On July 19, my dad, Lisa, Rachelle (a friend), and I finished cobbing the other two sides of the
root cellar. Last summer we only finished the
Left and
Back sides. Over the winter, there was a lot of air leakage. The rain washed some of the clay from the coat of cobb and cracking occurred.
The two unfinished sides before cobbing.
We dug up some of our own clay and then sifted the large clumps out with a piece of chicken wire.
We added sand that we bought to the mixture.
The straw helped bind the sand, clay, and water together.
The corner of the cellar was the hardest section to cobb because the hay was looser there.
The bales are visible underneath the cobb.
The right side was especially dangerous for stooped cobbers. Lisa bumped her head twice.
The unfinished inside is visible from the front.
The root cellar after several hours worth of work.
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The two unfinished sides before cobbing.
We dug up some of our own clay and then sifted the large clumps out with a piece of chicken wire.
We added sand that we bought to the mixture.
The straw helped bind the sand, clay, and water together.
The corner of the cellar was the hardest section to cobb because the hay was looser there.
The bales are visible underneath the cobb.
The right side was especially dangerous for stooped cobbers. Lisa bumped her head twice.
The unfinished inside is visible from the front.
The root cellar after several hours worth of work.
6 comments:
I had heard of cobbing but I had never seen it done. Great job but I wonder how well it all holds together with all the rain we get here.
It held together pretty well last winter. We get about 19 inches around here (a lot less than Portland). Each summer, we might have to do some maintenance.
This is such a cool project. How tall is the entry door, the perspective in the picture makes it look super small. I would've loved to have something like this as a fort when I was little! :-)
Some people actually live in houses like this, don't they?
I am VERY interested in how this root cellar is doing. I am wanting to build one of my own, and am curious as to how the temps stay in winter and summer... have you kept any notes on this? Also, did you put vents into it? What did you use for a door? Love your blog... it is truly inspiring for a newby farmer!
We've kind of ignored this project for a while. We had some rat problems the one year we stored food in it. After that, we didn't use the cellar. The "door" was another hay bale (maybe 3 feet long), inserted upright. There are no vents and I'm afraid it wasn't the most effective design. It was an experiment for the most part. We don't have records of the temperatures inside unfortunately.
Good to know! Thanks! Please keep us updated if the project ever goes forward!!
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