Yep... I am STILL working on my debris shelter. But I have a reason why this quick easy type of emergancy/survival shelter is taking me months - I was waiting for the leaves to fall off the trees this fall season and use them, cause I am not really in any hurry. :)JuJu my donkey watched me gather wet leaves in a bag with great curiosity, and wondered why I was tossing them on top all these sticks.
She really started to think it was a cool project (and not just a big stupid scary bag of leaves) when i decided to see how hay would work, and used part of a moldy bale of hay in combo with the leaves. The hay was thicker, and more sturdy, it also held to the sticks better. But JuJu kept trying to steal the parts of the hay that weren't moldy.... ;)
And I am still not finished this project.... (i know, it's taking way too long!)
Xoxoxox
And I am still not finished this project.... (i know, it's taking way too long!)I am thinking of covering it in one layer of hay, then one layer of leaves.
But what should be on top of that to hold the leaves down properly? Suggestions appreciated!!!
Xoxoxox
Hi just discovered you love you blog, will enjoy following your future posts, how bout a layer of turf! :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat question! Am referring you to Jack Matthews at http://swamericana.wordpress.com (or Sage to Meadow on the Blogs I Follow List). Jack's got a ranch near Abilene, Texas, is big into restoring natural grasses (deer and Monarchs are coming back) and has friends (with blogs) who built a hay house in, I believe, Utah. I really, really think you and Jack are on the same sheet of music. If you can, drop him a line, say I suggested such, and I'm sure he'll be able to help. He and his wife Brenda are Good People.
ReplyDeleteAaron-Paul :)
ReplyDeleteYou just gave me a good idea... instead of artificial turf, maybe i can put dirt on the hay and then seeds for something like clover or grass and then it'll be a "live" shelter!!!
Hey Kittie!
GOnna go check that out...
texas is a good place to insulate with hay cause it's so much drier there. Everything here molds, cause it's like a rainforest (but not as tropical as New Orleans!)
The problem with turf is that every time it rains, the dirt will be pushed down and away by the water, even with grass on top. And if it doesn't run down the sides, the water will pass right through and coat the inside floor with silt. Trust me, I built something like this before.
ReplyDeleteI once built the world's greatest dog house by digging a hole 10 feet wide and 3 feet deep (obviously this was before MCS, fibromyalgia, and CFS), then I dropped a 12 foot satellite dish over it face down, dome side up. Then I put a tarp over it, threw all the dirt from the hole on top of it, added several hundred pounds of more dirt, and seeded it with a fescue grass. It was a mini-mountain that was hollow inside.
My German Shepherd loved it, outside she had a perch to sit on to look over everything (many herding breeds like to sit up high and look down on things) and inside it was a spacious domed interior. The tarp kept the rain from seeping through to the inside of the dome, but at least once every single year I had to dig up all of the dirt around the dog house that used to be part of the mini-mountain and had since run off. Every year I threw the dirt back onto the mini-mountain, and every year it eroded, no matter how much grass was on it. And that was in a semi-arid environment, not a place that gets rain as often as the Appalachians.
Mr Cheese -
ReplyDeletethanks for saving me the agony of watching it all fall through the cracks... we do get tons of rain in these mountains.
I like that you built a bomb shelter for your dog. You must have loved her so much. :)
Guess i'll stick to leaves and hay for now. Maybe tree bark?