The finish coat of Earth Plaster inside the greenhouse is done! Only the outside wall to go. As you can see our window in Montana is abruptly closing with snow moving down the peaks. My dancing feet are wrapped in rubber boots and the wool hat is becoming a permanent fixture. So, we used American Clay's Loma Plaster as it was easier to have the material at hand instead of making large volumes of fine mix. 

 Since our bale wall 

was uneven with lots of mountains and valleys- application was a little different than suggested for drywall. We tried the trowel method which appears to go on very easily over a smooth surface. However, the inside retained the 

visual anatomy of most of the bales so hand application worked out better for us. A handful went on at a time applying pressure with the palm like the previous plasters. Areas were then worked in a circular motion to move the material into any small air pockets. 

  

Once the wall was dry we went back with a wrung out sponge to "compress" the surface as recommended. This was then followed with a light dusting with a broom to brush the sand off and hand buffed in places with burlap. The suede smoothness was then evident. Inviting hand and fingers to explore the surface. It is unlikely that conventional building methods would evoke the same inclination to touch a wall.

Our plaster master helped apply our Native Finish Plaster coat that drys brown vs. cream. It's a mix of window screened sand and clay slip that have coffee bean frass added until it is the consistency of pudding. His method of using a brush was for ease of use during his assistance and these areas were palm smoothed too. The entire wall will be painted with darker shades of milk paint to increase our thermal mass when the sun decides to shine.

Suede smooth bale craters

 The texture is so wonderful I'm already dreaming up the suede Rocket Bench for next spring finished in Loma.

Raven 

Sometimes we feel like a pack of turtles but, here we are with only the outside wall left in this immersion in clay. Just a couple wet spots from the sand plaster remain under the tree and turtle moon. With the dry time so much slower out in the elements we've had plenty of time to explore clay sculpting. This is highly addictive for lovers of clay. This weekend we plan to apply American Clay's Enjarre. Even though, it is not designed for outside application, we feel comfortable giving it a go with our generously extended overhangs over the bale wall. Plus, Earth plastering is very forgiving so if it seems compromised at any point we simply redo it by modifying the roof for greater extension or coat the exterior in a lime plaster.

Moving the work crew

"Plaster Master" Work Shoes 

Earth Plaster Stages

Dry Bales

First Coat-Sprayed Slip

Second Coat Discovery Plaster

Third Coat Sand Plaster

Discovery Coat and Sand Coat 

Finish Coat American Clay Loma Plaster
The inside of the greenhouse is finally done on a beautiful October Moon!

Catching up on Shares and Immune Foods

I've been so immersed in earth plastering, processing tomatoes and making pickles I forgot to update last weeks share. Not much mystery in it's contents: Dill, montana cucumbers, tomatoes and every type of onion from the garden. We're still eating chard, mizuna greens, kale and the final round of peas but seeing that most have had their fair share of the above mentioned greens we're focusing on filling you up with the warm season gems.

Week 18's share is tomatoes, some spaghetti squash, parsley and more onions. We've officially filled the 20 weeks of shares in 18. Thank-you all for a wonderful, supportive season. We'll be including a request list in the winter for things you'd like for us to potentially try next season and what you cared for this past season and didn't taste for too. It's a challenging grow season here but we're always trying to improve and adjust.

Well, I've been canning diced tomatoes to create with later this winter. We found the last time we canned copious amounts of salsa that we tired of the flavor come March. This time we'll jazz it up as we open them. Chutney's, pasta sauces, soups and salsas and other delightful tomato creations. We've also been dehydrating then freezing the tomatoes just in case all the moisture did not escape. I was hoping to freeze more whole tomatoes but the bags and bags of frozen bok choy and chard are taking up too much space. Good greens are hard to come by in the winter so we're prepared. Did you know most plants in the Brassica Family have more Vitamin C than Oranges? The greens were hiding 2 gallons of Huckleberries. Alright!

Today I made some delicious garlic butter. An easy recipe that can be modified with herbs like parsley and sage or try something sweet with lemon and anise. Pre-made lavender butter is perfect for cookies too.

Garlic Butter

Melt 1 stick of butter in sauce pan

Add 2 Bulbs of Minced Garlic(about 8-10 whole cloves)

Heat on low-avoid browning then pour into wide mouth 8oz mason jar.

We added it to mash potatoes during lunch and stir fried chard and spinach in it. This evening we spread it on tapioca/millet biscuits. My sense of smell has disappeared the last 2 days but this actually trickled in.

With the weather shifting Elderberry Syrup was on the Agenda yesterday. Daily dose around here is at least a tsp and when under the weather 3. Come winter we drizzle it on Huckleberry waffles. mmm....

How to Make Elderberry Syrup
3 cups Fresh Black Elderberries or 1 cup dried
3 cups water
1 cup local honey

Bring water and berries to a boil then cover and simmer for 30 minutes
Mash berries and boil and additional 5 minutes

Strain through a fine mesh strainer or jelly bag overnight or for at least 8 hours for Juice to develop
Add Honey to the Juice

Add Juice of One Lemon to Preserve
Bottle and Refrigerate

We used fresh berries that we harvested a few weeks back and froze and Just by chance I discovered freezing is the easiest way to shed all the berries from the stems. They simply fall off with a little shaking. We spoon are Flathead Honey from their gallon tub. Bees are simply amazing.

The Fall Garlic Crop goes in next week. We're trying for 1000 hardnecks and 1000 soft necks but won't really know for sure till we crack the bulbs.

Earth Walls

Nearly all of the discovery coat has dried down and were on to what the "Natural Plaster" book calls the infill coat that we've renamed the sand coat. This is the last coat before the clay finish coat and is where all the forms start turning into shapes, animals, plants celestial bodies and whatever else emanates.

Over a couple days we've applied the outside layer of sand plaster to the wall. Mixing up the batch involved the same technique as the discovery coat just the formula changed to

4.5 part sand

2 parts screened and hydrated clay

2.5 gallons earth oven dirt

5 gallons straw

Coffee frass to taste

The foot mixing seemed more like running in place since we were trying for a dryer, tighter mix. I filled a 15 gallon trash can for the sand coat on the outside wall. We applied it about a 1/2 inch thick and have started building on it from there. Anyone that's working on the wall fills their bucket up with plaster from the mixing area and carries it over to their section of the wall.

I've found creating with clay on this scale is so rewarding and meditative. All there is the wall and mud nothing more to think about. Just magically joining each element together in what seems like an impossible feat. In modern construction we have ventured far from the roots of the apple tree with highly processed materials. Both still share the frantic building speed in the small window we have in Montana but this is just simply earth substrate blended and approachable for people at any age with varying experience and abilities. All share the desire to learn a new way of building and creating that doesn't pose a threat to our health.

Interestingly, a technique that works for one person in application is different in what works for another and that's the beauty because the end result is the same: Earth Walls to grow food in. Perfectly balanced and not heavily induced with power tools, noise and pollution. Just as it should be-humbling beauty from a small group of people dedicated to finishing it before the snow flies.

Carob Beet Cake makes a great snack after breakfast before lunch and following dinner. We like to drizzle homemade razzberry sherbet over the top.

Razzle Dazzle Sherbet

1 quart bag frozen razzberries

3 frozen bananas

Half a blender of hemp milk

Blend and pour into glass dishes. Great anytime of the day.

Cob Garden-Week 16

We finished our first batch of Red Marble Cippolini Tomato Sauce. We reduced several pounds of skinned tomatoes with 4 bulbs of garlic last night. Today we added diced up red marble cippolini onions with fresh parsley and flowering marjoram reheated and pureed. Nearly all of it was devoured through the "sampling while cooking" process and I'll have to make an additional batch for canning. Cippolini's are incredibly sweet so next season we'll try to stay dedicated to accurate spacing.

Excavating the Cob Oven

The sauce compliments this divine Raw Ricotta Cheese over a bed of rice penne noodle. This cashew cheese also makes a great stuffing for whole tomatoes.

What you'll need for the cheese

1 Raw Tokyo long onion(or any white finger size onion)

1.5 cups soaked cashews

a handful of cilantro

1/4 cup of volcanic lemon juice

a splash of sunflower oil and enough water to get things going in the blender

Add all ingredients to the blender and serve between the warm sauce and noodles

Applying the Discovery Coat

The Queen of Slip

We've been busy busy transferring the discovery coat of natural plaster to the straw bales. The outside wall has the first coat complete and we're a 1/3 of the way through on the inside. It looks like it takes a few days to fully dry down before the infill coat can be added. That's when the playing and building with clay gets really fun.

Making the Mix

First Coat of Earth Plaster

At some point during this process we worked out individual roles-things we like to do that essentially influenced our efficiency. Apparently, my role as foot mixer evolved from my lack of mud time as a child and my less tender feet than Salty's. So be it. Children have the most fun anyway so might as well join them.

Our first coat of plaster formula was made of 3 parts sand, 2 parts nearly pure clay from underground the streets of Whitefish (a fortunate stroke of luck), 1 bucket native dirt from the earth oven project and 1 gallon straw. This was tinkered with by adding about 1.5 gallons of coffee bean frass during the final stomp for added aroma and binding strength to the mix. I found this more pleasant and realistic than trying cow poop as an additive.

I started with the volcano of sand then slowly added the buckets of clay. Mixed with the feet till homogeneous then added the bucket of earth oven dirt. Resumed jumping. Rolled the plaster around in the tarp. Sprinkled with straw and coffee frass- returned to the rhythm of mixing with feet/rolling the tarp. Continuously repeating for 15 or so minutes until a nice form resulted.

I knew the brownie batter batch was sufficiently worked if it stuck together as above. 3 mixes of this filled the wheel barrow and covered the outside wall (120 square feet). We applied the mix by hand. You basically work a clump in your hand then apply it to a freshly misted wall emphasizing pressure up and with the palm. It went on about 1/2 inch thick. We were building up low points in the wall with a straw/clay/slip filler from any that fell to the ground.

It took about 4 days to dry down and during this interlude we dove into using a new batch of the same mix on the inside. The loose straw at the top proved quite challenging so we stapled burlap to the frame and tucked it under the stuffing before applying the plaster.

The plaster inside dried much quicker with more consistently warm air in the greenhouse. We gave our next round of starts a mist. We have pablo and slo bolt lettuce going again, cilantro, northern lights chard, peppers, calendula, basil and leftovers from summer-turkish eggplants and hungarian peppers which were attempting to raise as mother plants for next season. There's even a baseball size watermelon between the eggplants that I'm curious if it even has sweet fleshy insides yet.

Spraying Clay Slip

We used a plaster gun to spray the slip on. The actual making of the slip took much longer than the applying.

Here's the process:

the clay mix was screened on 1/2 inch wire mesh over one trash can

hydrated until entirely covered & stirred with a hoe

the mix settled out for a few days till the water on top ran clear

the water was then scooped off leaving just a little for the clay slurry and felt like the consistency of heavy cream

this was then poured in 1 gallon batches over a window screen secured with a bungee cord over another trash can

The Results

One trash can of finely screened slip covered about 240 square feet.

Applying the Slip

It took two people to use the plaster gun since the batch sits on top of the gun in a large funnel which is difficult to balance while trying not to drench the wall.

It took a half hour to apply and the slip dried in 24 hours

Our Slip Soloist painted flour paste glue onto the straw bale brace boards prior to spraying the slip. Wood needs this adhesion coat of flour paste and sand for the first coat of plaster to bind to. More like binding to like.

So on to the first plaster batch known as the "Discovery Coat"

Strawbale Braces

I notched the bales with the prying end of a hammer so our 1x3 braces would lay flush to the wall. You'll notice we stacked the bales nearly vertical since the straw is not load bearing and would require less loose straw stuffed areas. Once again the hammer is a handy tool far surpassing the utility and noise if I had used the "literature suggested" chainsaw or roto-zip method.

Salty then anchored the braces into the frame so we skipped the part on threading string to the bales. The top of the wall was stuffed with sections of bales turned sideways and later covered with burlap for the plastering. The top needed no notching just a little side to side movement with hand to separate the pieces of straw.

We stuffed the cracks and seams with dry straw to the middle of the wall and filled the outer 4-6 inches with a straw/slip mix as we plastered to bring the wall semi flush. The consistency of the infill would make a ball when worked with the hands. We applied it by smushing the sphere to it's furthest structural limits and joining the edge where it met the slip-sprayed-straw with a little extra slip. Like joins like.

Also worth mentioning skipping the weed eating part turned out to be a poor choice as compensating for valleys in mountains in the straw was even more time consuming while plastering. Five minutes of prep to trim the wall flush after stacking the bales and before any other step would of saved us at least an hour or two infilling those elevations. So be advised TRIMMING is worth it.

Week 15-Wall Raising and Dancing

We have clay and sand!

The wall and cob oven projects are going for the fall and the weather is staying temperate. Our 2nd round of peas may actually make it outside too.

This weeks share is more heirloom tomatoes, herbs for salsa, onions, chard, kale and apples. Try the kale de-stemmed and fry with garlic and butter. Grate the apples, add to the kale with a little lemon juice and a 1/4tsp of garam masala. Cook down till apples are soft then serve.

Apple pies really good too

Week 13/14 Summer in September

This share seems like a lot of food as we combined 2 weeks in one as many crops were ripening up. Daytime to nighttime temps have been swinging 50 degrees with the nights in the 30's. The plants are giving it their last hoorah. We survived the last freeze with just some basil lost. Next year all pesto for the freezer must be made by Sept 1st. And yes, we have another freeze in a couple days so we'll be watering and hoping for the best. So, with all this variability in temps we started to increase the harvest for the share, the freezer, the dehydrator and mason jars.

By now you've probably discovered a couple bags of heirloom tomatoes the Polish Soldaki's being my favorite (pink and funky shaped), a bag of arugula-mizuna green mix, purple cipolini onions, some yellow squash and grey zucchini, a bundle of bok choy greens, parsley and cilantro, hardneck garlic and nasturtium flowers.

In preparation of growing as long as possible. We've been working on laying the floor in the greenhouse and prepping all the potting supplies for fall/winter greenhouse growing and spring planting. We're exploring what type of heat source will be most efficient-woodstove, rocket bench or perhaps a lorena oven to keep the greens, cruciferous plants, herbs, chard and overwintering peppers warm.

We lost 2 crops of peppers so far this season (too cold spring-coconut planting mix-who knows) but the 3rd is looking the best out of all of them. The sun is dropping lower in the sky and shinning more directly into the greenhouse where heat loving watermelons and peppers in pots call home. We've had luck in other parts of the country overwintering peppers and putting them out the following summer. Then they are strong mother plants and produce beautiful fruit. This may be bordering on impossible with negative temperature winters in Montana but we'll see.

We're thrilled with the idea of fresh greens all winter and started the pablo and slo bolt lettuce, cilantro and basil over the last 2 days. This weeks planting menu includes beets, onions, arugula and sweet peas. We all need a little extra sweet smelling, vibrancy during the winter months and sweet peas might be the right potion.

Keep it up Summer in September.

Week 12 Garlic Braids and Potatoes

Our purple stripe soft neck garlic braids are hanging in a prominent place in our kitchen and we hope they'll be happy in yours too. We washed the french fingerlings and blue adirondack potatoes so keep them refrigerated. And the heirloom tomatoes are starting to show their true colors. We thought we'd have to pull all of them Saturday before the freeze. The weather changed it's forecast thursday to no chance of freeze and not even frost to an abrupt turn this evening for clear starry skies - perfect for meteors dropping into the big dipper, a clear view of a northeast southwest oriented milky way and.....frosty temps. So down to the garden we go to harvest flowers, tender herbs, ripe tomatoes, mustard greens and chard. Hoping the cold doesn't settle to hard "down" in the garden. The cold air likes to ride right over our hillside and settle in the garden. In fall I've watched, with hose in hand, frost clouds start pumping to the edge of our only slightly elevated sight compared to the wetland.

The beauty in all these weather patterns taking ups and really low downs is the flower arrangements in the house. There's not much we can do other than cut the blooms and enjoy the fragrant sweet peas inside and prepare to start watering before dawn.

Next week, we'll get back into mixing in some greens, hopefully a cucumber or two and more tomatoes. If you want extra garlic or tomatoes let us know and we can add them to your remaining weeks. There is just 6 more extra large shares that might downsize to 4 even larger shares if the weather dives down too much in the evenings.

Week 11

Sun Days

Lady Friends

Garlic Farmer

This weeks share includes some leeks which is great in soup with potatoes and garlic, what might be the last off shoots of watham broccoli, arugula, basil, living up to it's name "slo-bolt" lettuce, purple top turnips-throw the tops into the leek soup, another round of beautiful bok choy, mustard greens, kale and mix of onions.

As usual, keeping track of my labeling on paper and on the trays after several transplants before the sprouts meet their destiny in the earth sometimes leads to lost letters. Every season I'm so determined to stay organized but with my tendency to try lots and lots of different heirloom varieties things get a little mixed up sometimes. So not surprisingly, in all the flip flopping my bunching onions ended up singly planted and larger than normal but my single onions ended up bunched and confined. I've thinned them out and added them to the share so the remainders are now reaching a more accurate size. The flavor is unaffected but the there should be more of it in one place.

In other delightful dining news, the tomatoes are starting to turn and the squashes are coming along. The cucumbers are looking a little larger and the garlic is curing nicely. We're braiding garlic this weekend that you can hang in the kitchen next week to cure out this fall.