The new intern crew of seven minus one carried the friday beer-thirty rituals into the night by splurging for pizza at American Flatbread...
... down to the very last crumb
Saturday, May 20, 2006
New intern crew exhausts all funds on first outing!
The new intern crew of seven minus one carried the friday beer-thirty rituals into the night by splurging for pizza at American Flatbread...
... down to the very last crumb
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Staff Fun Day
On April 28 we took the staff and interns on a field trip day to visit Shelburne Farms and the Intervale. At SF we took a tour of the Beeken Parsons woodworking shop, and toured the grounds (pictured at right in front of the Inn at Shelburne Farms in the gardens), saw the beautiful barns, and had a picnic. Then we headed to the Intervale in Burlington where YM instructor and Board Member Buzz Ferver gave us a tour of Intervale Compost and the farms there. Fun was had by all!
Monday, May 01, 2006
Yestermorrow Mixes it up at the Mixer
More than 100 members of the Mad River Valley business community converged on Yestermorrow last Thursday for a Chamber of Commerce Mixer. Here's part of the Yestermorrow crew mixing it up with the crowd.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Deconstruction and Materials Re-Use Trainings Underway
This Monday we kicked off the first of two training sessions on Deconstruction and Materials Re-Use co-sponsored with ReCycle North of Burlington and funded by a generous grant from the EPA. The 5-day session brings together 20 participants from non-profits across the country (including Hawaii, Wisconsin, Colorado, New Jersey, and a few closer to home), as well as a slew of trainers who are experts in the fields of deconstruction. The goal is to build capacity in these non-profit organizations to expand their operations, deconstruction crews, as well as open materials re-use stores, which takes valuable materials out of the waste stream. The group will spend two full days in the classroom here at Yestermorrow, and three days out in the field on a variety of deconstruction jobsites, and visiting other materials reuse and salvage stores in the area.
Treehouse railing in progress
Finally, the dangerous ramp to the treehouse will be no more!
Posts going up
Lauren working hard, while work-trader Nate checks to see if posts are sturdy
Uh oh, the SUPERVISOR!
Extension cord consultant Keyda
Posts going up
Lauren working hard, while work-trader Nate checks to see if posts are sturdy
Uh oh, the SUPERVISOR!
Extension cord consultant Keyda
Natural Building in Costa Rica
Returning to Vermont after spending a couple weeks in Costa Rica has been quite a change. After hanging out in hammocks, swimming in beautiful swimming holes with waterfalls, and eating tropical fruits off of trees, it was tough to come home to a cold and snowy April. To give a bit of background, I went down to Rancho Mastatal to participate in Yestermorrow's Natural Building in Costa Rica course. I traveled to Costa Rica a couple days before the course to meet up with fellow Yestermorrow intern Emily, so that we could check out the Pacific Coast for a couple days [awesome].
Sunset at Manuel Antonio, Pacific Coast
The ranch is just too amazing to put into words. If I was forced to describe it with one adjective, I would probably choose "magical". Rancho Mastatal is an environmental learning and sustainable living center located on approximately 300 acres of protected land in the Costa Rican rainforest. Tim and Robin, who started this community, are the most incredible, selfless, best examples of human beings that I have ever met in my life. Can you tell that I loved it there? The quality of life that exists on the ranch is unparalleled anywhere. So, let me correct myself... there are two words to describe life at Mastatal: Pura Vida.
The class itself was an excellent adventure, although I missed a couple days due to an intimate encounter with a poisonous fruit [I'll have to save this story for a later date]. I have experience with designing and building, but no experience with natural building. I was pretty excited to work with my hands (and feet), using all local and natural building materials.
Mixing cob
Skip and Lizabeth, the two teachers of the course, are both skilled and dedicated craftspeople who have a great wealth of knowledge that they are enthusiastic about sharing. As a group, we democratically decided to work on a new classroom space, since the ranch has a growing need to accommodate students. We came up with a very organic looking building that everyone had a hand in designing. Important elements of the design were having lots of curves, a smooth and flowing transition from exterior to interior, a meshing with the natural environment, and a cool, calming place to relax. Although we did use a poured concrete foundation (not-so-natural), the base of the building was all cob (a mixture of dirt, clay, gravel, and straw) all harvested fairly locally and mixed with all off-the-grid power (humans). We also incorporated wattle and daub into our walls.
Wattle and daub wall in construction phase, with cob bench
The wattle was made of woven local bamboo, and the daub was a similar mixture as the daub, only with a little bit of manure added in for flavor. The remainder of our building is constructed using a bamboo frame. Some highlights of out design inclue a cob bench, the first ever cob sink in the entrance way, built in shelving for shoes, and a floor that transitions from gravel to bamboo to cob with lime-plaster finish. Below are a few pictures of the space. Enjoy!
View from outside during construction
The sink, made from cob
Built-in shelves, clay mixing area
The crew.
I miss you Costa Rica!
Sunset at Manuel Antonio, Pacific Coast
The ranch is just too amazing to put into words. If I was forced to describe it with one adjective, I would probably choose "magical". Rancho Mastatal is an environmental learning and sustainable living center located on approximately 300 acres of protected land in the Costa Rican rainforest. Tim and Robin, who started this community, are the most incredible, selfless, best examples of human beings that I have ever met in my life. Can you tell that I loved it there? The quality of life that exists on the ranch is unparalleled anywhere. So, let me correct myself... there are two words to describe life at Mastatal: Pura Vida.
The class itself was an excellent adventure, although I missed a couple days due to an intimate encounter with a poisonous fruit [I'll have to save this story for a later date]. I have experience with designing and building, but no experience with natural building. I was pretty excited to work with my hands (and feet), using all local and natural building materials.
Mixing cob
Skip and Lizabeth, the two teachers of the course, are both skilled and dedicated craftspeople who have a great wealth of knowledge that they are enthusiastic about sharing. As a group, we democratically decided to work on a new classroom space, since the ranch has a growing need to accommodate students. We came up with a very organic looking building that everyone had a hand in designing. Important elements of the design were having lots of curves, a smooth and flowing transition from exterior to interior, a meshing with the natural environment, and a cool, calming place to relax. Although we did use a poured concrete foundation (not-so-natural), the base of the building was all cob (a mixture of dirt, clay, gravel, and straw) all harvested fairly locally and mixed with all off-the-grid power (humans). We also incorporated wattle and daub into our walls.
Wattle and daub wall in construction phase, with cob bench
The wattle was made of woven local bamboo, and the daub was a similar mixture as the daub, only with a little bit of manure added in for flavor. The remainder of our building is constructed using a bamboo frame. Some highlights of out design inclue a cob bench, the first ever cob sink in the entrance way, built in shelving for shoes, and a floor that transitions from gravel to bamboo to cob with lime-plaster finish. Below are a few pictures of the space. Enjoy!
View from outside during construction
The sink, made from cob
Built-in shelves, clay mixing area
The crew.
I miss you Costa Rica!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Mud Season
The last bits of snow are melting away in the corners of the Yestermorrow campus... and mud season has arrived! All kinds of interesting things are re-appearing after being covered by a blanket of white, and compact cars are disappearing into the ruts in our driveway. A few shoots fo green are daring to emerge, but winter may not be over yet!
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
The Great West Wall: Week Two
We are continuing our work on the west wall of the Yestermorrow workshop this week....
A little background about this project:
In the mid-to-late nineties, the former Alpen Inn was gutted and renovated to become the new home of the Yestermorrow Design/Build School. This included deepening the exterior walls on the interior to allow for super-insulating the building, and replacing the old single pane windows with new triple paned high efficiency windows. This work was done in phases throughout the building, and the last phase has remained the workshop wall--hence the work we are doing now. Completing this project will conclude the insulation work for our main building.
In addition to switching out the old Alpen-era window and door openings, and building in the thicker wall, we are also installing a beam header for a large door that will allow us to move large projects and materials in and out of the shop.
A little background about this project:
In the mid-to-late nineties, the former Alpen Inn was gutted and renovated to become the new home of the Yestermorrow Design/Build School. This included deepening the exterior walls on the interior to allow for super-insulating the building, and replacing the old single pane windows with new triple paned high efficiency windows. This work was done in phases throughout the building, and the last phase has remained the workshop wall--hence the work we are doing now. Completing this project will conclude the insulation work for our main building.
In addition to switching out the old Alpen-era window and door openings, and building in the thicker wall, we are also installing a beam header for a large door that will allow us to move large projects and materials in and out of the shop.
Yay Yestermorrow!
Hello Everyone! Happy Spring -- it has arrived with bells on here in the valley today!
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Yestermorrow in the News
This month we've seen a couple of great features come out on Yestermorrow in the news. Check it out:
- Boston Globe (Sunday, March 19): Plastering: Striving for the proper mix of chemistry, artistry
- Cottage Living (March 2006): Buying and Restoring Old Houses
- Vermont Magazine (March/April 2006): Today's Yestermorrow
- Strictly Business (March 2006): Building for the Future
West Wall Renovation in Progress
The Great West Wall project also made great progress this week, according to Dave:
“We have removed all the old doors and windows and installed the replacements in the designated openings. The remaining openings have been framed in and sheathed. We have also successfully installed the microlam beam without any trouble. Next week we will continue the project by starting to frame out the new interior wall, relocating the electrical work and dust collector as needed, and preparing the wall for insulating.”
Welcome!
Welcome to the Yestermorrow Design/Build School Blog! The purpose of this blog is to give our students, friends, alumni, and visitors a sneak peek into the day-to-day life of Yestermorrow. Check here to find out what our classes are doing, what's happening on campus, and other exciting stuff. Stay tuned!
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