ストローベイルハウスin軽井沢 Straw Bale Home in Karuizawa

July 1-8, continued work on Tetsu and Yukiko's straw bale home in Karuizawa, Nagano-Prefecture.

Produced several samples for the bathroom finish using combinations of black volcanic soil from the site, clay, hydrate lime, and straw fibers.Mud wasps coming to steel clay from the walls.

Will they carry the house away?

I caught Fujita-san, the next door neighbor, peeing in his garden. He said that at first, he worried that the urine would burn the plants. Quite the contrary. His potato plants are enormous.

ストローベイルハウスin軽井沢 Straw Bale Home in Karuizawa

June 16-17 continued work on Tetsu and Yukiko Ito's straw bale home in Karuizawa.

Truth Window
The blue door covers a window through which the straw can be seen.

Construction has been covered by a couple of blogs:
http://www.ozone.co.jp/blog/archives/2011/06/post_84.html#more
http://ommidoriya.exblog.jp/

岐阜県 塩月邸 ストローベイルハウス Straw Bale Home in Gifu-Prefecture

June 14-15 visited Shiotsuki-san in Gifu-Prefecture. Shiotsuki-san is currently building a straw bale home. Interesting foundation detail. Shiotsuki-san intends to attach metal lath at the bottom of the bale wall and plaster with mud. For further details, please see Shiotsuki-san's blog: ストローベイルハウスで里山に住みたい！

美山町の萱葺き職人 Thatch Roofers in Miyama, Kyoto

On June 12, I had the opportunity to interpret for a couple of thatch roofers, Shiozawa-san and Nakano-san. During the morning session, Shiozawa-san taught students from the US about the knots and tools used to thatch roofs in Japan. Nakano-san created a model roof and demonstrated how materials are used.
In the afternoon, Nakano-san spoke about the roofs he's thatched, many of which are cultural heritage sites. Shiosawa-san spoke about the greater ecological and social significance of thatch roofing in Japan.

Nakano-san making a bamboo needle used to thatch roofs

Storage of reeds and grasses used for thatching

Further details can be found at the following websites:
Shiozawa-san's homepage: http://www.kayabuki-ya.net
Nakano-san's homepage: http://www.cans.zaq.ne.jp/miyama-kayabuki/

Architectural Heritage Preservation in Japan

June 9-14 helped interpret for a group of University students and professors studying architectural heritage preservation in Japan. As a part of the course, students spent one week in Miyama (京都府美山町), known for its thatch roofs. Ozeki-san a Japanese timber framer, helped organize the Miyama portion of the course. Ozeki-san standing in the guesthouse and cafe he built. This building features various interior finishes plastered by some of Japan's most renowned plasterers.

Mr. Ryokawa's Rocket Stove

On May 22 visited the home of Mr. Ryokawa, an architect and arborist living in Karuizawa, Nagano-Prefecture. Mr. Ryokawa has designed and built a number of rocket stoves.The flue travels under a long bench (not pictured) before exiting

Heat Riser

伊藤邸プロジェクト Straw Bale Home in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture

May 11-24 was in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture working on the straw bale home of Tetsu and Yukiko Ito. The home was designed by Professor Goichi Oiwa (大岩先生) of Slow Design Research Group (スローデザイン研究会). Roughly 80 straw bales were used for the south and east first floor walls.
Workshops were held May 14-15 and 21-22. Many people attended including Hiroaki Yoshimoto of the NPO Toyama Straw Bale House Association (富山ストローベイルハウス協会).
Greg Lasigan, a farmer and Anglican priest from the Philippines, was an incredible contribution to our team. A real pleasure to work with. Sometime in the near future, we hope to work together on a model home for the Philippines using mainly bamboo, mud, straw, and unmilled lumber.

Bales stacked and ready for plasterTetsu's nephews did much of the first thin mud layer

Soil from Nagano Prefecture

Chibana-san prepares the split bamboo and rope base for plastering over wood.

Architect and arborist Ryokawa-san prepares a mix of long straw and clay for shaping the wall.Minami cutting straw

Greg shredding straw with a weed-whacker

Shredded strawArchitect Kitamura-sensei applies a cut straw and mud mix to flatten the wall.

The last coat of the scratch/base coat is applied with a trowelExterior scratch coat

Bamboo lattice (竹小舞) and earthen plaster for the interior

Apply the first coat by hand and follow immediately with a trowel.

Group shot from the last day of the workshop

May 8 helped with the construction of the tree house at Wa-no-ie "Sakurai" (和の家「桜井」) in Tokyo.
The tree house is special in that it utilizes traditional Japanese building practices, such as timber framing and bamboo lattice and earthen plastered walls. Mr. Katsumata (勝又氏) lead construction of the bamboo and earthen plastered walls.

Adobe mud loafs to be stacked as bricks.

Leyenda Straw Bale Antique Gallery and Store

April 25 to May 5 worked on the construction of Leyenda Antique Gallery and Store in Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture. Construction began last year and was featured in a blog entry last November. Construction of the building is lead by Hiroaki YOSHIMOTO of the Toyama Straw Bale House Association (富山ストローベイルハウス協会). Hiro and Kyle Team Work included interior and exterior plastering. Although the building utilizes ventilated rain screens to protect the bale walls from rain and snow, the owner wanted straw to be a visual element of the exterior. We achieved this by including straw fibers in the exterior lime plaster, which gave the finish plaster a soft yellow tone. For the finish plaster, the hydrate lime was purchased at the local home improvement center, sand was purchased locally, and local straw was shredded on site. All together, the cost of materials was just over 20,000yen, that's about a $200USD.

Pulling apart fibers for the plaster

Group photo

Spring

Since beginning to manage the permaculture garden at Nihon Universiy's Center for Environmental Sciences, this this the largest number of summer vegetable seedlings I've started.

Several hundred seedlings and many more not pictured

Five years ago I received asparagus seeds from a buddy in Pennsylvania name Paul Starr. I'm finally getting around to planting those asparagus seeds. Thank you, Paul.

Lacto-fermenting Takana, a mustard green.

Cherry blossoms at the research center

Baking pizzas in the earthen oven.