Cambia has been documenting their strawbale construction project on Instagram. Here is the step by step process of putting in the central beam for the roof. Part One of this story is here, documenting the beginning of the project.
I will post Part Three (a work party) on Friday, but first, a new video.
Cambia is this lovely, quirky little commune in Louisa, VA, very near Twin Oaks. Recently they started a strawbale building project which they are documenting on Instagram. Here’s the first set of pictures. I will have more on Monday.
This is a continuation of yesterday’s post chronicling Living Energy Farm’s adventures as they went out to Arizona to install their solar systems on Navajo and Hopi reservations. Yesterday focused on the trip there–which was trickier than they expected. Today’s post focuses on the actual installations, which went very well.
On the Commune Life Facebook page, I wrote: “LEF finally is able to get to work. Here’s the first report with pictures:”
And here it is:
“In between installations, the LEF crew has time to post a Navajo joke:”
“And on to the second installation:”
“LEF goes on an installation binge–five installations in one day. Here’s some pictures and a story:”
“And here’s the story behind installation number five:”
“And here is the final post in Living Energy Farm’s saga of their road trip to Arizona to bring solar power to native folks there:”
Tomorrow, another question: “Art in Community–Is it a luxury or a necessity?”
Meanwhile, at Twin Oaks, the treatment of the wastewater from their tofu factory was (and to some degree, even now, is) an ongoing saga.
All I wrote on our Facebook page was: ‘Here’s the latest on the Twin Oaks wastewater system:’
Here’s what they put on the Twin Oaks Facebook page: ‘TOFU WASTEWATER PROJECT. In this development there are 3 ponds, 2 big tanks, a storage building made from a shipping container, etc. Work on the project is nearing completion.
‘Tofu whey and wastewater will be processed here before land application. The whey is mostly liquid. Treatment here will involve raising the pH and reducing the organic content using aeration. The treated end-product will then be land applied when conditions are right for that or will be dispersed in an underground high-performance leach field when land conditions require.’
Meanwhile, moving over to Twin Oaks.
Here’s what I wrote on the Commune Life Facebook page: ‘At Twin Oaks, the work is repairing the roofs. Here’s three Oakers doing the work:’
And here’s what Twin Oaks put on the original Facebook post:
This is another post from back in February (in a sense, it is a repost of a repost). While there has been a lot of focus on Twin Oaks problems with waste water, East Wind has been dealing with waste water as well.
When I posted it on Facebook in February, here is what I wrote: ‘Big communities like East Wind and Twin Oaks are like little towns. Important things like grey water systems need to be overhauled from time to time. Here’s a picture from the new leech field that East Wind just put in:’
And here is their original Facebook post:
by Raven East Brook
When I was down at Twin Oaks for the Social Technology Conference and the FEC Assembly, I couldn’t help but be aware of the work that was going on creating a drainfield for the tofu wastewater.
This is hopefully the ending phase of a five year upgrade to Twin Oaks’ tofu factory. This post contains some pictures that I snapped while I was at the community as well as some that are taken from the Twin Oaks Facebook page.
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First published on the East Wind Community YouTube channel January 23, 2018
Check out http://eastwind.org/ to learn about various DIY projects (agricultural, building, etc) and the income sharing social experiment that is East Wind Community.
Best seen in 720p! First time lapse experiment. Two days of work on the showerhouse back to back in August of 2017.
Created and originally posted by Sumner.
from the Commune Life facebook page:
Upgrades to Twin Oaks Community Foods tofu factory have been going on for over five years. There have been many hiccups along the way, but the project is finally reaching its conclusion. One of the major roadblocks this year has been the surprise need for a more robust wastewater management facility. Construction is just beginning on this critical piece.
