The House on the Hill

And up it goes...

The house on the hill is blooming in our muddy hands.
The living room...
The water level reveals the truth of our good work.
On-site trees recycled into scaffolding to get those tall walls up.
Columns add support between windows, and a touch of buttress-flare to the structure.
The joy of being a mud builder!

Sweet plaster days of joy.
The mud is irresistible!
The bathroom... bottle installation in the shower, for light and a view!
Earthen building is surprisingly easy, and fun!
On the ladder to greatness.
Side view with improvised roof-- rain protection?
The kitchen bottle wall between the window openings.
A tribute to the many buckets of mud toted and built with. Nice hauling!

In a bathroom plaster bliss...
The finishing details on the structure... in progress!

Giving Thanks

So much to be grateful for in this life!

We spent a whole day giving thanks for all the blessings in our lives, including friendship, health, love, the sharing of knowledge, growth in learning, and the joy of community. And of course we ate our way into a delirious food-inspired bliss.
We fired up the earthen oven and made empanadas, breads, pumpkin pie...etc, etc.

To top it all off, a friend shared with us the art of aerial acrobatics on a silk cloth suspended from a tree! So much fun, if not extra challenging from the weight of our full bellies.

Let's not forget to give deep gratitude to the garden (and her spirits) for blooming full of food and lessons.

Taller de Bioconstruccion

What a wonderful weekend workshop! November 5-6, 2011

Folks came out to put their hands in the mud and learn a bit about earthen building.

It was a lovely sharing experience between our international interns, local Misioneros and visiting Paraguayans.Gracias a todos por su participacion y buena energia.

smiling flowers pokey bugs october

The gladiolas are bringing in the hummingbirds, the mud house is climbing upwards, and the smiles are glowing as we round out this month of internship adventures.
The walls are mudding up lovely, with bottles and window holes and dreams of sweet inhabiting.

The bathroom marked for the bathtub and dry composting toilet.
So many smiles...
...and concentration in keeping with the line... if that's your style.
'Tis that season again, and the caterpillars are poking all around us...
Calendula flower balms on their way. Here infusing in sunflower oil...
Anybody know the name of this flower?? It has appeared in our gardens for two years now, and we are just curious if it has medicinal or edible properties...
In the garden-- green beans on their way...
...and fava beans on the plate...

And as always, the baked delights just keep rolling out... this time, bagel explosions!
The local school kids did their Ecology Fair presentation on Mama Roja happenings and their in-school implementation of environmental care... and won! Now they go to the state fair and keep spreading the good work!
Of course, the interns did their share to help the kids out on their project... earthen mini-models of the on-goings at Mama Roja. Fabulous!Bonus Photo: The birth of the winged...

Mud People, Pigs, and Flowers

Mud building is in full swing, and we just can't keep everyone clean! The house on the hill is looking great as we stack up the adobe bricks.
There doesn't seem to be a problem instigating laughter with this group!
Meanwhile, Mother Nature is doing her great work of supplying us with flower delights everywhere. Here, the garden chicory is starting to set up for seed now that the heat is creeping in.
The gift of flowers and loving helping hands.
And more baby plantlings on their way!
Also going in: bean trellises, sheet mulch gardens, keystone sesame beds, and the fields of mandioca and peanuts, amaranth, quinoa, and chia. Just trying to keep the birds from over-sharing their fair share!
Holy hogs! We got a pig! Her hobbies seem to include eating, spilling her water container 14 times a day, eating, oinking at the rooster, eating, rearranging the mud in her pin, eating, and oh, eating.
Also, we have hesperadina (an old family liqueur recipe) and mulberry wine on their fermenting ways!
The castle composting toilet is also getting re-loved up. Soon, we will all be on the throne of life connecting with the royal cycle!
Now that is stacking to a tee! The music must not stop just because one must wash clothes!
Bonus Photo: The Lirio, or Ground Orchid, in process of opening -- the same flower as the first photo above, but this shot was taken about 10 minutes earlier