Operation Green Skin Milarepa Food and Red Hair Himba dung-cob huts: African West Asian Earthen Beehive Cobhouse plan

So I had Samsara playing today. I wasn't really "watching" it directly - I find that style of movie a bit annoying - but I did notice a very wonderful African Cob "beehive" style house featured....

It's just such a beautiful design.

So I already hauled up a big load of Horse Manure - which is perfect to make Cob bricks. I already have the clay up there.

I already experimented with a cob wall for my tipi - and I bought 6 bales of straw - it was pretty expensive. $6 a bale. So by hauling the horse manure - I am saving a lot of money plus the "straw" is already "shredded." I could not really shred the straw I bought before - so instead I just kind of made straw bale design for insulation and then clay walls that were too crumbly. So then later I added a Mud-clay surface coat to cut down on the clay dust. But the mud is very "swampy" methane swamp stink mud....

So the problem with the Tipi design for cob is that the wood poles at an angle can not hold that cob weight on the upper part of the tipi - so instead I bought rock wool. I don't really want to buy more rock wool as it has a lot of environmental pollution in the production....

I've never been a fan of "rectilinear" philosophy - and that is based on building also. You just don't find "rectilinear" structures in Nature.... at least not that often.

The film showed the interior of the beehive cob house - it had a wood frame - just as I used for the tipi - like a wattle and daub design. This one is from native indigenous in the "New" world:

Since I'm not in a dry desert climate - then I can use my new canvas paraffin tarp for waterproofing the outside of the beehive cob top - just as I used the Army pup tent canvas for the top of the tipi.

So what I'd like to do is combine the Chinese Kang bed-stove heater design with the West Asian-African Beehive cob design...

somehow....

This way I would have a Winter housing situation to go along with the tipi that I already constructed. The tipi was a quick, easy construction that is strong and sturdy against the wind - so it is pretty cozy - even though I literally just threw the thing together. One pole is "caught" between two other poles that happen to cross each other. haha. But it seems to be holding up fine. There's 16 poles - so plenty of strength but I don't really want to cut down too many more willow trees of that size. They need to grow back now. Willow is great though for smaller fire size.

So it states - no windows since that's the only way to have a roof with no timbers. Exactly!!

Or this similar "wattle" design

So I could just use a cob brick design - or use a wattle and daub cob design. I'll probably do the wattle and daub just to have the willow tree frame provide some extra structural support.

Of course those have a straw roof. So I would have to then build the cob up internally. Let's see if I can find the Samsara beehive houses...

Ventilation holes on the sides provide cooling air circulation through cross-ventilation, and on top of the dome, one acts as a chimney. Their domed shapes also mean that there is a low surface-to-volume ratio, meaning that there is very little heat loss during the cold winter months.

 pretty awesome.

People get fancy real quick but I like simple and also sloppy....

I can't find the Samsara Beehive Cob Wattle/Daub house online - so I'll take a screenshot photo and upload it... in the mean time... FOOD!

So what am I going to eat? I don't like "farming" - it's too labor intensive. Much better to "gather" food that grows wild. Turns out the Cob Hut design that I am attracted to is from a FORAGING tribe that split off from the San bushmen - 30,000 years ago - and the "incorporated" the pastoralism from the Bantu. 

 a second composed of Himba, Ovambo, and Damara ancestry in northwestern Namibia distributed throughout the mopane savannah. Interestingly, the Damara are a Khoekhoe-speaking population of former foragers (later in servitude to the Nama pastoralists)

The Himba...And so I want a perennial - that provides vitamin C and protein and calcium....AND the Deer don't eat it.... what's the answer:

Stinging Nettles - the SAME plant that Yogi Milarepa lived off when meditating in Tibet - he ate only Stinging Nettles so his skin turned GREEN!!

So I just ordered 10,000 stinging nettles seed. It is NATIVE to the area where I am planting it. Yes it does "spread" but not so bad that it should not get too out of control. In fact I hope it does grow well as the soil is a bit swampy to say the least.

 They seem to need more water to germinate than I gave them. Makes sense since they mostly grow in wet areas in the wild.

Nettles FIX NITROGEN so they improve the soil. The seed needs to FREEZE first - so I'll drive up - and cast the seed - while it is still freezing over night - and then I'll haul up soil - to cast over the seed....

 There is a secret to growing nettles from seeds. Toss the seeds and slightly dampened soil in the freezer for a week before planting. Or, put them outside in the frost. Nettle seeds need a frost to activate them. I plant them in cold soil, then allow them to grow up.

Mix your tree seeds in a clean plastic sealed or ziplock bag with thoroughly moistened vermiculite or peat and place in the bottom vegetable/fruit compartment of your refrigerator. DO NOT PUT IN THE FREEZER!!! It is important to thoroughly but only slightly dampen the vermiculite or peat. Excessive moisture can cause your seeds to mildew and grow moldy.

 should be stratified for 40 to 90 days at 33 to 41 F, while seed of the Norway maple (Acer platanoides) require 90 to 120 days at 41 F.

 Objects such as blades of grass cool by radiative cooling, in which radiant heat is emitted into the air and eventually into space. Air temperatures immediately surrounding or a little above these efficient heat radiators can remain in the mid- or upper 30s during this process.

Secondly, thermometers are usually placed 4-6 feet above the ground. On clear, calm nights, cool, dense air sinks to ground level and can easily drop to 32 degrees or lower, while the temperature at thermometer level remains above freezing.

 So hopefully I'll get enough frost up north to germinate these seeds this year....
And hopefully that will mean FREE FOOD. That grows back on its own!!  Wow the Nettles was also act as a Border Fence to deter trespassers! the reviews are amazing

 10000 seeds only equaled a tablespoon.

 2 little pouches the size of postage stamps that were supposed to hold 5000 seeds I couldn't believe this was true. Well, I used only a small percentage and the seeds germinated quickly and I now have a plethora of healthy plants. I have supplied seeds and plants to other interested growers.

So that's Somalia - I like that - Beehive style but it's Wattle....

Oh I gotta watch that Samsara on my 7 inch portable DVD player - since that's my only device that has fast forward and pause, etc. -

OK I took photos.

So there it is - a nice perfect round shape - not too pointy....

A close up view -notice it is COB - it's not straw - it's clay mixed with straw but on a Wattle (wood) frame. So the cob has manure mixed in with the straw...

So this is proven by looking at the INSIDE - that's the upper part of the inside - notice the wood frame but NO bricks - rather it's "daub" - or just sloppy clay-straw-manure mixed together.... I don't even see any cross branches. there must be some hiding.

yeah the phone was reflecting the light from the screen or I mean the screen was reflecting the phone light.... Anyway so with the person - you get a sense of the scale of those wood cross beams - they're about a person width wide - so a couple feet wide and tall...at a minimum.

OK I figured it out - those are the Himba from Namibia!!

The Red Hair.... oh these huts do have a center support post inside.As this vid shows -

So now the framing...

Cool - NO cross beams

Simply and Sloppy - just how I like it!!!

So this has the "hogan" in the front - as my tipi also has....

So I can get the stove started with the front door open - then once the smoke clears - put the pot on top and close the door - so the stove heats up the hut. Then have the exhaust go into a "bunk" in the top of the dome - using 6 inch duct pipe (to make sure there's no carbon monoxide leakage).... and then run that out with a chimney.

So I can use the TLUD stove - for a clean burn - with little fuel use - PLUS get FULL heat from the stove and the exhaust - to also store and radiate the heat via a Kang Chinese "bunk" bed - elevated....

Stylin!!

So here we see the framing - barely in the back - so yes - it's a CONE with the branches but then a DOME with the cob... interesting....

And again - not too many cross branches....and they're on the outside - not woven. So very simple.

There it is....

So simple and sloppy yet very effective. Just how I like it!!!

So the cross beam is just tied off - one on the outside and one on the inside

And the dome is all one branch - pretty cool.

And  a bigger version:

So I'm pretty excited to build on....

Just trying to get a handle on the roof....

OK one image blocked the link but this is the SAME - design - so they put an outer cross beam where the roof starts - and then two more cross beams outside as the roof goes up - to be able to climb up on the roof.

Pretty awesome!! Simple and Effective (and a bit sloppy)....

That previous photo was from this source - a close up. thanks!

OH NOW I GET IT - the cross beams on the inside and outside are TIED TOGETHER - makes sense. Simple and ingenious.