The daylight hours have really lengthened since the winter solstice and we are well on our run to the longest day of the year again. Growth and Development I am enjoying this as the time to paint, renovate, and insulate ready for the damper, colder times. I’ve just put wool batts and lining in under the outside overhang that forms part of the sleeping loft in Herby cabin and it is feeling much warmer. The semi-outdoor cooking area in front of Danaa (cob kitchen and dining) is fully closed in now and proving popular for sheltered lunches in the sun. We haven’t had any courses, volunteers or interns for the new season yet though it won’t be long now that the numbe of enquires is increasing again.

Blogs and Stories

As you know my two blogs Harmony Farm and Harmony Forest are hosted at wordpress. You can tell this by the blog addresses being “www.harmonyfarm.wordpress.com” and “www.harmonyforest.wordpress.com“. Two years ago I discovered that the wordpress program could be downloaded onto servers but didn’t know how. Over the following period I contemplated on it, and regularly tried different ways of doing so. Last week I succeeded. At http://www.gemstonetherapy.info/wp you can read my new stories. It focuses on the daily spiritual life, as an inspiration to all soul on the journey. Perhaps this is why I’m a month late publishing this newsletter.

Birds and Fairies

The fairies have been a big help this year, talking to the birds about leaving the buds and leaves, on our fruit and nut trees. We have more than ever, though it is clear the birds have been having a difference of opinion with the fairies as they do with us. I continue to keep talking to them, telling them that I claim “our” fruits and nuts as hours. Lorraine has been enjoying Findhorn and animals are soul books as they are so close to what we are doing at Harmony.

Hazelnuts

We have were pleased to see our first hazelnuts on the ground under the trees now that cross fertility is occurring between the young tree we planted between the two mature ones. So with added expectations we have introduced two more species. We have planted two of these in “Arrival” down by the gate and two by the earlier hazelnuts.

Pigs

As some of you know I have a soft spot for the wild pigs. It’s a vulnerable button that is easily pushed at the mention of what they see fit to do to our tracks and gardens. Some volunteers have seen this after doing a great job keeping me informed of what they have seen, after they have walked around Harmony. Anytime you feel like things aren’t going right and emergency protocols such as singing HU don’t appear to work, you might like to try the following.

Mock Up Technique

Sit in a quiet space and as Soul put your attention on your inner eye, trust that it will be taken care of, and observe what is happening. Look for anything. I did this with the pigs and saw the spiritual Master’s herding the with pigs with big sticks to guide their direction out of Harmony, to where they would be taken care of. I wondered about the earth elementals, looked further and saw gnomes riding each pig. With each pig looked after I was no longer concerned. The technique is not to make anything like this happen. It is simply to place yourself in a quiet detached space and see what happens. Spirit (God, the Universe) always has a solution, and you are looking to see what solution is happening.

Love,

David

The 25mm thick board already had in place, though 5 years old, were not yet rotten as linseed oil had been applied liberally before putting them in.  However, in the years to come they will decay, so rocks had been brought in early.

After weeding around the rocks, I pulled up the boards they were replacing, and got the rocks moving into place, side by side, in a single line.

The rocks rocked themselves into place. How did they do this?

Following the law of assumption that it is easy I assumed the right rocks were there for the job. What’s more, I assumed the  next rock needed would be available and would make itself known.

The way a rock makes itself known is to look more inviting to be used than any of the others.  A quick glance at the shaped edge of the rock already placed makes it apparent which rocks might be invited. Then of all the possible rocks the one to be used looks different. It looks different to get my attention, and can look different in anyway at all.  If you are doing this, the rock needed will get your attention some way or another. You may just have a feeling, as sense of it, a hunch.

If the rock doesn’t place well,  I turn it round the other way, and then it usually fits. Sometimes the rock unexpectedly wants to be turned upside down to make a good fit.

Naturally if they do not have a flat surface to lie on, rocks like  a bit of a hole dug, to get them to set firm in the ground. They also like to overlap a neighbour, or to rest their end on that neighbour to keep each other steady. Every now and then a rock that was too tall offered its services and this one is dug in deep to steady both its neighbours.  When a rock is already in the ground  a rock with a curved base is available to lie steady over the top of it.

On the corners there are rocks with appropriate shapes, as long as one listens to them to hear and watches to see how it is to be done.

If the mind is not kept clear, the rocks chosen will become obstacles to the line being built. They will not fit simply because they are not listened to.

Connection with the rocks may be re-established at any time by talking to them, trusting them, and knowing you can do it. If that is not possible it is best to have a rest and come back later.

Whatever you build your structure will be solid with this approach. If  your rocks will feel like they are working together. They are. They are the supportisans of the world!

What’s more I got a nudge to call in at the Dental School as I was walking past, and to my surprise within 15 minutes I was in a chair having my sore tooth attended.  The 2 ½  hour walk to town was repaid with saving up to 6 hours in their queue as most city folk weren’t able to come into town.

Thomas, Yannick, David and Tim all smiling at their new cob wall

In early Autumn we held two Earth Building workshops and I got another inner nudge to utilise the obvious enthusiasm of from left to right: Thomas, Yannick (at window),  myself, and Tim and build the wall you see us at here.  Stephanie did a great job of catching all our smiles! The wall was stabilised with about 5% cement so that it could be built in a week without splooging, and would not run away in the mist and rain. Splooging occurs when lower layers, which haven’t had time to harden, are pushed out by the weight of new layers added above.

The rim on the left and around the wooden window and sill were cobbed with pure breathing cob (no cement) so that moisture can escape from the timber and the cob oven. The oven will grow upon the rim when it is built  at the next workshop on the 1st and 2nd of  August, weather permitting.

The wall is doing a great job blocking the cold winter southerlies from coming round in front of Danaa. The red on the right is the edge of a 300mm board that fills the gap between the wall and Danaa.

After the workshop two ecology and permaculture enthusiasts arrived independently from Devon, England and discovered that they both had the same surname.  They did a great job helping in the gardens and clearing the trails until rained out in the continuous rain of May.

Soon as they left I started putting in pure wool batts (www.latitudeinsulation.com) and lined the ceiling, and just completed this just before the snow mentioned last Tuesday.  Cold days have been 1 to 4 degrees C so I am pleased to be able now to  heat Danaa easily with the gas (LPG) heater so that I run the computer will run, I can be comfy, and I can see Rebirthing and other clients wanting to connect to Harmony within the embrace of the lovely earth building.

Copies of earlier newsletters of fun at Harmony may be found by clicking on “Harmony Farm” at www.gemstonetherapy.info/newsletters

Love,

David

if you are going to live in a fridge I suggest:

Have a very warm bed with lots of blankets and duvets and extra layers close by to add when needed. Packing pillows around you and can help keep you warm to.

If it’s been frosty stay in bed until you can see the sun. Rest is what winter is for. During your extra time in bed; enjoy sleep, massage away all your winter aches and pains, read, listen to cheerful morning bird-song, contemplate on your purpose, and plan your day carefully so that you can complete tasks more efficiently in the shorter day you are about to live to the full.

Soon as you get out of bed turn the covers back over to keep the heat in and to stop damp getting into your bed.  If you need to thaw your computer or cellphone stick it in the bed as you get out. This gives them a boost while you get organised to put them in the sun.

Slip quickly into a feather down jacket with hood, layers of merino, a few woolly jerseys, finger-less wolly gloves, and two pairs of socks.

Getting dressed quickly in the morning retains the heat you stored up until you got out of bed (this means it’s best not to have to go to the toilet immediately upon arising!) This necessitates laying your clothes out at night so you can get into them as quick as a fireman.

Arise when the sun is shining at your place and do something in that sun letting it bake you in its heat (being in the sun is 10 to 15°C warmer). At this stage you have briefly escaped the fridge!

If the sun doesn’t shine put on extra clothing and do a task that involves moving about lots to make warmth.  This morning it was 1°C inside and 2°C below zero outside, after a magnificent 4°C frost, so I walked up and down outside in the first rays of sunlight, while eating my hot muesli.

Have hot food and drink to boost your temperature, or drink and eat cold foods in small quantities when you are at your warmest so that gift heat to the food in your mouth and belly.

Eat plenty of food to keep you body’s boiler running.

If the wind blows work in a sheltered location, inside or out.

Spend your day building, insulating, adding thermal mass to catch the sun’s heat, sealing up gaps around doors and window, putting up curtains, and generally making your living space even better at catching passive solar heat and holding onto it.

If the sun shines do the following all at once:

Air your bed and living quarters

Dry everything you can

Change your clothes and have a quick sponge bath, unless you have hot showers or baths.

Place your butter, honey, and other spreadables in the sun so you can have a butter and honey sandwich later.

Make your yogurt and bread, wrap it up warmly in wool, and place it all in a sunny spot so that the bugs can grow and feed you later. After all they need body temperature, same as you, to grow.

Place your computer in a warm place so that it heats up to its 10°C operating temperature

Soon as your solar batteries are thawed out do your essential tasks, such as running the computer, having a shave, and charging you cellphone.  Remember not to overuse your batteries in the winter though as they can’t operate any better than you at low temperatures, unless you heat them.

And last:

Don’t drink too much so you don’t have to get up and pee so much in the night.

Wear a layer of woolly clothes to bed, socks, and hat, if you are going to be getting up for a pee in the night. Keep your head torch handy so you can see your way outside (or in) to the loo.

Love,

David

Love what you do, spirit soars on wings of harrier hawk, rises high with chorus of bellbird and tui.  Struggle with it, get angry about it, dark brown and red currents swirl, and coming home puts you in an angry mood.

Of all the places that can be, only one place is chosen as “Home”. Only one place is gifted that special love of place, that we call home, and we yearn to return to.

Few places have their comforts, we know what is where, and we can find it when we need it. Home is a place of efficiency.

We know where our blankets are, clothes , and how to turn on the fire and heaters. It is a place of warmth.

Shelves hold foods, draws hold utensils. It is a simple matter to eat at Home.

Books, games, TVs, radio, phone, mailbox, and internet. Home is our recreation, our connection to ideas of the world.

Bed to sleep just the way we like it. That is Home.

Baths, hot water, showers, washing machines, and irons. It is easy to become clean and presentable at Home.

People, family, pets, vegetables, and fruit trees. These are the friends that share our Home.

Intersections, streets, and neighbours. All landmarks we know we will find on our way Home. Reassuring and familiar.

Home is that place from which we always know how far away we are. We always know the easiest way to get back quickly when we need to.

It afterall is Home.

We can remember clearly old fears barely gone. We know them as they so recently bothered us. Clearly it is not they that are bothering us now. Deep inside we find a calmness that arises from having tamed those monsters.  We have no need to give them attention that would make them part of us now.

We are no longer interested in them, for we have moved on. We have arrived at this place, where we are again lost, wondering what fear is now present. Where do we go from here?

Almost ready to make new changes. If  we knew what the problem was, we would map out new paths for ourselves. But barely settled into even not knowing what the fears are, we find patience a friend and connect to the great source of all. All will be revealed when we are ready.

Spirit has brought us to new cross-roads. We are not sure where we are, we are confused, but we are in IT’s illustious company.  We will deal with new fears together with an old friend – The Mahanta.

Places I may not have thought of, directions I may not have expected to go in, but taking me to where I need to be to get what I want, to understand myself better.

Alan stayed for Easter and helped us take off Danaa’s roof, put down building paper, and put the roof back on. I’d been planning that one for about a year. And about a year ago, I has also built an opening for a door, and then waited for someone to help me hold it to hang it on its hinges. Alan helped with that too.

Yesterday I wanted straw to go in the cob earth mixes the students and I are making this Saturday, so I went on to TradeMe, and found some locally available. They said they were in Kaikourai Valley but not where.  I mentioned this to Ross, a friend I work for, so when we finished for the day Ross tracked down a source of straw in the Valley.  I went there and found stacks of  golden bales of strong short straws perfect for cob earth mixes.

I was promptly met by the proprietor, who said no his straw was not advertised on TradeMe.  It turned out he was very interested in hearing about how I build with cob. Gravel, clay and straw.  Then I learned something I’d been wondering about for years.  I had often looked at the patterns of rebar (reinforcing bars) laid out before concrete is poured over them and thought that these bars, spaced apart as they are, didn’t add great strength to concrete.  Of course they add lots of strength but not as it turns out, as much as great as many really small bars at all angles would do.

I hadn’t hear of it before but the man selling me the straw bales said that he used to put many short fibreglass strands into concrete and it cured much stronger than steel (rebar) reinforced. It is the same with cob, many short straws, around 100mm long (4″) add much greater strength, because they reinforce at all angles, not just the two or three directions that reinforcing bar (rebar) does.

Then in whatever direction the concrete or cob flexes the reinforcing can hold it together so that it is less likely to break.  Concrete and clay bind, gravel resists compression but cracks when bent. Reinforcing gives elasiticiy and flex. In human tissue elastic and strength (collagen) fibres run in all directions. Nature does not build in lines of up/down, in/out, and back/forth it builds in 3D, and this is how strong cob earth is built with straw.

In other situations long strands are useful, as are short. When needing to support to make and arch I have used bundles of straws up to a metre long and used cob to mesh it together with another metre long bundle coming up the other side.

It was thanks to the unexpected help I received from Ross that I was in just in the right place and the right time to learn more of this.

Last week, I was thinking lots of a friend, who lives further down Waitati Valley Road and walking up that road that week, she stops to pick me up. It was (and always will be) the first time I’d ever seen her driving up the road. We caught up nicely. Then hitching back home later that day, a person I’ll call “Sheryl” to  protect her true identity, picked me up. I said I’m headed to Harmony, and she said that’s were they teach the making of cob.  Once I arrive home, Lorraine tells me that a sister of a friend, had expressed interest in learning cob, but was put off by the fact that my name was the same as someone she didn’t get on well with.  Spirit had thus introduced us so that whether she comes to a cob earth building workshop or not, she need not be scared of everyone with the same name.

How did Spirit bring this help from least expected quarters.  1) It kept me back late seeing a client  a bit longer so that I could catch the bus I wanted 2) Thus I caught the next bus and said to its driver I wanted to get off at Woodhaugh Gardens 3) He interpreted that to mean I wanted to hitch on the Motorway 4) So he stopped the bus right by the motorway, on an unscheduled stop 5) Walking up the footpath by the road just before it becomes a Motorway Spirit then said to put my thumb out to hitch (I never do this until I’m at the Motorway 6) I put my thumb out and pull it back in where it is not safe to stop 7) I get another nudge to put my thumb out as soon as I get around the corner to where the pull-over area can be seen, though it is still not safe to stop. I do. 8) Within moments Sheryl comes past, as it is not still not safe to pullover stops about 40m ahead and waits! Thus we meet.

Help can also come from animals in very unexpected ways.  Like the rat who’s nest Alan and I uncovered in Danaa. We spent about an hour moving things around while keeping the door open so she could move outside. Finally she runs up a wall and out a hole that we didn’t know about. Thus helping me close up all the holes that rats and mice can get in – which is exactly what I wanted as we are about to use Danaa as a kitchen, which means moving in the food!

Nice to be in touch again, and to have met so many of you as visitors, clients, students, and picking me up hitching into town.

Kereru
Read about some of our delightful experiences with Native Wood Pigeons in the local BlueSkin News.

HelpX
At HelpX you, students and volunteers can choose residential internships studying: 1) Conscious Living with Devas, Elementals, Plants, Animals, Self, and Spirit 2) Forest Gardening 3) Herbal Medicine 4) Native Forest Guardianship and Monitoring 5) Sustainable Building and Energy Systems 6) Organic Trail Making and Maintenance. Details and more photos are included at the above and at www.gemstonetherapy.info/volunteering.htm

Herby

Herby

Herby is our herbal clinic snuggled among trees. It has a sleeping loft above, and herbal medicines preparation and storage below. At 2.65m square it is a study in compact design. A 1.5m verandah, on right, is being developed with a shower and basin. In the foreground we are building an outdoor fire-dining area.

Herby is also an indoor space in which I see local clients. In this way it complements practice work outside sitting on rocks, and with trees, elements, and animals.
Danaa

Danaa

A recycled painted rimu sink bench unit is going into the kitchen of this our student and visitor dining area!

The beautiful earth wall with windows on front right, was laid by Carl and Karen at our February Cob Workshop. Carl taught us a great new tip: Wear socks when mixing cob if your feet are sensitive to the gravel. The cob doesn’t stick like it does to boots.

At about 10m2 floor area Danaa is another study in making a small space seem larger by giving it length, curves, angles, and inbuilt nooks and crannies to fascinate and enlarge perception as seen by mind’s eye. The glow of heat from the earth walls also helps it feel snug and comfy.

Thanks go to Alan, and my parents, Mum and Albert, for being the first visitors to sleep in her.

In the foreground our solar system makes electricity and provides useful learning to those electing to study Sustainable Building and Energy Systems. The cladding is macrocarpa treated only with non-toxic CD50 2x”Wet-Look” from www.churton.com

Next Cob Workshop – Danaa Grows

On April 18 and 25th students will create a rock foundation, set cob between the stones and build up an indoor bench seat and occasional bed for future students. This bench seat is along the earth wall on the right-hand side wall in the above photo.

September Earth Building Workshops

Danaa already has a part-floor of 20% clay, 10% earth, 10% hydrated lime, 60% crusher dust, that can be studied in the cob workshop above.  In September students will learn to lay a more traditional earth floor with blood and/or animal poo in the mix. More about Harmony Courses.

Sustainable Building

Those students studying this with us will be able to learn natural wood-working skills with traditional hand-tools, making a work-bench supported by an inverted earth-wall buttress, and a wood lid for the bench seat being built in April (see above).

Harmony Clinic

It has been a joy seeing clients helped so much by the elements, birds, rocks, and the sheer spirit of the place. Gemstone Therapy, Rebirthing and Spiritual Aid produce exceptional results in the natural environment. Harmony is always open to enquiries. Give my contact to anyone whom it feels right to do so.

Love,

David

Phone: 064-211-220910

Email

Harmony Farm Blog
Harmony Forest Blog

Having explained that his solar dehydrator will work effectively in humid (moist) climates at  lattitudes such as ours (45°) Eben Fodor gives an excellent lesson in the basics of harvesting solar energy, and then plans and instructions for building one in just two days using new or second hand materails and installing two 200W incandescent light bulbs as back up heat to complete drying if the sky  clouds over unexpectedly. Then he explains how to dry your fruits and veges, and includes recipies for dried foods, and solar charts and tables. It is written for the USA but works just as well here in Waitati. His dryer utilises the same thermosphining (chimney effect, updraft) effect used in wet-back stoves. Air vents take moisture out-side and some may be opened and closed to regulate the temperature so that food is not cooked.

This is a great alternative to a fridge for those producing their own power off-grid.

Interestingly things I learned reading the book include:

Because the earth tils 23.5° adding 23.5° to your lattitude, such as 45°S, gives the highest angle the sun gets to in the sky at solar noon on summer solstice for that lattitude.  45 + 23.5 = 68.5°.  Likewise at winter solstice, when our area of the earth is tilted as much as it can be  away from the sun, the sun climbs only 45 -23.5 = 21.5° high into the sky at noon. This is way near vertical catches the most solar energy in the middle of winter.

And I learned the degree to which it is hotter in direct sunlight. Sol-air temperature, as it is known, is about 11°C higher and ranges 5 – 16° higher than in the shade, depending on the colours or darkness of surrounding objects and the cooling effect of wind or air flow.  This means foods and clothes dry quicker when in direct sunlight. Temperature for weather records is always measured in the shade.

10% of the sun’s radiation is so scattered by dirt and moisture in the atmosphere that it is received at the surface of the earth at all angles. Which is why it is good for the mood to have windows facing east, west, and even south, as well as north.