SITE UPDATE

Last week, it was Jess who stepped up to the plate and into the mud. This past week, my friend Lena spent her Spring Break with me. I almost feel as though I must have scammed her. I suppose she got the traditional idea of Spring Break half right. Head far south of Syracuse and into the sun. But manual labor all week?


It turns out that Russians are a sturdy and rugged people. I threw her on all kinds of loops getting from the airport to the farm. I tested her will with (unintended) starvation. I even told her we could go hiking on Thursday, and then must have cleverly disguised shoveling gravel into a trench as hiking well enough that she didn't mind, or was too tired to remember our agreement.

In any case, she was an incredible, and much-appreciated volunteer. Just what I needed with the economy the way it is.

We finished digging the drainage trench, down to the nitty-and-very-gritty details. We tested the flow using a hose and real water.


The idea is that the slope of the trench should send any groundwater/rainwater/floodwater around the trench (under the future walls of the house), and out the drainage tail and away from the house. In this way, the drainage trench creates a theoretical "island" of subsoil upon which sits the living space. Think like water.

If there is ever so much water in the ground (such as during a 10,000-year flood) that it starts rising in the trench, it's good to have backup to get it out quick. So immersed in the gravel is a system of corrugated + perforated drain pipe. In Lena's "TRENCH-CAM" shot below, I am checking the slope of the gravel layer before laying in the drain pipe (enough slope is essential for efficient water-removal).



Here, we manufactured a T-connector from two scrap corner pieces, a hacksaw, and duct tape.


After the pipe was in, and pinned in place with rocks, it was just shovel, shovel, dump, and repeat.


At the conclusion of our week, we had filled the trench completely. We covered it with woven plastic grain bags, which will act as a water-permeable membrane (letting water into the trench, and keeping out as much soil/clay/silt as possible, all of which will find their way in eventually and clog the trench over time).


We started filling in the drainage tail with broken chunks of concrete, rocks, and other rubble.


Next week I, alone, will continue with the rubble infill, and will then move onto the stone foundation. This is representative of one of those points that separates boys from men.