drain in the right place and the line to the faucets in the right place.
I am dedicated to putting in as much effort as is necessary to get this done. If that means spending the whole night focusing on bath tubs and faucets, so be it. I’m trying to anticipate these types of decisions so they are made and ready to go for the proper stage of the build, but in reality, I don’t know. I had spent a lot of time reading and watching videos on general contacting and the stages of a build, last year, but right now I am in work full swing, planning grad in a pandemic, marking exams and final projects, so I’m just doing the best that I can.
After the foundation is poured, the pool will be delivered, the materials will be ordered and the framing will start! The windows are ready and just awaiting delivery. We’ve got 3 tons of hemp hurd arriving this week and have to find some strong folk to help us unload.
We’ve also gone live on Eventbrite for our hempcrete workshops, see the previous post for more info!
Exciting times!
Covid restrictions allowing we are going to host two hempcrete construction trainings this August. I am so hoping that this can go through. It would be so wonderful to actually share time and space with people with a common focus. It would be great to be able to host a place where people can camp and relax and learn and work.
Today Theo and I went for our first swim of the summer in the pond after securing the floating dock. It will be so nice to share this space.
Eventbrite weekend 1. Eventbrite weekend 2.
We are planning for this workshop, getting some infrastructure around for bathrooms, showers, hand and dish washing stations, camping spots and planning delicious food. There’s lots of planning to do and I’m looking forward to work being over for the summer and have some
Here we are on June 5th, 2021, 3 years after I thought the house was going to go up, and now it is actually happening. It is very exciting and kind of surreal. I am sure it will feel even more surreal once it starts to take shape.
Up to this point we have:
Here we are on June 5th, 2021, 3 years after I thought the house was going to go up, and now it is actually happening. It is very exciting and kind of surreal. I am sure it will feel even more surreal once it starts to take shape.
Up to this point we have:
And now everything starts rolling. The hurry up and wait game has come to an end and now it is time to get the timeline together, figure out all of the trades, coordinate materials, services and work with finances and inspections from the West Interlake Planning District (WIPD) and the credit union. I am fortunate to have some local contractors who will be helping me figure this all out. I have all of the pieces and now I need to help them find their places in time and space.
I am finding that trusting my intuition is working very well throughout this process. I have learned to listen to the nudges I am receiving and am acting on them immediately. I am not pushing the river, but I am also not just letting it flow by. I am taking the action necessary as soon as it becomes available and it is all working out quite smoothly. I am a person who likes to have things all planned out and prepared, locked in in advance, but I am finding that that is not the process for this build. I have to be comfortable with a certain level of not knowing and uncertainty on the timing and process while still doing as much as I can and obtaining as much knowledge as possible to help things to continue to move forward. For example, I have been trying to secure funding for awhile now, but it was not happening. I had been trying to secure a timeline from the foundation folks but it was not happening. We had been reaching out to the gravel folks but had not heard back. I had been communicating with the well and septic folks and was waiting for a response. Then all in one week, the soil sample is taken, the foundation is viewed, the money is secured and the gravel is delivered. All of the pre work and preparation led to it happening smoothly and in an order that I could handle. I just have to trust it will continue to happen this way.
The emotional side of arriving at this point has been large. I am excited and happy, but the process is triggering many old hurts related to having a choice, expressing who I am, standing out, asking for things with the expectation of receiving them and so much more I don’t understand yet. I am trying to be humble to the emotions as they arise and use this opportunity to work though the next level. I have been praying to get out of the stuck and resistance I’ve been feeling, and now that the opportunity to feel is presenting itself I am trying to be open to it. I know in my mind that it will all be better if I can just surrender to the old pains and let them flow out of me, but my heart doesn’t quite believe that truth yet. So I continue to open to what I can, act where I can and feel what I can. I am hopeful it is getting me somewhere, and look, the house is starting to move from a dream to a reality. Something must be working.
I have been working hard these past months to get things ready for the build. A lot has changed and the effects of the pandemic have affected different parts of the process. Up until a week ago I thought things were going great. I had secured contractors in almost all areas, but definitely in the big ones. Last summer I connected with Dion Lefebvre of 8th Fire Innovations a hempcrete expert and builder. We have been working together towards two main purposes: building my house and raising the awareness and capacity for hemp building in Manitoba. We are planning a set of hemp construction training weekends that I will post more about once I have more information on the timelines. I have also met some local contractors who are helping me with the general contracting aspect. I have secured Interlake Formworks for the foundation and am the first project on their list once the ground is ready for concrete. So, I had solved all of the problems that arose last year that were road blocks, and then a new one arose.
Money.
One of the side effects of this pandemic is the tripling of lumber and other building costs. Another circumstance that may or may not be related to the pandemic is the woman at the local credit union I was working with is no longer there. This wouldn’t be a huge problem except the realities of banking in a small town became real to me. I did not feel that the woman who was replacing her would be working with my best interests at heart and I am not fully trusting of the privacy and service I would have had. I also had just gotten married, got a new position at work and was building a house so I decided not to add changing all of my banking to the list of changes I was undergoing. I went to my current credit union in the city who do not have the same experience in self builds nor, it seems, the supports. I will find out today if a building mortgage through them is possible. The costs from last year to this year are nearly $100K more, this is a problem.
I always knew that building this way, including hempcrete, a masonry stove, top of the line windows, and natural building techniques would be more expensive. I know this is how it works, when things are new, they are more expensive, it is harder to find people with the skills, materials that fit within the criteria, and availability of those materials, but I also know how much this world needs new possibilities for creating a more sustainable future and I want to be a part of that. Unfortunately, I am not independently wealthy. I have already had to limit my vision due to costs as natural building is not yet the norm, but I do not want to limit it further.
I am reaching out to the province, Efficiency Manitoba, to see if we qualify for a grant, but even that is a drop in the bucket, a welcome drop, but a drop nonetheless. I am feeling frustrated because I am trying to do something that will move the natural build industry forward in Manitoba while creating a beautiful home to live in and I am continually hitting road blocks. I knew this was a part of the building process, hitting road blocks, but it seems excessive!
So, as we stand now, things are in flux. I have not cancelled any contractors, the windows are being made and getting ready to ship, the finishing materials I have been collecting are growing in piles in my parents garage, the planning for the hempcrete training is underway and ready to go public once we know if we are allowed to host such a training, and the ground is almost thawed enough for the foundation to be poured. I imagine within the next two weeks we will know one way or another, if we are doing the full build, building in stages, waiting another year or ???
Until then I am trying to stay open to the emotions this is bringing up in me, looking for the lessons, seeking the truth, and trying not to push the river.
It has been a long while since my last post. I was waiting for my fairy godmother to turn one of my pumpkins into my house, alas it did not happen 🙂 I had written a post at the end of May, and it was deleted, which is probably for the better as I was still quite angry and it’s best not to post in the heat of the emotion. At the end of May when I was just about to finalize my finances and get started building, my general contractor who was also my natural build consultant, pulled out of my project. He was scared that we were in over our heads and could not afford to build my house. This sent me into a tail spin. We had been working together for 2 year on this project, from the design stage, through permitting and all the planning. This is a large part of my attraction. I have consistently drawn men (in particular) to me who commit to do things with/for me (for $ or not) and then pull out at the last minute. I have been attracting this pattern my whole life and I took that opportunity to work through some of the injury and errors within that created that attraction. I had thought I had worked through it already, but there was still more, and I feel that there is still more, just different flavors.
I spent the next month researching to see if I could be the general contractor. Since I was almost starting at square one I had a lot to learn. I had already received some quotes for some work, and I had the projected budget from my former contractor to work with. He did not send me any of the quotes that he had received nor did I ask. I was too hurt by his decision to drop me and the project. I researched and researched, read and read, I made spread sheets and I contacted contractors, I researched what types of products I wanted in my home, what timelines to expect, what costs to expect. I focused a lot of energy in learning and every thing I learned showed me how much I did not know. Each tiny aspect of building a house is a rabbit hole to fall in, especially if, like me you are searching for the most natural, gentle and environmentally friendly way. There are not many contractors who take those things into consideration, price and then functionality seem to be the only variables. Both of those are extremely important, but not the only things to consider. I received a lot of different quotes from a lot of different contractors, trying to bring business to my area, and was surprised how hard it was to find someone who would #1 general contract, or #2, just be available to discuss the quote they gave me. I was talking with one contractor here who would help me to arrange the build and connect me with contractors, but no one would do the foundation work, and at that point I had not yet found someone who would be my hempcrete expert. I found a fella willing to try to work with hempcrete, but he was not dedicated to doing it as a business or really engage in the detailed discussion of what it would take to actually make the house.
I continued to research, contact and ask questions and they kept leading to dead ends in the overall construction aspect, but I did start making some great discoveries, the best of which at the time was my windows. I found this Manitoba company based out of Morden called Access Windows. They have created this amazing window system using aerospace technology, designed to allow heat in in the winter and keep it out in the summer, as well as meeting or exceeding all environmental standards. They are really amazing. I went to check them out and the depth of knowledge and passion for the product the consultant had was amazing! I left there feeling high on life and even more passionate about purchasing these amazing windows for my home. They were also almost $20,000 less than the local hardware store quoted.
The next great discovery I made, after realizing that I had the tools of social media to help me find a hempcrete contractor, was Dion LeFevber of 8th Fire Innovations! We have just started to talk about what his involvement will look like, but it is looking like we will be hosting hempcrete building workshops so we can share his expertise with Manitobans, find a willing work force, and build one of the first full hempcrete homes in Manitoba. It is all very exciting.
Through my journey I realized, after a friend pointed it out to me, that I not only wanted to build myself this amazing home, I genuinely wanted to help move natural building forward in Manitoba. If I were to work so hard to make this home happen, then no one would really want to follow in my footsteps. I feel very strongly that I need to break the path and leave tools on the way so others can learn from my experiences and hempcrete can become a viable building material in Manitoba. For this, we need access to hemp, to people who have the skills and desire to learn, to people who can bridge the gap between traditional building and natural building merging the best of both worlds and we need to have viable examples living in our extreme temperatures. Hemp is such an amazing plant, the benefits of building with it far outweigh the costs, many of which people are innovating ways to reduce as we speak. I discovered through this process that I had been relying too heavily on my original contractor to know it all and hold all of the information. I learned that I need to know it all, I need to hold all the information. I need to be an expert in my home and be able to speak to it, share it and know what I am talking about.
I continued to follow leads, talk to contractors, credit unions and hardware stores to see if it was possible to build before the frost. As it turns out it was not, not without a lot of pushing the river and forcing things to go. I know from experience there is a time and a place for things to occur, if I try to push it, it will not turn out for the best. In fact, it usually costs so much more in time, energy and money and doesn’t turn out the way I wanted. So, I settled in for another season or two before building could start.
After I had secured my hempcrete expert and determined that I was waiting until spring to build, I let the energy I had been putting into this build subside. I knew it was going to happen, but I also knew that a few things had to happen within me first. I did not want to put any thought, planning, seeking or energy into it. This lasted for almost 2 months, and today, it changed! I am happy to feel the motivation and desire again to get this project moving. I have a lot of plans for what I want to do between now and the build and I am so happy to have the desire to focus more on it. I will be putting a post in “my spiritual journey” soon, that explores the changes in me that lead to the return of my desire and those that are yet to come.
Thanks for your interest in my journey. I hope to be posting more and more wonderful things to come!
So, the land is cleared, flat and ready for my house to go on top of in the spring. We’ve had a drought here in the Interlake up until a week ago so I was getting a little scared that the land would not settle as it should. It needs rain to help compress it, fill in the cracks, allow the clay to merge with the sand and so forth. Then it needs snow to weigh it down and compress it further. It has rained here quite a bit in the last week and it looks like we will have some more, so that is a good thing. My grass and fields are green for the first time all summer. It is also a good thing to help fill up my pond.
My wild pond (right now, a hole in the earth filling up with green water, surrounded by clay and sand) is starting to take shape. It is about 75′ x 110′ and 16′ deep at its deepest. It is smaller than I originally wanted it to be, but it is quite large and lovely. I have decided to fill it in with my hose and water from the well. I am still not sure if that is an ecological choice. I am pulling a lot of water from the ground, but I am making it accessible for all the critters and perhaps the land or plants in some way. It is my hope that it will add to the bounty of the ecosystem and be a benefit for all. My fear is that I am being selfish and ‘wasting’ water because I want a pond.
It is my hope that the pond becomes a home for a thriving ecosystem, that it creates a place for many different species of all forms and sizes of life to live in balance. I am not sure how much ‘planning’ I am going to do with it. I am torn between having to undo some of the effects of the more harmful invasive species and allowing it the time it needs and the natural processes it needs to create a healthy system. I realize that nature can work slowly (if the desired end is beauty and production) as the plants that recover the earth are usually considered weeds and that process takes some time. I did spread some bull rush seeds around the outside and I’ve ordered some pollinator friendly ‘lawn’ seeds to spread on the banks, my ‘lawn’ and my new hill.
There are a lot of beautiful pond flora that I can introduce, but I am not sure how heavy handed I want to be. There is a balance between the amount of energy I want to output and the benefits to the environment. I can go around next summer (if we are not in a drought again) and collect water plants from the area and transplant them in my pond. I am not sure yet of what I want to incorporate and why. I like the idea of weekay growing, but I am not sure. I will be spending some time this winter planning this.
I am assuming that most of my time and energy will go towards building, decorating and planning the house as soon as the build starts in the spring so I’d like to have some of the planning for the pond done by that time.
In the meantime, my dad and I built a ramp from rock and patio stone so swimming can happen (top right of photo). The water should be 3 feet deep there when full. I’m not that hopeful that I’ll get swimming this fall as it is very chilly right now, but at least it will be possible. The earth is very thick clay and sand. When we were building the ramp we got stuck in the muck a lot! I figured that before the ramp if we wanted to swim, getting out would be something akin to mud wrestling 🙂 The future hope is a floating dock with a ladder, but for now, this will work!
Right now, I am enjoying watching the water (which I can finally see from my current house). Sitting on the boulders placed around the pond, listening to nature, watching the birds discover it, seeing the clear green water, being enticed to go in, until I touch it and feel how cold it is 🙂 and just soaking in the process.
Next time I will write about the well decision I’ve made and hopefully have something concrete to share.
Wow, what a process, I had no idea what this all entailed. My new friend (as he has been here for 4 days straight 9 hours a day) has been pushing around dirt, digging up clay and building up the site. I had no idea that I would get a hill out of the bargain, and I am thrilled about that. He has been using his dozer and excavator to clear the site and then he started pushing all of the overburden into the hill.
It wonderful to see it take shape. I did not know that the land there is so rocky, he is pulling out huge boulders which makes me happy. I am going to have a boulder pile and then I can move them around later once my landscape starts to take shape. I’m thinking of sitting boulders by the pond and boulders in the middle of the turn around in the driveway, who knows, the possibilities are endless!
Here is a pic of the land this morning being worked by 2 machines at once!
More to come . . .
Here’s a shot of my land before any transformation, my neighbour is removing the fence posts and barbed wire from the bush so it is ready for when the excavators arrived.
For the past two days I’ve been watching and listening to heavy machinery changing my landscape, from clearing out all the old trees to pushing all the top soil away. It is such a fascinating process, one that has shaken me up more than I thought it would have. Yesterday morning I was woken up by the sound of heavy machinery in my yard, an excavator to be exact. I was excited that it has actually begun, the first real step to committing my land to being the site of my new home. Yes, I have had a lot of steps to get to this place, but this is the first physical transformation, up until now it has been ideas and drawings and seals. Now it feels real and real is scaring the shit out of me. I know that this process of building my home is a tangible expression of me stepping into myself, of being the me I want to be and not just the one who is acting out of old limiting beliefs and emotional injuries. The cool thing about the law of attraction is it works to bring forward those feelings that are holding me back. In this case, the reality of the land being stripped triggered feelings of my own vulnerability and the reality that if I am to be the person I want to be, I too have to strip away the layers and discover my true self.
I didn’t realize until now the beautiful metaphor of that. As the land is brought down to the hard pan, the trees, the grasses, the wildlife and all that grew and lived on it had to be removed, just like all the protections I had built around myself have to be removed. Like the land, I have to make space for my new home. One which I can then add back what I loved and design with intent instead of reaction or neglect. I am opening to the resistance I have to even open to the emotions trapped inside. The resistance of course is fear. So, I’ve been opening to the fear, then a little of the emotion will surface which I can then feel and release. It feels as huge and transformative as the land-works. I just don’t yet know the emotional equivalent of an excavator 🙂
The first day I took a lot of videos of the trees coming down, it made a huge difference. I have been taking a lot of pictures and want to make sure this transformation is well documented. I am excited to see how everything rises out of this new start. I was very concerned with wildlife that would be forced to relocate, if they made it out in time. However, I am hopeful that they will build new homes in the surrounding forest. I still saw so many birds and bugs exploring the new landscape.
As a result of this massive transformation, I now have a pile of wood to be cut for my wood stove, a pile of bush, soil and tree parts and a pit to bury some old farm waste that had been rotting above ground since I moved in. I am excited that a part of this process has also been cleaning up the land. I am getting my metal piles removed. The junk piles are getting buried, an old rotting shed has been put in the pit. So much that I have needed to get done is getting done! It is very exciting and another reinforcement of the law of attraction. At one point I only attracted people who did not follow through on what they were going to do whether they were paid labor or not. Now, after working through some of the emotions around that I am attracting people who will and do follow through. So great!
Today the squeaking bulldozer has been pushing the top soil off and building a hill. At first I didn’t like it obstructing my view, but now that it is forming, it is pretty cool to have a hill in the prairies, it will add interest and diversity to my land.
Tomorrow, he will be building up the whole site to be equal to the driveway, so that is putting down about 1 foot of clay. Then the house pad will be built on top of that.
Cultivation Peace 