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                         a   S T A M M E R  project              

2009 May 9 & 10, Saturday & Sunday

A moving weekend: the idea (from my carpentry 'teacher') was to move the strawbale walls to their original vertical position with the help of a lever operated hoist (a second hand 'Tractel'). This hoist was connected at its two ends with cables that were fixed at the base of some favourably positioned almond trees. The 40m long  cable ran around the house and some strong boards were installed against the south-west wall to protect and distribute the force over a bigger area.

The lever operated hoist with a yellow cable (from the car) connected to an almond tree and an 8mm steel cable going round the house.
Saturday 16:41

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The operation was a bigger success than we dared to expect. After a first session on Saturday, the north-west wall stood almost completely vertical. We waited for Sunday for a second session to give the bales time to settle and not overcharge the hoist.  On Sunday, after a few strokes with the hoist, this wall was perfectly vertical.
Even the box for the door opening regained almost completely its original rectangular form.

The next weekends we are going to consolidate the recovered state with three supporting posts under the roof overhang to form a kind of porch. For posts we are going to use some trunks of Portuguese oak.

South eastern part of the house, with the cables in position.
Sunday 9:08

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The roof must have moved almost exclusively along the horizontal plane during the operation because the chimney stayed miraculously vertical. But it is not impossible that this will change when the bales of the northern wall compress more during the coming days, especially because of the heavy stones that I placed on this part of the roof.

The vegetation of the roof is growing nicely. The Sedum species are thriving and so do the less desired barley seedlings of the bale flakes. These flakes perform two important functions during the initial stage of the green roof: maintaining humidity in the thin soil layer (of 6 cm) and avoiding erosion by heavy rain storms. I suppose I will take the straw away after the summer.

After the operation.
Looking east.
Saturday 9:16

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Some unexpected visitors this weekend. Ten thousands of them, scaring the hell out of Blanca when she was sunbathing and saw a black cloud hovering above her and making the sound of an approaching wave of water. They settled 25m away from her in a Dogwood shrub in the centre of the terrain, where they formed a hanging lump. I am talking about bees of course. They seem to have the desire to stay and form a nest and we'd better get used to these new neighbours. Bees are getting alarmingly rare in some areas and they are almost irreplaceable when it comes to the pollination of the flowers of fruit trees. Apart from these more altruistic considerations, perhaps we will be able to squeeze some honey from these creatures..

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The pond was again the scene of the endless rivalry of two or three Broad-bodied Chasers (Libellula depressa). We even witnessed the in-flight copulation of a male and a golden-coloured female. An agitated spectacle which I was unable to photograph.
I was more lucky with a creature that took us a while to identify as a young  Ocellated Lizard (Timon lepidus). Its blue and green spots are much more defined than that of an adult.

After some years of wondering about the fate of so many tadpoles of the Natterjacks (Epidalea calamita ), we finally detected a tiny little toad on the pond shore.

Young Ocellated Lizard hiding on the shore of the superior pond.
Sunday 13:39

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Of the plants, the flowers of the Yellow flag (Iris pseudacorus) are stealing the show in the ponds.

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In the lower pond plant life concentrates on the border just behind the EPDM liner, thereby also effectively hiding this ugly black sheet from view. Cynoglossum creticum has formed an impressive plant there. 

introduction
floristic catalogue
faunistic catalogue
contact
index
gallery 1: 2006-2012
gallery 2: 2012-
map
>> 2009 May 16
<< 2009 May  1