We had to move out to the cabin for ten days during the big freeze and have since been feeling a bit more vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather. With a baby due in August the pressure seems to be on this year to get our fingers out and start building. As for next winter (the chances of having anoher frost-proof home by then are slim) we are weighing our options, but to be spending it here in the mobiles again does not seem to be on the cards.

We have listed ourselves as Wwoof hosts now (interested Wwoofers please contact us through the Wwoof website only) and maybe a few extra pairs of hands will help to speed things along.

She had been looking at various plans of possible house designs that I had been drawing up over the last couple of years and took them with her over to the cabin along with a pot of glue and a lot of cardboard.

The basic idea is of a cob-walled house that is a storey and a half and has velux windows on the first floor. Most of the building techniques and methods of putting the house together I have ideas for in principle and the drawings I’ve done are drawn to scale. This has given us some idea of what the house might be like to live in but a scaled model is one step further and this is the project that Sandra undertook.

ground floor

1st floor

She made some adjustments to my original plans which include a reshaping of the 1st floor rooms and opening out of the ground floor into more open plan. I particularly like the stair design. She also really pushed for the curving shape of the exterior walls, which I have resisted – not for aesthetics, as I think it looks good, but more because of the complications that a design like this might cause in the actual building. But we’ll see…

All the furniture and even the walls are built to scale and we think it is a great and very helpful achievement. Thanks again to Sandra for all her help and the best of luck on your journeys.

Shower house and decking

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Sandra has been making great improvements to the cabin while she’s been living there. First she finished off the decking which I had started with the use of pallets. This was quite laborious as it involved taking planks off the pallets, de-nailing them and putting them back down onto other levelled pallets on the ground. She did a great, sturdy and tidy job.

Then we both set about making a shower house a the back of the cabin which is fed with hot water from the Stanley No8 stove that is heating the cabin. The water feeding the cabin comes directly from the water tower and we were gratified to find that no extra pump is required for a good flow of water to come out of the shower.

Sandra is finding the cabin very easy to heat and seems to be able to make a bale of briquettes (turf) last three days. Admittedly, it isn’t very cold yet but this still seems very efficient to me and she reportedly has abundant hot water for her shower every day. We have put a standard insulated (direct flow) hot water cylinder into the cabin which would hold more than sufficient supplies for the needs of a single person.

It has been great to have such an enthusiastic occupant for the cabin so soon after we had it habitable. Apart from all the improvements and lived-in feel that it is getting, it is giving us an experience of what it is like having someone living in such close proximity yet separate. We have been considering putting ourselves on the WWOOF list and getting regular volunteers here and our experience so far can only serve to propel us further in this direction.

Sandra has been occupying our wooden cabin and has been putting a lot of fine tuning into it. As a long term visitor she is obviously aware of our composting system for all organic waste (including human poo) and is a regular (i hope) contributor. She agreed that she would be curious to see what will become of the contents of compost bin number two if number one is anything to go by.

The contents had shrunk to about one third of what was there when I closed it up and apart from quite a few avocado stones (some of which were beginning to sprout) there was very little evidence of what the original contents had held.

We beheld a pile of uniformly dark (almost black) crumbly soil-like material which had no offensive odour. We shovelled it into wheelbarrows and emptied it around the fruit trees (apple, pear, cherry and hazel nut).

sandra feeding the fruit trees

Towards the bottom of the heap the texture became a bit less crumbly and although there was nothing obviously uncomposted the breakdown did not seem to have been as thorough. This might have been because when we started the pile I had not yet secured a source of straw and we were just adding grass clippings as filler to the pile. High carbon is what is required as filling for compost, such as wood chip, straw or sawdust and grass clippings are probably more nitrogen-based than is helpful.

Actually, last week Sandra and I got a round bale of straw from a neighbouring farm. It only cost €15 and should last a while. The last one sufficed for two years.

When I saw how thoroughly the compost had broken down I was tempted to put it onto the garden overwinter instead of on the fruit trees as I had planned. I only have a small amount of rotted cow manure for the garden next spring and the temptation was strong.

However, the fruit trees will be glad of it too and while any doubts remain I’ll err on the side of caution. This was, after all, only our first harvest.

The risks involved to a mother and baby as a direct result of certain birth interventions are glossed over in damning popular media articles like this one. They are vaguely, fleetingly referred to here, as opposed to the fully researched account of the early “development of the mother and baby bond” explored in this article by French obstetrician Michel Odent. The targets of the first author’s negativity and rage – female advocates of natural childbirth – are described as “smug, sanctimonious harpies”. Attitudes like this are so culturally sanctioned that the facts are in danger of being totally lost in irrationality. Homebirth, on the other hand, widely regarded as being unsafe and irresponsible, associated here with angels, crystals and bongos, has been proven to be at least as safe for most women as hospital birth – and for the women cited in the next paragraph, a hell of a lot more enjoyable than hospital birth and the episiotomies and abdominal surgeries which often go hand in hand with it. As for the risk factors, almost all high-risk women who would not be suited to home birth can be identified during pregnancy by the skilled midwives who provide them with personalised care. Oh, and good healthcare and nutrition can prevent many of these factors from arising in the first place – but let’s not get into that. Why bother analysing the fact that companies make money out of all medical interventions and drugs, as well as vitamins, iron tablets and other “necessary” pregnancy paraphenalia. Who cares that vested interests may have some part to play in the fact that our healthcare services, in the main, necessitate the use of such products, since they concentrate on what so do when something goes wrong, rather than how to prevent it from going wrong in the first place. I suppose I’m a killjoy harpy for mentioning the fact that we are at least partly responsible for our own health and wellbeing, and can empower and inform ourselves by taking control of these things. Whew, now I’m getting angry too.

Ina May Gaskin, a highly experienced, pioneering and skilled midwife in the US has statistically and practically proven the effect of the mother’s emotional state and the attitude of any birth attendants toward the mother on the experience of birth. She has proven beyond doubt that a healthy lifestyle, good relationship with a knowledgeable, respectful midwife and continuity of pre- and post-natal and labour care all add up to a safe and – shock, horror, here it comes – often an ENJOYABLE, birth. Her reasearch and wisdom are available in the “Guide to Childbirth” and “Spiritual Midwifery”, as well as in medical journals and elsewhere. These evidence-based facts have obviously not gotten through to mainstream cultural understanding or to the popular press. Sadly, the common assumption is that natural birth is awful and you’d hate it, trust us, and that medically managed birth is “progress” and the best way for everyone. Such attitudes prevent real education on how positive birth can be, as well as propagating the devastating trauma which can result from unnecessary intervention and disrespectful attitudes of some medical professionals toward labouring women. Once again, vested interests and who profits from birth medication should be considered before any attempt at an objective conclusion can be reached. While we’re on the subject of who profits, I’d like to respond to the statement in the first article linked to above that breast feeding is “not a make or break issue for the planet either way”. Hmm. Do you really think so? We’re struggling for resources on the aforementioned planet. Of course it may not be any big deal to us here in the cushy, cosy developed world, but some people are already short of water and food. They have been for years, in case you’re interested. It might really open your eyes to investigate a bit of world history, and how nations which are now powerful and rich achieved their power and riches. And where does formula milk come from? How are the animals which produce the milk fed and managed? How is the formula processed, contained and transported, and what are the pollution rates, and energy and resource requirements of these activities? Do you know what the developing-world marketing strategies of the same companies who produce baby formula for the developed world might be? I challenge anyone to read Gabrielle Palmer’s Politics of Breastfeeding or facts provided by Baby Milk Action and ever look at these issues in the same way again.

I was also excited to hear that Ricki Lake would be speaking at the conference, the fact of which means that the HBA conference got its first ever (very brief) mention on the Late Late Show where Ricki was a guest last Friday. I enjoyed hearing Ricki speak, and I’d love to think that her high profile as a talk show host and film star might raise the profile of home birth. The fact that a high profile showbiz woman can have the same powerful, positive experience of birth as me, some of my friends or the women in Ina May’s book might actually make people sit up and take note that this is possible, rather than dismissing home birthers as hippies, earth mothers etc. Ina May is, unbelievably, still not exactly a household name – maybe because of her quiet, low-key working life in an intentional community in Tennessee. Since she is a more “mainstream” celebrity, I admire Ricki very much for her wonderful film, the Business of Being Born, and having the courage to speak up for natural childbirth in this hostile culture. I know the puzzling, hurtful accusations and the dumping of issues which this can leave one open to. I am saddened every time I read another ill-informed, stereotyping, negative article about birth. I look forward to when the facts about birth and all the different ways of doing it will be freely available, without (will this ever happen?) the distortion of facts by company interests. Hopefully one day, birth as a normal, natural event will become just as much a part of the public consciousness as the current assumption that it is an occasion of pain, danger and fear.

some sweet chetsnut trees

Two years ago we purchased 600 ash, 250 sweet chestnut, 75 wild cherry and 75 oak with the intention of turning about 90% of them to coppice. They cost us about €900 and it took most of the winter to get them planted.

 Coppicing involves cutting a tree at a height of about 6 inches above the ground and allowing the stump to send out several branches the following spring. When these branches have sufficiently matured to be useful for firewood (2-3 inches in diameter) the tree is again cut back to a stump and the process is allowed to begin again.

Periods between harvests vary but are generally around 7-10 years and we won’t begin coppicing until the trees are big enough to be useful for firewood (7-10 years from planting). We planted 1000 trees. 10% we plan to leave to mature fully and the rest we will coppice. If we harvest one seventh of them every year then we should always have one winter’s supply of firewood standing in the field.

Although it isn’t quite that simple. Only the ash can be burnt immediately after harvest; the others will probably need to be left to dry for one or two years first. They will also grow at different rates and there will be some losses due to disease and pests.

I have read though that a household needs an acre of coppice for the purpose of firewood. We have planted about two acres so hopefully what we have will suffice. Just watch this space and see how we get on in about seven years…..

For toilets connected to the main sewers the contents drift along to a sewerage processing facility where the incoming soup is treated to make it pass certain minimum standards of pollution. From there it is often passed into a watercourse like a river, from which is eventually drawn the water that is treated again and sent via the mains to domestic taps for all purposes including drinking.

For people with their own septic tank, the toilet contents travel along a waste pipe (which occasionally becomes blocked) until it gets to the large submerged concrete chamber known as the septic tank. The solids are supposed to sink to the bottom and the fluid leaves the chamber by another pipe. Ideally, this fluid should be directed to a ‘soak away’ area where it filters away into the soil. However, depending upon such factors such as sub-soil, inclination of the land and rainfall, this fluid can sometimes find its way into local streams and rivers and the general water table without much filtration at all since leaving the toilet. Percolation tests and planning regulations are supposed to reduce the likelihood of this happening.

Some people direct the fluid run-off to a natural filtration system such as a reed bed. Others without a suitable site for a septic tank use what is known as ‘proprietary waste management systems’ which use power to force the effluent through a filter system connected to the main store of sewerage. These proprietary systems can cost €5000 or more and are supposed to produce a relatively harmless effluent.

In both septic tanks and proprietary there is an accumulation of solid matter  in the storage area until it is full. At this point one has to call a person with a big suction hose and a lorry to come and empty it. This can cost up to around €350 per visit and the contents are generally taken to landfill or incinerated. Some people call on local farmers  who might do it for €50 or nothing and make use of the contents for their own devices (like spraying over their fields as fertilizer). I remember as a child walking over fields near our village that were covered with multi-coloured condoms. Such practices are quite commonplace it seems and could lead to serious outbreaks of disease. The recent pollution of Galway’s water supply with cryptosporidium might well be a case in point. Protest in Galway recently was focussed on this very issue.

My own personal feeling is that the practice of mixing human waste with water (as happens with the flush) can too easily lead to bio-hazardous consequences no matter what system is being used and that compost toilet systems are much more beneficial to the planet and one’s pocket.

There are numerous designs of compost toilet and ways of implementing them but the basic principle is that human waste (poo and sometimes pee) is thrown into a heap along with other organic matter (weeds, kitchen scraps etc) and a dry high-carbon material such as straw or sawdust. The heap is then eaten away at by fungi, bacteria and worms and gets to a temperature of 40-50ºC. The materials in the heap are quickly broken down and the heat kills any human pathogens such as parasitic eggs and harmful bacteria.

When the heap is full it is left to sit for a year or so and by then its contents should be safe to spread as compost. It should look like dark brown soil at this stage and have no offensive odour. Some people put the compost directly on their vegetable garden, such is their level of confidence in the process. We will probably restrict our compost to fruit bushes and trees.

Our system is comprised of two buckets which sit under normal toilet seats; one inside, one outside. The inside one we use at night for pee and the children use it for both pee and poo. Though increasingly, if we’re outside they use the outside toilet too. If someone poos in the inside toilet we immediately empty its contents into a bucket that sits on an outside shelf under the bathroom window. At some stage the bucket is then emptied onto the compost heap.

The inside toilet

The compost bins

The outside toilet has a tight-fitting lid which is in place when not in use and this keeps away flies and anything else that might be interested in the contents. For dry material I put several fork loads of straw in a barrel and shove a strimmer in until it is all finely shredded. This shredded straw sits in a bucket by the toilet and people add a handful or two to the toilet bucket after they’ve finished. When the bucket gets full it is emptied onto the compost heap. Next to the compost there is a large covered container of straw and a layer of this is put on to the compost heap every time it is added to.

Not everyone is in a position to be able to exist with such an arrangement, though I have read of people with a small city garden having such a compost system. Neighbours need not even be aware of the practice.  If a good amount of dry covering material is regularly used it is rare to get any offensive odour from the pile and animal pests can also be kept away by surrounding the heap with metal mesh.

Getting over the mental barrier of having to manually manage one’s own and others defacations is probably the biggest hurdle to overcome. Though after some reflection I have come to believe that it is far more unnatural  to pollute the surrounding countryside far and wide and possibly one’s own drinking water with one’s own waste.

A very useful book for me in developing confidence in the practicability and safety of compost toileting has been Joseph Jenkin’s The Humanure Handbook and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about the practice of taking responsibility (and making good use) for one’s own waste.

We just recently came home from the Mother magazine family camp in North Yorkshire. I came home buzzing with physical nourishment from the delicious vegan organic food, and spiritual and social nourishment from the connections we made with so many lovely people. Imagine my sadness and disappointment when I heard, just a few days later, that the Mother magazine would be closing due to lack of subscriptions. Since hearing this news, an extremely passionate community of Mother readers have been working hard to get the word out there about the magazine, and attract it the readers it deserves. I would like to urge anyone who has not had a look at the Mother to do so, and consider subscribing. Part of the reason it has been struggling is that of Veronika’s refusal to compromise. She only uses recycled paper and vegetable based inks to print the magazine, and will not accept advertising which goes against the ethos of the magazine. Therefore, it is essential that anyone who loves the Mother-or anyone who even thinks that they might-gives it a try and tells their friends. The magazine has never been and never will be about profit, but anyone who loves all the things it stands for now needs to vote with their wallet. Even if some of the ideas seem outlandish to you now, you can take what you want and leave the rest-and you may be very surprised by the way in which practices which you once found a bit extreme may become an important part of who you are. Take it from me-my life has been enriched, and I have come closer to my Truth by the Mother magazine coming into my life.

However, when there are shortages it is not in regard to the gross amount available but rather in relation to the amount of treated water there is.

Any water that is delivered to a mains outlet has to have been through an intensive process that ensures it is safe to drink. The proportion of this water that is actually consumed by humans is probably miniscule.

It is used for washing clothes and cars, irrigating fields, baths, showers and flushing toilets amongst other things. Clean water, that has been intensively processed to be suitable for human conumption. The amount of energy that goes into this process is enormous.

How can this energy wastage be reduced? If there was an incentive (which there might well be soon with the proposed introduction of metered water charges in Ireland) people might be inclined to find a way to store rainwater for all or some of their non-drinking useage. Water for flushing toilets and laundry, for example, doesn’t need to be exactly sparklingly clean.

We currently have 2000 litres of rainwater storage which we use for laundry and an outside tap. We used to have it connected to the inside taps but found that an occassional small worm might find its way onto a toothbrush or into someone’s hair.

We have another 1000 litre tank that we fill from our shallow well which serves the house. This is up a three metre tower and also provides water pressure. We also pump well water into a blue barrel that sits under the roof and this supplies the drinking water filter. The reason for the sheltered blue barrel is to try and keep the water cool (above 25 degrees celsius there is a risk of incubating legionaires disease) and out of the sunlight (to prevent algae growth).

Living out here near the bog there is very little danger of toxic materials getting into our water. There are just a few cows wandering about in neighbouring fields. However, the water doesn’t look great. Probably due to the peat soil, the water has a yellow colouration and it seems to be quite difficult to get over the mental barrier of drinking dirty-looking water.

We have used a ceramic filter for the last couple of years and are very happy with its performance. Before this we used a filter jug but the new system is more effective and efficient and the water we drink is sparklingly clear and tastes lovely. Every few weeks we remove the filter from its housing and scrub off all the accumulated slimey debris. A filter usually costs about €30 delivered and lasts between six and eight months.

We are fortunate to have the opportunity to draw water from our own well and there are probably many people who don’t have any option but to take the water from the mains. However, by consideration of the tasks that don’t really need the use of cleaned water most people should be able to reduce their consumption of this resource.