greenspree.ca at The Sietch

The straw bales have gone in! Well most of them anyways. We had a great three days of weather and productive hard work this long weekend and almost all the bales are installed! As suspected the bales that needed to be cut and small areas requiring custom bales of stuffed flakes were the most tim consuming taking up the lion’s share of the time. We learned a lot and gained insight into how we could make the process easier if we do this again in the future!Tying the bales wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had thought it might have been. I’ll post some photos of how we tied knots later when i have more time. Also, chainsaws and bales are made for each other! I was sculpting bales with notches and grooves with my chainsaw with little deformation of the bales integrity. It’s all in knowing where to tie new strings and how to handle the cut bales.

Throughout this week we will be trying to get one wall ready for plaster and then continue the process around the building. So windows, trims, flashings, etc.. are next then spraying on the clay slip, hopefully all this weekend. We are going to have to look at getting temporary heat as this process has started way later than we wouild have liked. It may mean more tarps and perhaps temporary wall framing outside the building. I don’t like the thought of having to do it but reality is a harsh teacher!

Hopefully we’ll get as much help this weekend as we did last weekend! See you there!