Making Adobe Bricks

It is (was) June in the southwestern USA and as is typical it is hot and very dry-

 what better time to make adobe bricks because they also like it hot and dry.

I had a pile of adobe dirt that I wanted to get rid of

 and knew I would need these bricks for a future project.

As you can see above the ingredients for making adobes are:

-a pile of good adobe soil

 (sift your soil only if it has stones larger than about 2" or lots of debris),

-a form for the bricks,

-straw for mixing in with the dirt,

-water, a water barrel and a 5 gal. bucket,

-a very sturdy wheelbarrow,

-and a shovel, hoe, and trowels.

Make Your Own Solar Oven

For many years Allison has wanted a solar oven 

and we finally got around to building one out of cardboard

to serve as an experiment, prototype, and a pattern for a permanent oven.

(Our latest post on our new and improved oven is:

Make Your Own Solar Oven- A New Improved Oven)

Fence And Wall Ideas

Seems like a good time to show some more fence and wall ideas.

The above wall is in Santa Fe, N.M.

Helmut Hillencamp's Metal Gate In Santa Fe, N.M.

For many years we lived across the street from the Fayette Street Academy

where interesting things were always going on.

One of those things was the evolving metal gate 

built by Helmut Hillencamp of Iron to Live With.

Update On A Japanese Style Shed

One of the more popular posts in this blog has been 

A Japanese Style Shed,

and we were recently given a tour by the current owners of the property,

and got to see the many improvements they have added.