written by Niels

So, I went back to tire pounding. My muscles from the Zwolle Earthship job were wearing thin and so was my skin. Blisters on day one, calloused over on day two, torn up again by day four, but only then because we were rained off the site on day three. Welcome to Scotland, where the good people of Greenhead Moss Community Nature Park in Wishaw, near Glasgow, are building a community centre Earthship. Mikey Reynolds style. And frequent readers of this site should know how the Four Elements people feel about that particular style.

Why still building Earthships

So, why am I still building Earthships? (And why do Rogier and Laila still want an Earthship builder to build their house for them?) Well, because I like building them. I might stress and rant about the sloppy insulation, the ridiculous amounts of cement used, the waste of perfectly good glass and aluminium and yes, also about the horridly unskilled volunteers getting in my way, but I still like building them. I love the hard work, the sweat you produce and the undisturbed sleep you get. Wake up, eat, shuffle, pound, level, tamp, get some more food in, repeat once or twice, take a swim, cook and eat together, play some ultimate frisbee and fall asleep. Repeat for twelve days straight. Consider yourself lucky you didn’t play rugby at night.

And I love the people I work with. My colleagues are crazy enough to do this job and that should be enough said. Besides the ones I knew from Zwolle I got to meet some of the first European tire pounders, involved in the Fife, Brighton, Normandy and Brittany Earthships and they clearly know what they’re doing. At some point we were well fed by volunteers and the three of us must have slapped up 25 tires within an hour. Hammers weaving in and out, the three of us locked in some arcane and violent dance. Marvelous. May I mention I swung the heaviest one at 10 lb.?

Volunteers

I even like the volunteers (a little). When there’s just a couple I can actually take them along and teach them something useful. And when there’s a lot I can appreciate the speed they bring to the site. Without pneumatic hammers, bigger diggers and conveyor belts, getting up the walls with just a small team is a bit of a physical and psychological struggle.  “Aardewerk is paardewerk” is what the dutch have to say about moving dirt around, but they probably don’t know about Glasgow’s alcoholic rehab plan. They (and we) were quickly renamed the chain gang, but thanks a lot guys. Seriously appreciated.

Kicking Mike

But most of all, I like the fact that we’ve kicked Mike. Yes. The Guru’s out. No more hit and run buildings. No more ‘looks good from Taos’ remarks. We’re open to criticism and change now. We’re all experienced Earthship builders, so we know about it’s pros and cons, but we also know about other styles and techniques. We’re ready to mix and match. We know about rainy climates and drainage. Instead of telling clients how damn lucky they are to be allowed to spend hundreds of thousands on the presence of Mike, hallelujah, we’re telling ourselves how lucky we are to be building peoples well considered ecological dreams.

And that’s also what I keep telling myself about the Four Elements House.

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