Details on the Mud House

I have been wanting to find the time and energy to sit and write about the current Natural Building project that I'm involved in for the last month and a half here in Thermal, California.

the roof structure

Here at the Flying Disc Ranch, Eric Lower and myself have been working long hours building this small but really stylish duplex house with lofts. We began by measuring, squaring the foundations, that here in the desert only needed to be 2 feet deep. After pouring the cement for each of them we were ready to start building the self-sustaining roof/loft structure. It consisted of 6x6 poles and 6x12 beams with 2x8 rafters.

me and mud

When the roof was set in place we started with the walls, this is were the fun part comes in. Working with mud is really enjoyable and make you feel good because it is full of Negative Ions :-)

Natural Building is based on building houses out of local and natural material and as much as possible staying away form manufactured and chemical material. Of course, especially when it comes to building according to municipal codes, some times you have to use a little cement or other manufactured materials... So here is a list of some of the main material being used and where they came from.
> Lumber - a local family owned supplier
> Sand and Clay - right of the foot of the mountain here in the Coachella Valley
> StrawBales - from El Centro south of the Salten Sea
> Palm Laths and Frowns - from our Date Palms

Straw bale wall with electrical

The centre wall that divides the two separate living areas, we made it out of strawbales for its great sound proofing properties. For the East wall we made it out of laths, otherwise known as the French Technique, all of the laths were cut from the centre of palm leafs and the fiber for the mud mix of that wall was palm frowns also from the farm.

French Technique or "Quincha"

The North and East walls of the North Unit, we decided to use the technique of "Paja Encofrada" or Compressed Straw. It is a fast and easy way to put up a wall by wetting lose straw with pure clay slip, like a salad dressing. Mix it up till every straw is moistened by clay slip, then compress it into the frame of the wall (supported temporarily by plywood on either side). Beside it being fast and easy to build, it also has great thermal and sound proofing properties.

we have started to put on the first coat of
mud on the bottom half

To all these walls there will be at least 3 coats of mud before it is finished. The site is rapidly changing every day especially now that we have another worker, Adolfo helping everyday. If any of you take interest in getting your hands muddy feel free to contact me and come down to have some fun with Negative Ions.

Do check out the link below as it contain photos from all phases of the project.

Click here to view a slide show of the Building Site

Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

Work & Play in the Desert

It has been almost one month that I have been living and working here at The Flying Disc Ranch. I decided to stick around because we are building a house of natural construction material (mud, sand and straw) we will use different techniques and explore them in different parts of the house. For now we are building the self-sustaining roof structure.

We have been working about 50 hours a week and take Sundays off, go somewhere nice... We visited the Dos Palmas Oasis and The Joshua Tree, both were really incredible places.

Joshua Tree


Eric and I, up high on a rock


Dos Palmas Oasis


Dos Palmas Oasis


Oasis Video

I'm waiting till April to find out if I get accepted to do a 14 week, Permaculture Internship at the Lama Fondation in New Mexico. It would be an spectacular experience!

Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

Over the mountains into the desert...

I left Escondido late on Tuesday morning and as I cycled eastbound I saw the time ticking and the sun almost on the horizon. I still had another 20 miles to go, so started to stick my thumb out on the road every time a truck drove by. Soon after I got picked up by Joane who took me into Borrego Springs, a little cozy town that sits right in the middle of Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Joane took me to her friend Dana's place who offered me the guest room, that night I was cozy and comfortable indoors. Thank you.

desert flowers

The next morning, I was up and about and hit the road by 9hr. Had a wonderful 30 mile ride with the wind on my back thus making for great average speed of 17m/27km per hour...

Riding through the State Park video

When I reached HWY 86 at the bottom of the valley, was when I started to fear for my life. It was a busy HWY with decent shoulder lane but now the wind that was once on my back, was now swiftly pushing me off the road and to maintain myself on it I had to work very hard tilting myself toward the traffic... imagine that for a minute... now just add the big 18 wheeler trucks zooming past me at great speeds. With in a split second I had to counter balance the vacuum suction pulling me into the road...
There were no service roads to be found and I cycled about half an hour with a few close calls.

Perfect spot for your RV...

I'm glad I have a responsible side that decided to hitch a ride. Shortly there after I got picked up by these Canadian, Al & Beulah. Had a friendly conversation and they decided to drop me off at the Flying Disc Ranch.

Anza Borrego Desert

thanks for reading... stay tuned...

Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

hiding in Escondido...

Riding into Escondido

This weekend I spent in Escondido. I cycled there from San Diego. and had a great ride. I'm really glad that this weekend I got to go to the San Diego Wild Animal Park and on Sunday I got to do laundry and organize all my thing gear...

Look closely at this savanah... there are rinos and girafes on the fields

Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)