Friday, January 27, 2017
Primitive technology: Bed Shed
He must be doing something right he has over 3.5 million subscribers.
I built a bed shed, a small shelter with a sleeping platform built into it. It’s quicker to build than a large hut but can be extended later on when materials and time become available. It’s not far from the dome shaped grass hut I built earlier.
The hut is 2 m long and 1 m wide. Four posts were hammered into the ground, two 1 m high posts (1.25 m long, 25 cm underground) on the low side and two 2m high posts (2.25m long, 25cm underground) on the high side. Onto this, a sloping rafters was lashed on with fish tail wait-a-while, a spiky palm with a vine like habit. To remove the needle like spikes from the plant, the leaves are pulled off so that the frond sheaths come with them. This made suitable lashings.
Battens were then tied to the rafters and bundles of long grass from the mountainside were collected. Using vine from the bush, the bundles were lashed to the battens starting at the low side and continuing to the top so that the grass would shed rain. Cross bars were lashed to the frame of the shed at each end to support the bed. These were at a height of 1m above the ground.
The bed frame itself was made from four poles (two 2m long and two 75 cm long) lashed together to form a rectangle 1.75m long and 75 cm wide (the ends of the two longer poles extending further to sit on the cross bars in the shed). Lawyer cane was then wrapped length ways over the frame to create horizontal threads. Then more lawyer cane was woven between these threads to form a sort of bed spring net. The bed frame was then put on the cross bars and tested to see if it could hold my weight. A mat I made from woven bark in a previous video was used for bedding and a bunch of grass for a pillow. In a rainstorm it was possible to make a fire in the space under the bed.
This structure is quick and easy to build. The bed is 1 m above the ground and provides plenty of area beneath to store fire wood and tools out of the rain as well as a place to sit and make things. The bed is comfortable and keeps the occupant off the ground away from ground dwelling creatures at night. The smoke coming up from the fire keeps mosquitoes away while providing heat and light reflected back from the roof. In fine weather the fire can be placed in front of the shed in the open while during rain the fire can be kept under the shelter to keep it dry. If room is needed to stand up the bed can be folded up against the roof and tied to it using cordage.
This shed is literally one half of the standard rectilinear hut I usually build (2m x2m floor plan, 2m tall ridge line and 1 m high side walls e.g. from wattle and daub hut and tiled hut videos) and was built to be upgradeable. Later, the other side of the roof could be added on and then walls of some kind built around the frame to form a full hut.
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Friday, January 6, 2017
Monday, January 2, 2017
Young couple transforms old Loire cave in unique home/rental
Very interesting. I drove past some of these last spring.
Friday, December 30, 2016
Monday, December 26, 2016
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Friday, December 23, 2016
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Cranberry Upside Down Muffins Recipe Demonstration - Joyofbaking.com
Recipe here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/muffins/Cr... Stephanie Jaworski of Joyofbaking.com demonstrates how to make Cranberry Upside Down Muffins. Cranberry Upside Down Muffins have a glistening red cranberry sauce sitting on top of a soft and fluffy white cake. Although made in individual-sized servings, these pretty muffins follow the basic concept of all upside down cakes, that is, fruit on the bottom and cake on top.
New Recipes every Thursday before noon Eastern time.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Tudor Christmas Cookalong: Sauge
Welcome to the first part of our Tudor Christmas Cookalong at Hampton Court Palace! Follow our food historian Robin as he guides you through how to make Sauge - a truly Tudor way to finish up those Christmas dinner leftovers. Visit the Tudor kitchens on your visit to Hampton Court Palace: http://bit.ly/2h0FBrV
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Monday, December 5, 2016
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