| Straw Bale Goes
to Siberia
by Jeff Ruppert
During most of August this year, I joined two other natural builders
from Colorado, Paul Koppana and Cindy Smith, along with our guide and
translator extraordinaire, Alyson Ewald of Missouri, in the southern most
reaches of Siberia. Our goal was to demonstrate the feasibility of bale
wall construction in their region. We were observed by local folks and
not so local officials alike who were interested in seeing if this new
and mysterious building technology made sense.
The project consisted of building a small storage building (15m x 30m)
on a piece of land in the Altai Region. The land is owned by the Milky
Way organization, a sister organization of the 21st Century for the Altai.
These and other organizations are working to promote eco-tourism and stewardship
of the land and its beauty in the Altai.
The Altai is known to many in Russia as the "Pearl of Siberia."
It is geographically, culturally and biologically very diverse - a literal
crossroads throughout the millennia.
Upon our arrival, we began pouring the foundation. This was done with
the assistance of an electric mixer. We poured the concrete by hand, which
took 2 1/2 days. Prior to forming the foundation, the main carpenter on
the project buried 3x15 posts at the corners and along spans for the eventual
support of the roof framing. These posts were exposed at the corners for
future carving. We also used 3x15's as the top plate, laid flat. After
the foundation was complete, we moved on to making plaster samples and
completing the top plate framing. Cindy was our "plaster master",
while Paul and myself worked on the structure.
Alyson interpreted for us with great ease and worked on each part of
the project with the members of the organizations. It was an ongoing merry
participation of eager folks.
Halfway through the project, before plaster and roof framing, Milky Way
and 21st Century hosted a seminar which was advertised in the local paper
and on a tv station they run from Barnaul, where they are located.
Approximately 30 people showed up, along with the local newspaper and
tv crew. We explained, again with the help of Alyson, how bale structures
worked and described their advantages. There were many great questions.
Feedback from this seminar was very positive. Many non-believers found
themselves quietly converted to believing this is a building technology
worthy of Siberian winters. The seminar injected all of us with a renewed
vigor to close-in the structure before our departure a week later.
For the remainder of the project, Cindy coordinated all of the volunteer
labor to apply large quantities of cob and earth plaster to the walls,
while Paul and myself put the recycled, corrugated, plastic roofing up.
I also worked on making window frames for the reclaimed windows, while
Paul did other carpentry tasks, such as putting plaster stops up and making
things look neat.
We departed on the 29th of August with tears in our eyes and new friends
wishing us well while asking us to return soon. I am sure some of us will
return, as this is just the beginning of gaining official acceptance of
bale construction in Russia.
I would like to close with a very heartfelt THANK YOU to COSBA and others
who donated funds for their roof. We asked for $800 for the roofing materials.
We received close to $3,000! The extra money will go towards renewable
energy projects on the same project. The Russians were grateful beyond
words! Thank you again everyone!
So that is a quick summary of our trip. We will be writing a more lengthy
piece for The Last Straw. Make sure you don't miss it!
Happy Bale-ing!!!
Jeff Ruppert, P.E.
Principal
Odisea LLC
Ecological Building, Engineering and Consulting
|
