PawPaw Festival, Part 2

or What you get if the Three Little Pigs had built one house all together.

Last post I talked to you about the Pawpaw festival I went to recently. Besides doing all things Pawpaw, we got to explore the grounds and see the sustainable farming methods being practiced on the farm where the festival was held. We also saw the farm house that I'll show you today.

The circular, round-timber framed, strawbale house was built using local resources and was finished about a year ago. Mike, the farmer, his wife, and son are living there now. Fortunately, we were able to go on a tour of the house. Well, sort of. There were so many people who showed up for the tour, that moving around the house was difficult. So Mike gave us an overview and let us walk around on our own. Sometimes it was difficult to get a good picture because of the crowd, but I think below you can get an idea of what the house was like.

The house has a main level and a loft. It also has a green/living roof that helps with absorbing the summer sun and insulating during the winter. It was quite a hot day when we were there and even with all of the people inside, it was pleasant.

It was a busy day for Mike, so he ate his lunch as he told us about the house. The kitchen is behind him with concrete counter tops.

The house was framed with tulip poplar timbers harvested from the farm. On the right you can see a bit of the balcony that they used as a reading area. Also, you can see the high windows which help with climate control.

The walls are all straw covered with plaster. This porthole gives a peak into them. The plaster was made of clay, sand, wheat paste, fine straw, and the secret ingredient to make it white-Charmin toilet paper. Apparently Charmin has fine microfibers in it that makes it a good match for the plaster.

The earthen floors were made of clay, sand, and straw and were hand troweled on. After the floors set, they were coated with linseed oil and finally wax.

The bathtub and shower.

The fireplace has a soapstone stove insert that keeps the house warm all night with one armful of firewood. In the summer, Ward found it a good place to sit.

There were two bedrooms, this one for his son, and one for his parents.

You can go to Mike's website if you want to see more details or see pictures of the house being built.

Paw paws

or How to Have Fun While Avoiding Chores

The Plan: To stay home last Saturday to catch up on some work around the house.

The Reality: Spent last Saturday at the Paw Paw Festival.

Part 1

It didn't take long for me to change plans once my sister-in-law sent me an email asking if we wanted to meet them at the Paw Paw Festival on Saturday. The festival was held on a permaculture farm which was one of the reasons I wanted to go. I really didn't know much about that and was intrigued by the whole concept. The owner of the farm spent 20 years living in Central and South America and brought back ideas from there to start his farm.

Part of the permaculture farm was made up of food forests, a new concept for me.  During a tour, I learned a food forest is an area that has been planted with plants for food and medicine on varying levels mimicking the different ecosystems of a forest. It has plants from large trees to vines on the ground and everything in between. The idea is that plants come back year after year and are sustainable.

Here are a few pictures of  some of the things we saw on Saturday.

In case you aren't familiar, the paw paw is a fruit tree native to the eastern US. 
The fruit is rarely seen in stores because it only ripens for three weeks 
out of the year and is difficult to transport because of its soft flesh.

Paw paws. These are a cultivated variety and are a little larger (about 4" long) than the wild ones. They also have fewer seeds than the wild ones. 

There were paw paw trees for sale, which by-the-way can grow up to 20' tall. I didn't get one because I decided next year, I'd just go to my sister-in-law's house were they have a lot of paw paw trees in their woods.

This was our tour guide who taught us about food forests. The A-frame behind him is full of paw paw seedlings. They need to spend the first few years in shade before they are planted in full sun.

This food forest is about seven years old. You can see the different levels of plants. There are two basic methods for planting--one is to fill a space with different plants and the other is to plant islands that will eventually grow together. This farmer chose the island method.

One of the things I sampled here were the fruits from this che tree. They were sweet and juicy and I really liked them.

However, I didn't sample these Jerusalem artichokes also know as sun chokes. They are used for their roots but can cause digestive upset if you eat too many. My brother-in-law confirmed this from experience.

And of course, we had to taste some paw paws. Besides the raw fruit we tried the jam you see cooking above as well as some paw paw homemade ice cream. Both were good but I'd say that I liked the ice cream more. That may have had something to do with the fact that it was 90 in the sun.

Next time in Part 2,  I'll show you the straw bale house the farmer lived in.