Rich's Eye for Design

No, this children's fireplace is not at White Hawk, but wouldn't it be neat if it were?

Rich, a future White Hawker and sustainable designer, let us know about this outdoor playspace built from leftover construction materials in Trondheim, Norway.  Certainly gives us ideas for future projects...

Coming to White Hawk: A Coppice Grove

At the January meeting, we approved a proposal by Greg and Marty for a coppice grove. Here's their proposal:

BACKGROUND

Our heating systems use natural gas, which has become a battleground issue in NY because of hydrofracking. Greg & I have elected to heat with wood almost exclusively as part of our protest against the proposed lack of regulation in that industry. Also, as fossil fuels grow more expensive over the coming years, natural gas heat will become harder for all of us to afford. Wood heat is the simplest alternative to fossil fuels, so we can predict that many people will convert to wood as fossil fuel prices rise. Currently wood is readily available in our region, but as more people start using it we can expect its price to rise along with fossil fuel prices.

We would like to plan ahead for this situation by establishing a coppice grove to supply firewood for Greg's home. Coppicing differs from conventional woodlot management in that trees are selected that will regrow from the root stumps after cutting. Each stump sends up several new shoots that will be allowed to mature to harvestable size and cut again. Trees that are managed in this way can regenerate indefinitely, and the established root system produces more rapid growth than replanting with seeds or saplings.

BENEFITS

* We would eventually become self-sufficient in meeting our heating needs.
* We would develop expertise in coppice management for others to draw on.
* A coppice grove would diversify our ecological environment. In England, where coppice groves have been established for millennia, they form a unique ecosystem that is distinct from either forest or meadow.
* Woodlands provide a more stable climate than cleared areas. They are less affected by global warming, with the potential to diminish the impact of winter winds and summer heat and drought.
* The grove will help to offset our carbon emissions. The standing biomass, even after we begin harvesting, will be much greater than what is currently present in the cleared areas, and the root systems will continue to grow.
* As the trees mature, the shaded area under them will be available for others who wish to grow shade-tolerant crops (e.g. medicinal herbs, mushrooms.)
* Some firewood species also have other uses, such as food for humans or wildlife, wood for other uses, or living fences.

GROVE SIZE

How much firewood can a coppice grove produce? For a sustainably managed conventional woodlot, I've heard numbers ranging from half a cord to a cord of firewood per acre per year. Coppice groves are reputed to produce up to five times as much. If this productivity is actually realized, we should be able to heat Greg's house on half to one acre. However, younger trees may produce lower yields, and some trees may die due to weather extremes or pests or disease (such as emerald ash borer or oak blight.) We would like to allocate at least two acres, both as a buffer against potentially lower yields, and to make it possible to expand the grove to accommodate additional households.

SPECIES SELECTION

Tree species will be selected based on the following properties:

* Quality of firewood (high heat, low smoke, ease of use)
* Growth rate
* Ability to regrow after coppicing
* Tolerance for wet and clay soils
* Suitability for our bioregion (native trees preferred)
* Resistance to known pests and diseases, including deer and rabbits
* Variety (polyculture, not monoculture)

The following species are currently on our list of possibilities:
Sweet birch, river birch, red maple, silver maple, red oak, pin oak, white oak, swamp white oak, osage orange, crabapple, mountain ash, walnut, mulberry, wild black cherry, black locust, honeylocust, sycamore.

This list may change as we learn more about the different species. Trees will be purchased from local and regional sources, for example the Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District annual tree sale, Musser Forests in Pennsylvania, or St. Lawrence Nursery.

PREFERRED LOCATION

The grove should be accessible enough to manage and harvest, but away from areas that are most suitable for agriculture and orchards. We need a ready source of water for new saplings. We would like to use land that is likely to be retained in the event of a partial land sale.

The spot that comes to mind is SW of the existing homes, in the meadow between the topsoil pile and the deer stand. In that location it could function as an extension of the permaculture belt, connecting the area around the village with the woods along the stream.

One of the species we are considering is Osage Orange, which has a long history of use as a windbreak and living fence. Osage orange is a bear to work with because of its thorny nature, but it provides more heat per cord than any other wood, and it grows rapidly, coppices readily, and tolerates a wide range of soil types and weather conditions. We might want to establish a hedgerow of osage orange around the perimeter of the potential orchard site east of the parking lot, between it and the stream.

We are willing to consider other suggestions.

TIMELINE

We would like to select a site and plant an initial group of trees this spring. We will add trees each year for the first decade, at which point the first group of trees should be ready to begin harvesting. Most trees will be harvested every 10 to 20 years, though kindling wood may be harvested more often.

Chickens!

This just in from Rich:

"Andreas, my teaching partner at Yestermorrow, is getting pretty good press for his chicken coops, the result of much research into what makes chickens 'happy': modern: Modern living for the birds. They are in production in CA where raising chickens has become all the rage in Berkeley and other urban settings."  

Who is Rich?  He'd like to live here one day, and I'm working on a profile of him to share soon.

And because I like photos, here's Buster, another resident of White Hawk.

They Played!

Well, I'm pleased.  The children played, you see.  They did what they were supposed to do.

We had this pesky thing going on here where the children didn't live up to expectations.  At various times, they didn't want visitors.  They didn't want to go over to other people's houses.  They appeared completely uninterested in each other.

This really put a cramp in any plans we had for building up an image of carefree childhood with frequent social contact.  People get a little nervous about that social piece if it isn't there.  Ahem.  I get a little nervous about that social piece if it isn't there.  And it's always there, of course.  How are you going to avoid people in a family?

Well, yesterday the stars aligned.  All parties ended up in one house, all willing to be there and stay there with no machinations on our part.  And they played!  And we got to watch them.  Was it nice because they were just being who they were?  Yes, definitely.

Also, a bonus.  I got to check that thing off on my list.  They played together.  There. They appear normal now.  I took pictures to prove it.

Misty Morning

I have this passion to share White Hawk with you--what it looks like, what it feels like.  Yesterday morning while the boys were still asleep, Sue and I did a little exploring.  She got her first White Hawk scratches tumbling out of the sled onto some prickers, but she's healing nicely.  I captured our reflection in the front door before we headed out.

I dub this the deer apple tree.

In the fall, I saw red apples beckoning in the distance and approached.  No dice. All the apples were out of reach, and the deer obviously visited on a daily basis to keep everything with their reach apple-free.  It's a really neat, sheltered spot under there when there is greenery.  Okay, you can have the apples, deer.  At this moment, going to a grocery store seems like such an odd and elaborate thing to do.

We have planted four apple trees here so far--two by the playground (thanks, Steve) and two in our own yard (thanks, Joe).

You rock, rock.

Re-enactment of I Heart Huckabees, anyone?  This guy makes you sit up and take notice.  If you don't stop for at least seven seconds and appreciate her utter rockiness, you're a dolt.  No, you're probably not.  But I like this boulder!  Joe found it walking the land not long ago, and Sue and I rediscovered it.

This is teasel, I think.  I like to put my winter photos of plants and flowers up against the summer ones.  The winter ones are equally beautiful to me--more starkness and space.

Queen Anne's Lace

Milkweed

The summer ones are so lush!  But winter walking is so easy here.  No more impenetrable thickets.  Yes, big metaphor there.

Coming home, everything is so misty.  Our three homes so far--5, 6 & 7.

5 = Laura, Steve, Sylvanna & Arvelle

6 = Greg and sometimes Marty & Sophia

7 = Joe, Julie, Dmitri  & Susanna

The playground is across the street.

I expect to see a rider on a noble steed or some such emerging out of the mists.

Here's the other side of the circle.  See the road curving around?

Then we find a neat stripey rock.  I love the green grasses and clover clinging to the earth in the middle of winter.

Hey, I think I just created my first photo essay.  Isn't that what this is?  Painless.  Lest you should get the wrong idea about me and my waxing rhapsodic over nature, I spend most of my time in my hidey hole house and like it there.

Blast from the Past

Let's taste a little summer today.  Every year, we participate in Danby Fun Day, marching in a parade and staffing a booth.  Last year we had a frisbee toss in our booth.  Nice, fun, local, walkable event.

The funny thing about the parade part is that for most of it, there's hardly anyone there--more paraders than viewers.  Then you get in view of the fire station, and there are teeming crowds!  Who knew this many people lived in Danby?  A very fun experience.

Couldn't figure out how to get the slideshow in the body of this post, so look over to the right.

Viewpoint: Imperfections

As I get older, I know less.  I know that's an old saw, but as I'm experiencing rather intensely, it's a new saw.  I discovered it and I claim it.

One thing I'm bumping into a lot is the concept of image--my image as a mother, my image as an ecovillage resident, White Hawk's image as a place to live.  My ideas around image spring from the I-know mind.  This is how it should be, and you're not measuring up!

I remember touring EVI years ago and noticing Tide in their laundry room.  That image sticks with me to this day.  Tide, I thought!  How could they?  Oh, but they did.  What did I think?  That they were going to have some kind of laundry police enforcing standards so I could feel comfortable with my idea of an ideal?  Tide was not pretty enough for me.  It didn't fulfill the image of harmlessness I so badly wanted to accumulate and project.

They didn't have enough solar panels to please me, either.  I smarmed about it with Joe later.  (Yes, I made that word up.)  We talked about how we would do it.  Better, of course.

Now I'm living in an ecovillage in a house without solar panels.  The shame.  Where is my image?  I almost feel naked here without my solar panels, the ones I imagined having on my house, the ones that would make me okay.  If I came into a bunch of money tomorrow, I'd slap 'em on the roof.  It would give me great pleasure.  What are my motives?  Very good question.

I had to live the ideal to know it wasn't the ideal and never would be.  But it's better.  It's real.  That puts you and me and everyone out there on equal footing.  Sometimes I'm very uncomfortable with the notion that living here is "better" somehow.  I want to do something to hammer that down and equalize it.

Here's what living here is.  It's a natural and easy expression of who I am.  I know that because I'm here.  Other natural and easy expressions of who I am: composting, homebirthing, buying and eating local and organic food, cloth diapering , living in a space others would consider small, planting lots of stuff outside in a generally permaculture-y way, baking vegan and organic.  And yet other natural and easy expressions of who I am:  drinking Coke, hopping in my car any damn time I feel like it, consuming incredible amounts of sugar, using a lot of water, munching on Cheez-its, thumbing my nose at BPA.

I'm not proud.  But I'm not ashamed, either.  That's the wonder of it.  Living in a place that labels itself with implications of virtue has brought me face-to-face with all those images and labels that construct my self.  It helps me realize that change will happen exactly when it does.  Forcing any kind of virtuous change from the outside, in my experience, uses up so much cerebral and judgmental energy that it kind of sucks the sap out of life.  Vital, real change has a momentum of its own and unfolds perfectly.

The antiperspirant story is a good one.  I keep antiperspirant handy for those times when I believe you people out there in the world will make me sweat.  I notice I don't "need" it at home.  When we first moved here and people were coming by, several times I moved the antiperspirant from the bathroom shelf into the medicine cabinet.  I could not allow the green home tour folks to see that hard plastic bottle full of chemicals that must be bad, bad, bad.  The deodorant crystal nestled in a basket?  A winning image-maker if I ever saw one.  That stays on the shelf.

Anyhow, silliness.  Come on over and I'll make a pile on the table of the stuff I've hidden.