Heat Wave? What Heat Wave?!

Up here in NW Ontario we're never sure if summer's actually here. Winters are crazy long and cold, and it's been known to snow on some Canada Days. But this time there's no doubt about it. The heat wave we've been having lately leaves little room for thoughts of snow, although this stifling heat almost makes you wish for some of the white stuff.

It's just too darn hot to do anything other than trying to keep cool. Stay in the shade, go to a beach, eat ice cream. Crank up that air conditioner and try not to think about your next Hydro bill, not to mention your carbon footprint.

As for us, we stay inside and enjoy our built-in "air conditioner": plenty of heat-absorbing thermal mass, 3-feet overhangs that keep direct sunlight out and especially the thick, super-insulating straw bale walls keep the indoor temps at a very pleasant 20C to 21C. Costing us not one penny.

Outside: pushing 35C.  Inside: a cool 20C - without air conditioning

Yup, life here is good - as long as we don't have to go out and do stuff. Hmm, but the grass needs cutting, there's still lots of firewood to be split and stacked, and the gardens need watering... Guess we'll have a cool one first, though!

Snow And Straw

Let it snow, let it snow, I wrote last week. Be careful what you wish for, they say. Well, we did get lots more snow (yay!) - and had to cancel our informal get-together that was planned for Sunday afternoon (boo!).
We had been asked to host an afternoon with 2 folks who work in North Japan on local social and ecological issues for the United Church of Canada and were looking forward to meet them, together with a few good friends. Well, thick heavy snow prevented it from happening. That's how it can go in this neck of the woods; we like to think we're in control of what happens, but really we aren't. Oh well, another lesson learned.

Fortunately our straw bale presentation at renowned architectural firm Kuch Stephenson Gibson Malo went ahead as planned, last Friday. "Kuch", as the firm is affectionately called here in Thunder Bay, specializes in buildings that make more sense environmentally; they have been asked to work on an exciting new straw bale project in the town of Red Rock, not too far from here. We thoroughly enjoyed being invited at "Kuch's" and talking to the open-minded folks there.

The ambitious project is to build a 4000 square feet multi-purpose straw bale building on the rejuvenated harbour front, facing the lake. The challenge will be to make it as environmentally friendly as possible within the serious restrictions of a public space.
Kudos to the Red Rock city council for having this vision, the stamina to stick with it and for getting the complex financing in place! It's now in "Kuch's" capable hands to come up with a proposal that will satisfy the many complex and opposing demands, not an easy task. But having met them we now feel if anyone can pull it off it's them.

Plastered Again!

It's been a long time coming, but our straw bale guest house finally got its second plaster coat, just in time for winter! A dedicated crew under the guidance of master plasterer Dan worked for a full day getting the job done, inside and out.

A big shout-out to Mark who helped out with, well, just about everything, Kelsey who effortlessly out-plastered the guys, Jacomyn who tirelessly worked the noisy paddle mixer, and your humble narrator who was just happy to survive the day intact.

There aren't many straw bale homes around here (although the number is growing!), let alone straw bale guest houses. Once this one's finished it will be available year-round: nice and cool during the hot summer months, warm and cozy during our stone cold winters. It's got a great location overlooking the beaver pond (if you're quiet you can see the beavers at work) with lots of privacy, yet close enough to the main building should you need anything.

Now we can move on to finishing the place and make it into the coolest-ever guest house that we have in mind. All that's left now is to put in the ceiling and insulation, put in soffits and facias, finish the floor, build a small kitchen, two bunk beds and a table, put in a woodstove, install a basic solar electric and hot water system... Hmm, don't call us for any guest house bookings just yet, it may be another year or so.

Snug As A Bug In A Straw Rug

A nice, sunny Sunday morning. It's 9:00 a.m. I waddle over to check the outdoor thermometer - and don't need my wake-up coffee anymore. Ouch: -34C... And judging by the wind turbine there's also a stiff breeze. Hmm, better stay inside till it warms up a bit!

Inside the fire's not on yet, still it's a relatively comfy +16C. Not bad, considering we stopped feeding the fire around 10:30 pm the night before, and we're keeping the house at 18-19C during the day. In other words, no heat for about 10 hours straight, as the outside temperature dropped - and dropped.

So in case you had any doubts about the effectiveness of straw bale insulation: doubt no more, it works just fine. It'll even help you wake up without adding any caffeine!

Morning Snow

Just a picture of two young bucks (that's male deer, for those who don't live up here) in our snow-dusted field this morning. The nights are getting colder, the days shorter, we've gone back from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time (Daylight Wasting Time...?), all sure signs that the cold season is closing in.

Pretty soon our fields will be permanently covered with snow, and wildlife (including ourselves) struggling through what promises to be another long cold winter. The wood stove is on most of the days now, just a small fire as our thick straw bale walls keep the house nice and warm.

The Nolalu Eco Centre will be going into hibernation mode, too. Workshops and the Eco Hero contest are done, house tours and presentations are slowing down for the winter, only the occasional B&B guest drops in. New plans and initiatives are in the works, though, there's always plenty to do.
And I just realized our snowshoes haven't even been touched up yet from last year's intensive use...!

Cutting It Pretty Close...

Our Eco Centre has thick straw bale walls that are plastered. Plastering is a tough job, especially if one section is out of reach of any conventional rental scaffolding, as was the case with our East gable. Perfectly tucked away out of anyone’s reach, this section been sitting there waiting to be plastered ever since we finished construction 3 years ago…

Of course this meant that whenever we had a serious rain or snow storm coming from the East, that wall would slowly erode and seep water in. Also the sun’s damaging ultra violet rays were beginning to leave their marks (thank you, hole in the ozone layer).

So this year we really had to get around to plastering that section from hell. Winter is lurking behind the fall-red maple bushes, and once it’s snowing you can forget about any plastering for the next 6 months. If only we knew how to get up there…

And just when we started to get slightly desperate: presto, our farmer neighbour Mo turns out to be a serious scaffolder with just the right equipment for this kind of job. Mo arrived with his truck full of bits and pieces, and 3 hours later we could get up there - finally!

Presto again, and our friend and neighbour Dan Bigelow offers to help us out with a paddle mixer and lots of plaster pointers. Heck, he even offers to do the plastering himself! Dan happens to be a concrete & plaster specialist, so what he says goes (plaster-wise that is).

Plastering away with Dan up top, Hubert as his Vanna White

And after 3 years of head scratching and finding excuses, the East gable finally got finished yesterday! Just in time, it appears, as this morning we woke up to this fall’s first snowstorm. Winter has moved in, the plastering season is officially over…

24 hours later: 3cm of snow and -6C...

A big shout out to Mo and Dan for helping us out just in time!