Labor Day Weekend- Sept 4th through 9th- Deviation to an Earthbag concept

This weekend, I had a choice in climbing up one of the 14er's near Aspen, going to Guatamala to summit an active volcano (Fuego), or working on my summer project up in WYoming. Guess where I decided to hang out! Isn't that would you would have done???


It was another great weather weekend up in WY. I got up around 2PM on Saturday and started working on stabilizing the walls with an earthbag process. Instead of buying the polypropylene or burlap bags, a landscaping supplier (http://www.weedbarrier.com/) sold me a woven landscaping cloth. 15' X 360' of it as a matter of fact -figuring this will get me further than buying 1000 earth/sand bags at a time. So far, the process is working out well. I'm mixing approximately (5-5-1) 5 shovels full of dirt, 5 - gravel and 1 - portland cement. Once it's all mixed (dry), you shovel it into the cloth (of varying lengths) and fold it over. From here, you flip the open side over, facing the ground - wet it down, place and shape it, then tamp it down to set it.

I was able to complete almost half of the pit (back wall and foot space) within a day and a half. Monday I was hoping to get further but the weather kept me from working. The windy Wyoming weather lived up to its reputation. WELCOME TO WINDY WYOMING - HOME OF THE TUMBLE WEED, TUMBLE RABBIT, TUMBLE COW, TUMBLE TREE, TUMBLE HOUSE .... - The weather was supposed to reach 60 degrees and it might have been, but the wind chill was bitter and obnoxious. My hands were numb from walking across a small portion of the property at 9AM. I decided to head back to Denver and hang out with some folks visiting - one friend from high school (leaving Tuesday) and my cousin (leaving Thursday or Friday).

I've included a pix of some of the tiles I've collected over the past few years. These will soon have a home within the seating area of the firepit and possibly other places, if people decide to put them elsewhere. There are piles of other items I hope to incorporate within the walls. If you have some things that you'd be willing to donate to the pit, drop them by. I'd love some unique things - like dinosaur bones, fossils, shells, plastic molds to make cool designs, anasazi anything - well you get the idea. And the list goes on!

For fun, I've included a picture of my neighbor's project. I might have mentioned that I have some copycat neighbors. When they saw what I was doing, they dug a pit for themselves the following week. We are now in a competition to see who can finish first. We both started this weekend and we'll see who wins. It might be them since they can work on it every day. They've chosen to go the more traditional (pouring concrete) way. I'm afraid to tell them anything more - what else will they copy? hee hee

Once the stabilization of the walls has been completed, stucco or a concrete layer will cover the earthen walls and will be the base for the final mosaic finish. More to come. Have a great week.