Alternative Building

The practical lessons of the Green Apprenticeship program have so far focused on two different areas of sustainable living: organic gardening and alternative building. Prior to my arrival in Lotan, I didn't know much about building with mud and junk--the meaning or process or theory or practice. In the last week I've grown to really, really love both the theoretical and practical elements of this work! There is something incredibly satisfying about using available resources, and materials that would otherwise be dumped, to construct something functional and significant.

My group has been working on building a little bit in the "Bustan," which is a new neighborhood in the kibbutz. When the construction there is finished, my group will move to the Bustan and live in mud domes and use composting toilets and share a communal kitchen...and everything creating and upholding that living space will be rooted in the core of this program and its lessons. For now, while the neighborhood is still under construction, we're building two spots for future conversation and relaxation: benches built from mud and tires and sand and junk under the shade of a lovely tree.

Here are some photos from the building:

Katie and Efrat trimming the tree that will provide shade for the benches:


Rolling the tires over to the area where the benches will be:


Drawing up designs for the placement of the two benches:


We had to make sure the tires were level on the ground, and then we began filling these tires with sand (the other bench's tires were filled with junk):


Here I'm tucking the sand into the tire to make it sturdy. You can see behind they're checking the level of that tire:


This is the bench filled with junk. Yaara was helping me jump to push down the materials! (photo from Katie):


By the end of that day, we'd filled all the tires of the two benches. The second day, we made concrete and built a small wall of stones around the edges of the tires. The concrete held the stones in place before we began applying coats of mud over the tires. I really enjoyed making the concrete mix and mud mix! Here I am with Yaara working on the little wall:


We made two different coats of mud and began covering all the tires and gaps between tires. Over the weekend, the mud is drying, and next week we'll apply the final coats. It is so rewarding and fun to build with this stuff!

I loved walking from those sun-soaked morning hours to the dining hall for lunch with mud in my hair, on my face, arms, hands, clothes.

Happy New Year!

love,
Sheer