• 
• 
  • About Harvest Haven
  • Why Harvest Haven
  • The Dandelion
  • Raising the Flag
  • Who Is Who
  • What We Are
  • Customer Feedback
  • Farm Picture Slideshow
  • Map&Store Hours
• 
  • About Food
  • Why Organic
  • Why Harvest Haven
  • Harvest Haven Products
  • HH Vegetables & Fruits
  • HH Meats
  • HH Poultry
  • HH Eggs
  • HH Honey
  • HH Other Products
  • Other Organic Food Products
  • Organic Vegetables & Fruits
  • Organic Dairy Products
  • Organic Dried Fruits Nut & Seeds
  • Organic Grain & Bulk Foods
  • Product Lists
  • Harvest Haven Product Lists
  • Other Organic Product Lists
• 
  • About Water
  • Water Filtration
  • Grander Water Revitalization
• 
  • About Air
  • Grander Air Revitalizers
  • Heaven Fresh Ionizers
• 
  • About Health Devices
  • DOVE
  • Soft Laser
  • Solaris Blanket
  • Chi Machine
  • HotHouse (Far Infrared Dome)
  • Electro Reflex Energizer
  • Magnetico Sleep Pads
  • Q ENERGYspa
• 
  • About Health Aids
  • Natural Salts
  • Sunrider Herbal Products
  • Dandelion Greens & Root Powder
  • Hemp Products
  • E3Live Blue Green Algae
  • G5 SILICA
  • BetaLoe Immune Booster
  • Hyland's BIO-XII (Cell Salts)
  • Wild Oil of Oregano
  • HydraMé Lotion
  • Aroma Crystal Therapy Lotions
  • Intime Deodorant
  • Vita-Lite Full Spectrum Lights
  • Organic Buckwheat Pillows
• 

Harvest Haven Health - New Buildings General Information

Why Straw/Clay Construction?

Why Timber Frame Construction?

Japanese Timber Framers

Beta Bunkhouse

Footing Construction

Stem Wall Construction

Workshops

Welcome to the new Harvest Haven Health website still under construction. While this page is complete, you will not be able to link to pages outside this section yet. To access the sections listed in the top menu, please go to www.harvesthaven.com.

Beta Bunkhouse

Please enjoy the photo journal of the building of our “Beta-version” experimental straw/clay building project.

Click on thumbnail to enlarge. Then place mouse pointer on each picture to initiate display of "Previous" and "Next" functions.

				<

While Mark had participated in Eco-Nest’s two week intensive straw/clay building seminar in New Mexico this past spring, we felt it wise to do a small scale project using straw/clay before committing to construction of our new building. We strived to simulate construction exactly as it would be executed for the new building. This enabled us to test our intended clay source, experiment with different straw and clay mixture ratios, work the kinks out of our self-fabricated mixer, and experience construction and erection of the framing components, in a comprehensive “dry run.”

We took on this project fairly late in the year, delayed by farm work and the strip-footing construction work for the store and house.  We finally started near the end of September, with hopes of still having sufficient drying weather for the walls. The start-up process was more time-consuming, however, than we expected. We had travel to pick up the clay, finish our straw/clay mixer, pick a site, come up with a plan (mostly sketched while eating breakfast every morning), and buy lumber.

In a flurry of activity in the beginning of October (due to an upcoming seminar Mark was leaving to attend), the skid-able foundation was set on washed gravel and brick footings, levelled and constructed, the matrix components constructed and erected and the mixer tested. In a marathon session that ended working by headlamp and tractor lights until midnight the day before Mark left, all but part of the fourth wall of main structure was completed. Trevor, James and company finished off the fourth wall the next day and the Lord provided an unusually warm, dry and windy fall for the walls to dry thereafter.

Having to resume and complete our harvest season activities, this is also where construction on the project stopped.  We also had to tend to the stem wall foundation construction on the new store and house before winter came. Thus, the bunk house awaits completion as soon as we have a long enough break from the winter weather to allow us to build some rafters and put on a roof.

The experience was especially valuable, not only for learning construction techniques firsthand, but also in creating the design, utilizing elements of Robert Laporte’s matrix framing system.  This helped us to better understand the innovations of his system, making it “more our own.” We gained new appreciation for the years of work that have gone into Robert’s innovation.

We hope to have the bunkhouse available for viewing next summer during the planned seminars.  Time permitting, we plan to add a simple solar hot water heating system and outdoor shower to the structure. 

Seeing the straw/clay walls here in our own yard was a moving experience.  Everyone that stopped in to see it could not help but reach out to touch the wall. There seems to be a deep and basic attraction that is universal. We greatly look forward to having a store and house made in this manner.

Previous            Next