Trying out tyres...

We´ve been discussing building techniques with Don Rodrigo, our builder, to see if we could try a few changes in the design and materials to make the house a bit greener. For example, I´ve been reading a lot about lime based cements which seem to be all round a lot better than convensional cements. It can be used for mortar and rendering and apart from its great building properties, its also aesthetically different, more rustic and smooth looking. Unfortunately Don Rodrigo´s not overly keen, he doesnt have much experience combining that kind of mortar with normal porous bricks and worries that it could affect the structure of the house if it goes wrong. He seems positive about the lime rendering though, so that seems like a reasonable compromise!

We are also looking in to using ´guadua´ bamboo for fences and other bits and pieces as it grows happily around these parts and is as sturdy as timber if treated properly, so that could be an interesting project for us in the meantime. At the moment we are also working on a trail down through the forest so that we can access the stream, the area that will eventually be our veggie plot and our composting area and just generally make the most of that part of our garden. We decided to do this with recycled tyres because it´s very steep and they make great stairs. So, we´ve been loading up on bald tyres at the roadside tyre-changing stations and lugging them up to the plot in the back of our car (an old Renault Clio, not especially designed for the purpose!), cutting open the tops and packing them solid with earth to make a stairway. It´s pretty labour intensive but it´s a great way to recycle the old tyres, build our stairs and best of all, it´s practically free! Eventually we might cover the surface of each step with gravel or cement to make it less slippery but for the meantime its a great alternative to scrambling up and down the slope!

We´ve also been getting advice on what sort of things to plant and it seems that the easiest crops to plant on the slope are corn, yucca, granadines and coffee.  We´d like to flatten off a section for greens and maybe plant a couple of plantain or banana trees down there too. We´ll have to get some compost going though because the red soil´s useless for planting anything. It´d be great to get some Californian red worms eventually to keep the plants well fed. In the meantime though we´re just digging out the stairway and then hopefully we´ll build a tire wall to fill with earth and flatten off a bit of the garden up the top.