By Pattie Whitehouse
News Gazette correspondent

Cob house provides warmth and refuge traditional homes lack in an emergency, says Highlands couple
If another snowstorm wreaks havoc next winter, Ann and Gord Baird will be able to offer their Highlands home as a neighbourhood emergency resource.
The cob house they are in the early stages of building will be fully functional even during an extended power outage.
Photovoltaic solar panels will continue to generate electricity when the temperature drops and the skies are clear, while a wind generator will recharge storage batteries when the weather is stormy.
Highly-efficient solar thermal collectors that work even on cloudy days will provide hot water for heating the house as well as for showers, dishes and laundry.
Rainwater collected in 2,000-gallon tanks will be available for cooking, drinking and washing.
Compost toilets work without water, requiring no flushing.
For neighbours without electricity struggling to keep warm, cook food and maintain hygiene, the Bairds’ home could offer a safe haven.
“The opportunity to go to the bathroom, have a warm beverage, sit in a warm, cozy home for awhile could make a big difference when power is off for days on end,” said Ann.
“What a wonderful way to bring the community together,” added Gord.
But while a world of warmth sheltered from the elements sounds appealing, the Bairds are not quite there yet.
As the house is built, the couple and Ann’s parents are living in a pair of travel trailers, meaning the Bairds found themselves facing many of the same challenges as their fellow Highlanders during the freak November storm.
The trailers are equipped with propane cooking stoves and furnaces, but the furnaces won’t ignite when there is no electricity.
The trailers became cold very quickly after backup batteries were depleted, necessitating an emergency trip to Wise Island, where Ann picked up a gas-powered generator from an off-grid house she built there several years ago.
“We felt pretty guilty about that,” she said, since the generator required the use of “copious amounts” of fossil fuels associated with global warming.
But concerns over the health of Ann’s father and the older couple’s ability to cope during the storm forced the choice of using the generator or abandoning their home until hydro power was restored.
They chose to stay, and the generator proved adequate for the lights, furnace fans and refrigerators in the trailers — although it “died then and there” when Ann’s mother plugged in the electric coffee maker, Gord said.
Then things went from bad to worse.
A sudden drop in temperature caused water lines to freeze, and the family decided to move to the cob workshop built over the past summer and fall.
The couple was pleased to find the cob house held up well.
The roof, covered with dirt and planted with native vegetation, was such a good insulator that the snow on it melted slower than the snow on the ground.
While cob — a mixture of clay, sand and straw — does not itself have great insulation value, it does provide thermal mass.
The small woodstove embedded in the wall not only provided plenty of direct heat, it warmed the surrounding wall, which continued to radiate warmth for hours after the fire went out.
Ann said that when her father wasn’t packing snow to melt on the wood stove to provide water, he read happily by candlelight, sitting on the built-in bench with his feet up against the cozy wall.
Ann’s mom cooked a big pot of soup on the wood stove, and wet clothes hung from nails in the rafters dried quickly.
“The workshop had a much nicer feel inside of it than the trailers,” Ann said.
Thanks to their compost toilets, the Bairds were spared having to melt large amounts of snow just so they could flush.
The human waste is composted, generating enough heat to destroy pathogens that can spread disease.
Even in the coldest weather, according to Gord, the compost pile was so warm it remained snow-free, while the addition of wood shavings and a solar-powered fan kept the toilet odour-free.
The Bairds say the storm and six-day power outage only reinforced their determination to live sustainably.
“We need to seek proactive solutions in designing our systems so that we’re not fighting nature in the way we’re living,” Ann said.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com

2007 Workshop Schedule

All workshops are being organized by Elke Cole. Please check out http://www.elkecole.com/ to learn more and to register.

May 6-12, June 17-23, August 15-19, plus possibly more.

Eco-Sense Workshop series
Be part of the leading sustainability project in greater Victoria. Located on eight glorious Highland acres the Eco-Sense project is rising up out of the land. This new project started in February 206 and already the first cob building is completed. The 230 sq ft woodworking shop will inspire us as we continue work on the main 1550 sqft two story loadbearing cob house. Complete sustainability is so much more than a beautiful earthen building as it encompasses the best of modern technologies within all of the systems. The home will be powered by the sun and wind with a state of the art grid inter-tie net metering system with BC Hydro. Solar water heating tubes will provide domestic hot water and hydronic in-floor heat for the thermal mass building. The home will also feature a rain water catchment system, composting toilets and re-use all of it’s grey water for irrigation of fruit trees. All of this will be surrounded by organic vegetable gardens in the future. For more general information about the project visit www.eco-sense.ca
The workshops will be part of the ongoing construction process of the house - content may vary due to demands of the building progress.

May 6-12, 2007 eco-sense 1: cob building from the start

materials evaluation, choices
structural considerations
mixing cob
wall building
trimming
windows/ doors
arches
earthen floor with hydronic heat

June 17-23, 2007 eco-sense 2: gettin’ higher cob building

review basics
arches
trimming
special mixes
detailing
connections to roof and other building components
second floor structure
lightclay infill
team building

August 15-19, 2007 eco-sense 3: towards finishing

aesthetics
materials and mixes
browncoat earth plaster
relief sculpture

October TBA, eco-sense 4: Plaster!

natural plaster materials
tools and techniques
mixing and applying
All workshops include theory breaks covering topics like off grid living, natural house design, related natural building methods, and aspects of the construction that cannot be covered in practice. Participants are invited to present their topics of expertise if they wish.
An important part of working together is getting to know each other. We take time to share stories, pay attention to our wellbeing and support each other when challenges arise. You will go home with a new set of team skills and a handful of new friends! Participants who take the full series will receive a natural builder’s passport.
The site is within commuting distance from Victoria. Camping is not included in the basic fee, but is available for those joining us from a distance.

Costs : include snack, lunch and instruction

7 days $630 , applies to May and June workshops
5 days $450, for the August workshop

Discounts are available as follows:

early registration (register before April 1) 10% off
couples 10% off
returning participants 10% off
complete series 10% off
Please note max discount 20%.

Check out www.elkecole.com to register

December 2006 – January 2007 Eco-Sense Update

Financing the Evolving Evolutions

Trailer life for a year, a testament to our will and determination, and (as we write this again with frozen water pipes) the realization that our 3 minute shower of a week ago was a luxury. Our dreams of a straw bale off-the-grid house, combined with our vision to live a sustainable reasonable life has evolved into a load bearing cob, grid-intertied, more sustainable homestead.

At the onset of last year we harped on about climate change, decreasing our reliance on material “things”, and focusing on the importance of living a reasonable life. Climate change, carbon credits, tidal energy, electric vehicles, George Monbiot, and sustainability were not the headlines on the radio or in the newspaper. The science was suggested as “questionable” and “debatable”. What a difference a year has made; headlines every day on polar bears declining, ice shelves breaking off, carbon taxation, Elizabeth May and Stephane Dion, daily hostile weather events, and the list goes on. The unraveling of the climate skeptics and who finances them was and continues to be one of the most important tasks of the year. We have also noticed over this past year that the mainstream does not look at us with crossed eyes anymore, except still possibly the electrical inspector and BC Hydro (Hydro who is yet to respond to any of our requests to discuss the net metering program).

Our Project has evolved; headlines have evolved; but our culture has yet to evolve to embrace the changes required to slow down climate change. Most industrialized populations have the ability to adapt quickly, and live within a multitude of different environments, a luxury lost on those who are closely tied to their environment. But are we successfully adapting? Those whose very existence is tied directly to the environment are definitely in jeopardy, but what about those of us who have learned to remove ourselves from it? The climate is changing, the levels of toxic chemicals are increasing among all living things, and asthma, cancers, and disease of all sorts are at the forefront of our war on life. Are we adapting to these chemicals? Are the killer whale populations thriving with the heavy metals and flame retardants in them? Are we kidding ourselves? Are we just the frog in the pot of ever increasing hot water?

Evolution as a biological process occurs when better adapted individuals are selected by their environment to survive to reproduce. This mechanism exists in nature as a tool enabling a species (the ENTIRE group of individuals) to adapt to their changing world…the environment has always changed. If a species can not adapt or change, it simply cannot survive and will become extinct. Evolutionary processes work on an individual level but it is the entire species that evolves. Extinction is a term we are all becoming increasingly familiar with as we watch the changing climate cause the loss of species at an unprecedented rate. Biological processes and evolution are SLOW processes. Climate change caused by human activity is a FAST process, and we need FAST solutions. The point is that individual ACTION is critical, as it is the only mechanism for entire species to adapt. Our combined individual actions got us into this mess and they can get us out. The good news is that we have the knowledge and the intellect to provide the solutions, but what we lack is the leadership. So the solution is simple; get out and vote, protest, jump up and down, and scream for change…and then perhaps the most difficult challenge, embrace the change yourself.

Now, onto a much lighter topic: MONEY. A couple months ago we spoke of the finances of this project and how we had mortgaged The Wise Island home to provide interim financing while the Wise property sold. Our mortgage is up for renewal and we thought to approach Vancity since they heavily promote themselves as being green and very interested in sustainable building financing. Everything went really well…initially. We presented them with a very large folder of our publicity, current appraisals of both properties, the real estate listing for Wise, our balance sheet with the only debt being the Wise mortgage, and a very large bank account within the branch. They loved us…until they learned that we had no income. Suddenly we heard the excuse that they have a policy not to mortgage remote properties. We asked to see this policy but they couldn’t produce it…it doesn’t really exist they finally admitted when pressured. We have never been turned down for a mortgage in our lives. They eventually presented us with a financing option where both properties would be mortgaged; two new appraisals would be required (at our expense); the interest rate would be quite high; Ann’s parents would need to sign; and of course there would be some extra fees for this special mortgage, just for us. We gave them assets that were almost three times greater than the loan required and this is all they could offer. Our situation was too much of a risk for them. An interesting observation of an institution masquerading behind a “green” veil of financing flexibility and not walking the talk.

To say that we are looking forward to spring would be an understatement. We spent a wonderful week away on Wise Island over New Years and some friends joined us for some good times, ranting, and eating. It was such a joy to be in a house again and to move ones arms and legs without bumping into some part of the cramped trailer. The lack of clutter was also a pleasure as was the warmth of a fully functional off-the-grid home complete with running water, hot water, heat, and power. These basics have been inconsistent in the trailer. Our spirits took a bit of a dive upon returning to yet another week of pouring rain and wind in the trailer but we are back on track and more determined than ever to live comfortably with nature and not against her. As Ann’s great, great, great aunt, author Laura Ingalls Wilder, said in her Little House on the Prairie series, “It’s been a long hard winter”.

The year is shaping up to be very a busy and rewarding one as we dive into the mud and emerge later in the year, with a beautiful home. Elke Cole is organizing all the natural building workshops for this building season so check out www.elkecole.com to learn more.

Ann and Gord