West Wyalong, NSW, Australia
West Wyalong, NSW, Australia:
March 10-16, 2012
(FOR INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT IS COVERED IN EACH & EVERY WORKSHOP, CLICK HERE)
I am very excited to return to Australia in March 2012! The hosts for this workshop are fantastic and super enthusiastic to get going. This build signifies for them a commitment to simplifying their lives in order to have more time to do the things they want to do (like playing with the grandchildren). By offering this workshop in a different region this year, I hope that many of you who were unable to attend the Lameroo workshop due to distance will be able to attend this year.
Workshop Key Points:
• Completely off-grid (wind and solar power)
• 3 Bedroom/1 Bath home
• Office plus Craft Room
• Single Story
In the host’s own words:
Where do we start?….
A long time ago, we met in Sydney. We were both ex-residents of large cities overseas. Although Tuula lived predominantly in the capital of Finland, Tuula had the advantage of having lived in the wilds of Finland as a child. Graham on the other hand really only got to see the beauty of the bush when he turned 16 and his family left London for Forbes NSW. This was an eye opener, the relaxed lifestyle, the clean air and the warm (ok the extremely hot) weather. Nonetheless, this was to be the beginning of a love affair with the bush that will ultimately see the pair of us retire in the Aussie bush.
The framing for our house will be a steel structure and will have an internal living area of 21Metres by 7Metres, with an additional veranda surrounding the building to 2.7M on the South, 2.1M to the North plus 3M on the East and West.
The Eastern wall and veranda will incorporate a 3M double glazed sliding door, looking up the paddock towards the old mullock heap and across the bush, while the Western side will incorporate a windowless wall but the veranda will house an in ground food fish pond with associated raised vegetable beds (filtration system). The front veranda (Northern) will act more as a walkway along the front of the building as this faces the road, while the rear veranda (Southern) will act as a relaxing outdoor area that we can sit under while enjoying the grand children and the chook-yard orchard.
The house itself will be fully off grid utilising wind generators and solar panels. Further we will be minimising our “mod cons” in favour of our desired, more relaxed lifestyle, including reading and working in the community. We will nonetheless have a proper coffee maker (you cannot abandon all the mod cons (grin)).
Our slab incorporates water pipes to provide mass heating/cooling. Coincidentally, the fish like the temperature of their water to be the same as we prefer our house so we will see what we can do in creating a symbiotic thermal relationship. (A thought in progress at this point). While the outside walls of the house will be straw bale, the inside will be conventional wood stud walls, although we intend to insulate these walls for noise and thermal balance.
There will be two visitor bedrooms, one set up for our grand children’s sleep overs (hopefully a regular thing), as well as one set up for our most welcome visitors, both domestic and international. There will be a master bedroom with en-suite as well as a large craft room/studio for conducting art workshops. There will be a main bathroom / WC and a laundry with access to the southern veranda. A study for Graham’s work will sit next to the large open plan living area, which will have 270 degree views of the outside and hold the snooker table.
The kitchen will incorporate the rear end (or the front end depending on your perspective) of a be-spoked oven/stove/fireplace with the other end being a plain pyro glass door in the lounge area. The oven/stove will naturally have a wet back but will carry a gas cook top insert for the summer. Naturally with an alternative energy design, refrigeration becomes an issue and as there is no commercially available refrigerator that will meet our design requirements, Graham will have to build our roll out under bench drawer fridge. (lucky he has some skills).
We were originally intending to build a mud brick house next to the shed but time and common sense caught up with us and also we discovered straw bale building. We are thus baling within our steel framed building and we realised we need less space (as the kids have moved on) and we wish to get to a low cost of living lifestyle sooner rather than later. The thing that most attracted us to straw bale (after the insulation properties and the beautiful massive structural feel) is the ease to which you can take an existing approved structure, such as the steel frame we are using here, and modify it into a highly liveable and incredibly energy efficient home.
Our town is close to everything, only 1 ½ hours to Wagga Wagga, and even less to Grifith and Leeton. A quick drive of 3 hours to Canberra for some coffee supplies or some city culture. Our shire has the unfortunate name of the “Bland” shire, interestingly enough, if you just slow down and check out the amazing bush here you can see it is far from bland, there is a new (old) gold mining interest which is said to be one of the richest in the southern hemisphere, and is truly remarkable in that they are actually moving a lake to get the gold??? wow, our wedding rings must be worth a bob then.
There are many motels and several pubs if you do not wish to sleep in the paddock, however we will have flat cleared areas in our 10 acres for tents caravans and campers. Naturally there will be shower and toilet facilities and solar hot water. Being as this is the bush, there is always the possibility of coming across a brown snake, it is wise to avoid picking up a snake to kill a stick. We find that the snakes prefer to stay away from us and we live with them quite happily as they tend not to hang around the house.
Tuula, being the ever practical one wants to remind people that this is a smaller country town and as such the shops close early and the pharmacy is only open 5 ½ days a week. So please bring any medication needed to cover Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Oh also there is no late night shopping. Most other requirements/supplies can be purchased locally if needed.
We really look forward to a wonderful workshop and meeting you all.
Your hosts
Tuula and Graham Pratt.
The cost to attend this workshop is $800 which includes all instruction, camping spot, use of bathing facilities, free Straw Bale DVD, and all food during the workshop. A $200 non refundable deposit secures your spot at the workshop.
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