Last Notes from the Doighouse

It is Labor Day weekend, and the maple trees are shedding their yellowing leaves. Summer has packed up and left us for Fall to take over. As the season is wrapping up, the volunteers at the Doighouse Earthship build are also taking down their tents. The melancholic feeling is all encompassing, though it’s far from sad. In fact, we can look back at an incredible few months of building, planting, organizing, and not lastly sharing many wonderful moments. At the same time, it’s impossible the ignore the sensation of the end of an era, especially when someone pounds their shredded boots (gotten for the Earthship Academy four years ago) into a tire, while humming a funeral dirge.

Progress on the Tire Wall

A couple of weeks ago I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but by now we can safely say: the tire wall is about half-way finished. Out of the eleven courses (including two for foundation) we have completed five and a half. This totals 386 tires that have been collected, sorted, laid out, filled, pounded, and leveled. As impressive as this may sound (really, not that much), it is dwarfed by the work that went into moving dirt for backfilling, gluing and taping the vapor barrier, laying out the insulation, assembling the drainage system, and preparing the concrete pour of the footings, including milling the lumber for the forms. Still, all this work combined is less than the immense logistical support to satisfy the necessities of supporting us all: all the food we ate, all the cooking, the cleaning, the gardening, the watering, and social networking that made this productive year possible.

So yes, looking back, it becomes apparent how much energy went into making this build possible. Sure, it would have been amazing to get a roof on the structure by September, as I originally hoped. We might have had a shot at it, had it not been for the slow moving cogs of the legal machine. Nevertheless, I believe we’ve done amazingly well. And given the current state of the build, it should be no problem to get to that stage by this time next year.

Not Over Yet

Granted, I’m writing from my own perspective of leaving, while the year has not completely ended yet. There remain many things to be done: First of all, the sixth course should be finished, just because. Then, the entire building site needs to be prepared for the heavy rains of the winter months. So while me and all other long-term volunteers are taking off within the next weeks, Tony is going to be busy on this important task. Fortunately, there have been people expressing their interest in helping out. As for me, I have no doubt that with the continuation of the same attitude there should be no reason to worry. And next year, I’m excited to share more news about this exciting build coming into its most interesting stages.

In case you've become interested in visiting or maybe helping out at the Doighouse this year, it's not too late. Please check the contact info below!

For now, let me close with a few random pics of around the property.

If you like this project, please visit the other posts I have published in my Doighouse Series:

If you're interested in coming to visit, or better volunteer for a while, please contact Susanmdoig@gmail.com and visit http://thedoighouse.com/ Looking forward to getting to know you!