Backyard Project: 2 Different Roof Systems Serving 2 Different Purposes

He looks like a ghost buster but he is a roof layer - a torchon roofer. 

Nortek Exteriors is back to install the same sort of roof they put on the studio - a torchon roof.

First, a layer of fireproof fibreglass felt is nailed in place. 

For the next layer, a sheet of bitumen is melted and sealed in place with a butane torch. 

While continuing to be used extensively in commercial buildings because it is easy to install and repair and is one of the cheapest roofing materials available, it is a somewhat controversial because it is made from similar materials to our roads. 

The reason why we decided to go with the torchon roof on the studio and garage is I want a green roof. Under the forest canopy, mosses and lichens will naturally colonise the roof while feeding on the bitumen. It will last 15 to 20 years which is a shorter life span than some other roofing systems but it is easy and inexpensive to scrape off the mosses and add another layer of bitumen on top of the old. Though they do last longer other roofing systems need to be removed and put in landfills before the new material can be installed.

The other controversial roofing material is going on top of the propagation room.

The flashing has been installed.

The lumber has been delivered - Kayu Batu - a sustainably harvested hardwood from SE Asia. Some would argue it is irresponsible to use hardwoods from other countries and that would include buying furniture made from hardwood. 

We decided to go with the hardwood because treated like a piece of furniture it will last as a roof for up to 50 years - a better option to replacing local wood decking every 6 to 10 years. We live in a rainforest where conditions are perfect for breaking down and rotting wood. Kayu Batu is suited to these wet conditions and is resistant to mould, fungus, wood rot, insects and fire. It does not require the usual yearly painting or sealing. It can be oiled to keep the rich colour or it can be left to age to a silver grey, which we will be doing. The only maintenance will be keeping it swept.

Josh ordered 10-foot lengths to cover the 10-foot wide deck so there is no waste wood produced during construction.

Josh made a jig to get an accurate positioning of the supporting cross members made of water resistance composite wood.

He is making panels of 3 board lengths.

Installation details in a later post.

2 different roof systems serving 2 different purposes - 1 to provide food for living organisms the other to resist living organisms.

My New Reliable Velocity Iron

This is my old Reliable Velocity iron. It has been reliable but after 5 years I have worn it out. It is not worth repairing, the cost of which would include having to ship it both ways across the country. It is no longer made and has been replaced by an updated model.

This is my new Reliable Velocity iron. I am hoping it has kept the best features of the older model and improved on others.

New on the right. There are a lot more and smaller steam holes. The grooves that shot the steam along the sole plate have gone. It will be hard to compare if the new is more effective but here's hoping.

The top point is pointier - a good feature for detail work but I use this iron mainly for flat yardage. The back is curvier which makes it harder to tell when the straight edge of the fabric is covered with the sole plate.

New on the right. The main difference is the push button digital readout has gone. This was the feature that failed on the older model. My resident engineer says it would have been very difficult to keep the electronics sealed away from the steam chamber. The temperature is now controlled by a manual dial.

The water sprayer has gone. That is OK because I didn't use this feature. The steam-generating chamber produced enough steam to smooth out the driest and most wrinkled fabrics.

The new model has a clearer plastic water chamber so it is easier to see the water level. As a consequence, I don't overfill it as often. 

New on the right. The water filter (bottom left on the older model) has gone. With a steam generator, the water quality can affect its lifespan and efficiency. I am filling the new iron with only distilled water to avoid the buildup of scale and rust in the chamber. Even though the shop I bought the first iron from told me it was OK to leave water in the chamber all of the time, I now empty it at the end of each session. It will make a difference in prolonging the life of the iron.

New on the right. The water fillers illustrate the newer model has a smaller water chamber holding about a third less water. I consider this a negative feature because it means I have to refill it more often. 

I poured water from the old container into the newer iron and this is the leftover water. I don't know if you can see the water line here.

After a short time using the new iron I found another negative feature. I kept naturally putting my hand forward of the rubber handle and unintentionally pushing the buttons with my palms. I found it was easy to bump the circular dial to a different setting. At first, I thought this heavy iron, which I like the weight of, was unbalanced in that my hand went to the centre point and covered the buttons.

 Then I noticed when I kept my hand back away from the buttons my fingers were scrunched against the back of the handle. I have decided the handle design was too short.

I really like that this iron is so heavy. It does a great job without my having to put any weight on the handle. All I need to do is guide it with my hand. 

When ironing I aim to keep the iron down and in contact with the cloth as much as possible and to lift it only when I need to move the fabric. By using the weight of the iron and its feature of being able to continuously produce steam I can get a lot of ironing done relatively quickly for little effort on my part. This is the main reason why I bought this brand again. I am hoping its modifications and my better care of it will ensure we have a long and happy life together.

What is your favourite iron? I would be interested to hear from you.

Rainy Season on Vancouver Island

There are really only 2 seasons on Vancouver Island - the wet season and the dry season.

Here are the dates of the first rain - the beginning of the wet season - over the past few years.

2014 - September 17

2015 - August 28

2016 - August 30

October 2016 it rained 27 days out of 31.

It has been the 2nd wettest October since 1940.

All of this rain has been a real test for the drainage systems in the new back yard. I am pleased to report there has been no sign of water in the sunken Gravel Bed garden. This time last year it looked like we were building a swimming pool.

And the hugelkultur beds seem to be absorbing all the rain they can get without any surface erosion.

I am very glad I left the garden beds either covered in big-leafed plants or a thick layer of straw as protection from the impact of all those raindrops on the soil.

The Backyard project Phase 3 construction began the last week of September when the old deck was taken off. And work has continued throughout one of the wettest seasons on record. Rain doesn't stop the work but it slows things down, things get very muddy and it can't be as much fun as working on a sunny day.

Backyard Project - Moisture - Mulch - Mulberry

Ron calibrating the moisture meter.

When the rains stopped late June and our dry season began we had to start hand watering all of the new beds. The irrigation system in the backyard had been destroyed by all of the construction and earthworks. The irrigation company we wanted to use was booked up for months ahead but they couldn't start anyway until the next phase of construction was underway. We were a bit tardy on getting that next phase of construction going. I was busy focusing on keeping the new soil beds alive with soil building activity.

After a month or so of me leaping out of bed before 7, every third day, to go and hand water all of the new beds for a couple of hours and coming inside with my PJs wet through Ron got into planning mode and set up a temporary irrigation system. It involved multiple timers, different types of hoses and a range of sprinklers.

In some places, the perfect spot for full coverage by the sprinkler was to set it in the middle of a path. Priorities. It took Ron several weeks of shifting sprinklers, gauging water pressure, testing soil moisture with the water meter and fine tuning the timers before the system could run with less attention.

I have drawn up a moisture level plan for each garden bed with different amounts of soil moisture  related to the number of hours of sunshine and the type of plants to be planted in each bed. The moisture requiremnets are different in each area which added to the complexity of setting up a manual irrigation system.

As some garden beds filled with plant growth the watering needed to be adjusted and all of the newly planted trees continued to need regular watering of a couple of months. We continued to monitor the system over the whole summer.

This year the rains started again with a sprinkle on August 28th and the irrigation system has been turned to manual. I still need small amounts of water now I am into to fall planting.

We are very pleased we got through the summer without any loss of life and now have beds full of deep rich soil. 

Davey Tree Truck full of freshly shredded tree prunings.

Ron made contact with a local Davy Tree company owner who lives near our place. When he has a truck load of good quality shredded trees and prunings he arranges for his truck to swing by our place and dump the load. It is convenient and a cost saving for them and a load of gold for our garden. A win-win situation.

We were finishing off the second mulch pile when the Davy truck came by with a third load this summer.

I must say I am fascinated watching the details of how vehicles work.

This driver displayed impressive driving skills when he backed his large truck in under a tree to dump the load exactly where I wanted it.

Here he is at Control Central with safety vest and ear protectors on. Stabilising legs go down, the cherry-picker hoist is raised, the back door is opened, the tray is raised, the load slides out - all with accompanying different warning signals.

And there it is. I am going to ask Sammy to bring around another load of spent hops from a local brewery to mix into this pile to get it activated and to speed up the breakdown process. 

And... I found a very healthy mulberry tree for the Leaf hugelkultur bed - more details about the tree choice later.

Backyard Project - Planting in the Gravel Bed Garden

Gravel Bed garden

The plants I planted a couple of months ago are thriving, confirming my design criteria for this bed will work.

All plants must be culinary and/or medicinal, able to thrive in full sun, suited to well-drained soil,  need only low levels of water, and have blue to purple flowers with the odd one having yellow flowers.

Confident my design will work I have visited several nearby nurseries to find plants that fit the spec.

Here I am making a path through the bed using low growing plants that can take light foot traffic. I have found many different types of thyme to begin the path.

The rosemary and sage I transplanted from other old beds are thriving. I will be able to take cuttings from the rosemary once the rains begin again.  I will propagate these cuttings for another project I have in mind.

I have marked the spots for the path plants with empty pots weighted down with stones. 

The thyme path meanders through the bed like a river. 

I have read lots of books and checked many websites to make a long list of suitable plants. I keep this list in my bag ready for when I am in the vicinity of a nursery. It is a list of plants for the spots either side of the path and between the stone wall.

I have found out I love reading about a plant, visualising how it would look in a particular spot, and checking on how well it would relate to the other plants around it. 

When I look at this Gravel Bed garden I see it full of mature plants and looking beautiful. I imagine walking slowly along the meandering paths smelling and tasting leaves and harvesting a few springs for the dish I am preparing in the kitchen. There is a spot for a bench which will slow me down even more. It is what I need.

Backyard Project - Sharing the Fruit and Other Ways of Encouraging Life in the Soil

We have so enjoyed a small crop of figs off our newly planted trees but we left this one for the ants. The ants are working hard at breaking down and mixing the soil in the new Hedge bed.

The results of a fun morning at our local nursery. Now to plant all of these in the beds without straw covers. There are plants that grow lots of leaves, have large leaves, or have lots of biomass in the soil - mesclun, squash, sweet potato, mullein, artichoke. Also, there are lupins to plant around the new trees, with each tree getting 4 of these nitrogen-fixing plants. There are plants for the Gravel bed garden - all medicinal or culinary. 

Willow Water

I pruned the willow tree outside my studio window then cut the prunings up finely and left them to soak in a tub of water. I have since read I need not have put the leaves in the water. Indole butyric acid (IBA) and Salicylic acid (SA) leaches out of the cut willow and into the water. These 2 chemicals act as a natural rooting hormone and prevent infection in new roots. 

I soak each root ball in the willow water before planting and give the new plants a followup drink of willow water. And I talk to them to help them settle into their new home. It all works.

Gardening rule - "One must plant all purchased plants before going back to the nursery to buy more." My sister says she has never heard of this rule and never will. And if there was such a rule it wouldn't apply to all of those cuttings and plants from friends waiting to be planted.

Following the rule, I am now allowed to go back to the nursery for more.

The nasturtiums are doing well growing next to the hot rocks. Hummingbirds and many different insects visit them. I snack on the leaves and flowers while out gardening.

Time to turn the studio beds again.

I take off the straw cover, lightly fork over the soil, give it a good watering...

...and put the cover back on so the soil can continue cooking with renewed vigour.

I am pleased with my decision to leave some beds fallow because it is so much easier to continue adding layers as the soil builds up. On the other beds, I am using plants to do most of the soil building work.

Backyard Project: Soil Building verses Plant Growing

Once all of the soil beds had a layer of mulch topped with a deep layer of straw I planted literally hundreds of seeds and waited. Patiently. But nothing except the potatoes and a few nasturtiums appeared. A month later I thought I must have bought a nonviable batch of seeds so went to another place and bought more bulk seed. 

Weeks later still nothing.

Sammy thought the straw layer may be too thick preventing the seedlings from getting the light they needed to grow. 

We pulled back the straw and found these - they have lots of different names - pill bug, roly-poly, wood louse, armadillo bug, potato bug, among others. The deep straw and rich mulch provided ideal damp dark conditions for the pill bugs and many other insects, worms, slugs and ants to thrive. And they were feasting on every new shoot that dared to pop out of the ground. But at the same time, all of the bugs were doing an excellent job at breaking down the organic matter. The pill bug and his cousins are particularly adept at breaking down the cellulose in the mulch. They were well on their to making rich soil.

I had to make the decision - leave the bugs to do their work or plant more seeds so the plants can build up the soil? I decided to do both but in different beds.

Since the potato beds were doing relatively well I pulled off most of the straw on those beds. It exposed the soil to the light and it dried up a lot and I had the added task of heaping the soil up around each potato plant. There wasn't much extra soil so some of the growing potatoes were exposed to the light and developed green sides. Oh well, I was growing potatoes for soil building and there were still more than enough to eat.

After I mounded up the soil around each potato plant I planted hundreds of seeds for the third time.

In the back straw-covered beds the bugs are hard at work.

In the front is a potato bed interplanted with 5 different types of beans and 2 different types of peas. While the beans, peas and potatoes are good companions, the beans and peas have root nodules the nitrogen fixing bugs like to live on.

Within the week, a welcome sight.

It is all about learning from experience.

Cryosphere - Hydrosphere completed and out there

Cryosphere II - Hydrosphere, 80"h x 50"w, machine sewing, dry felting, stuffing; nylon, polyester, net, cotton, beads, glitter, Timtex, cotton and rayon thread.

An exploration of the way water changes its molecular structure each time it shifts from a frozen state to a solid-state and back again. It is a process known as a phase change and is unique to the water molecule. 

Stuffed icicles of frozen water with bead-filled ends.

Attaching all icicles and flowing water panels together.

Attachment to the hanging device

While visiting hardware stores, fishing stores, pharmacies, a haberdashery and chandleries I bought clip-rings, lure swivels, silicon hair ties, tapes of hooks and eyes and nylon cord. I worked with them all to find a hanging device that would allow the panels to hang freely, hang straight and reposition themselves after being moved.

I settled on the tapes of hooks and eyes.

I bounced ideas off Ron, my resident problem-solver. He made a solid wooden frame to hang the work from.

All packed and ready to go with one and a half hours to spare - just enough time for a shower before I have to leave for the gallery. 

At the gallery attaching the hooks to the eyes.

Velcro to hold on the pelmets. An eye screw and carribenna type attachment to hold the wire to suspend the work from an overhead beam.

Cryosphere - Hydrosphere was my entry in the recent Vancouver Island Surface Design Association's annual exhibition 'Current Threads 2016' installed at the CACSP's Tulista Gallery.