Stem wall all covered up!

Last weekend, since provision came in and we needed a little break, went to Bethlehem and visited with the van der Wals. Always a very blessed time to be with them. Got to see their photos from their trip to Ireland, and had many Kingdom discussions that were encouraging to all (even some mammoth stories)!

The angels are helping us, because with interuptions, still lots of cob done! Monday as I was going to get Corné from Tshepo, my father-in-called saying he was stuck in Ficksburg. He took his bakkie (truck) in, and it wouldn't be finished in time for him to drive home. So I quickly got Corné, dropped her off at home, drove to Ficksburg, picked him up and grabbed some groceries. Could actually buy ice cream since our freezer is now in our house, and not 1km away! That was a first time in many months. The next day I was suppose to drive him to pick it up, so stopped work early, drove to Kranskop to get him, and he just got off the phone and it wouldn't be ready till the next day! So Wednesday stopped early again, took him in, got a few errands done.

Western kitchen wall.

However, with all the short days, still rose the kitchen wall high as I want to go right now. About to the level where the dining window will sit, so stopping for the moment.

Wednesday we started on the last corner of the house with no cob- the lounge and bathroom walls. The first layer is always a bit tricky as the cob needs to overhang the outer part of the stem wall about an inch/2 cm. That way when rain flows down the wall, it will drip off the overhang, and not get stuck where the cob meets the stone. If it did, the cob could get wetter and wetter, and possibly fail. However, making mud stick out sideways isn't easy! The bathroom stem wall is a bit low, so it actually was easy to put up sticks of firewood to support the cob till it firms up (a couple hours).

Support first layer of cob.

Mixing extra cob for Monday.

A view we don't normally see, as it is outside the fence.
Looking here at the bathroom and lounge walls.

Bathroom wall, with kitchen in background.

Thursday we got a good rhythm, got two layers done. Friday, our 5 man day, I was a little bummed because we didn't have dirt ready to use on the one side of the house. So, we began the day in the mine getting loads of dirt. Once making cob, the guys outdid themselves, and were mixing on 5 tarps! I could never catch up! At lunch, there were mixes resting in the tarps. After lunch, we covered the whole lounge and bathroom walls in less than an hour and half! I thought it was much later. We put some cob on one of the kitchen walls, while the guys mixed more. Ended the day a bit early, with four mixes of cob covered up, waiting for Monday morning!