Nathanael Szobody

Arborvitae are extremely hardy. Cut about 8 inches of a branch tip off and stick it in soil. If kept moist and warm it should root in a couple months.

This was grown from a cutting:

With this size of surface area, you really got to get growing your organic matter: alternate cover crops of daikon radish mixed with clover in one rotation, and rye grass or sorghum on the other. This way you will have organic matter building both underneath and on the surface. A few cycles of this and you should have soil building nicely.

Hi Becky, since it looks like you've already done some mesquite hugel, I'll be curious to hear the results.

My experience in hot and dry is that wood laid on the surface is more effective for soil rehabilitation. The biology will consume it as appropriate and integrate the resulting nutrient into the soil below. Meanwhile humus slowly builds where the woods touches the ground.

Ever notice how well the weeds grow around a fallen log? A whole garden can be designed this way: cut the wood into short, semi-straight lengths. Lay then in rows with narrow spaces left in between for planting. This is world's best mulch and will last quite awhile.

Hey Erol,

Can you share some pictures to help visualize? My main concern would be getting the earth bags covered in some sort of plaster, because they will degrade in the sun.

Nicole Alderman wrote:

This week, we're studying the ancient Minoans. I wanted to do something memorable for them before moving onto ancient Greece. I want them to come away with at least the idea of "the Minoans existed and we know about them from the frescos they made, and here's the basic idea of how a fresco is made." I only have one class period, because next week we're moving on to ancient Greece and the making of theater masks. The theater masks themselves will be a multi-week project.

That's pretty cool. Have you considered doing a single class craft? Like one single fresco that everyone contributes to? And one medieval waddle and daub house that's a bit larger and easier to tie the roof to?

Alright I'm done making suggestions I promise. You're doing fantastic.

I wish I were one of your students :-)

If you can't purchase tiles I would recommend doing a very thick layer of plaster of Paris, and a skim coat of lime on top. Mixing the two compromises both strength and the quality of the fresco.

Nicole Alderman wrote:
My problem is that I keep doing intensive projects in all my classes/subjects each week....so I usually don't have more than a day or two to prepare materials. But, it's good to know that 3 days of slaking will still create a usable result!

It depends on your paedagogy; is it entertainment or education?

Fresco is by nature a time-intensive and attention-intensive process. Perhaps you could split it up into many lessons:
- One week they can help you make lime putty and cut up burlap pieces.
- Another week draw their proposed design on paper (just like Michealangelo) and poke pinholes along the lines.
- The third week they can plaster the burlap with a nice thick coat of plaster of paris.
- By the fourth week your lime has aged for three weeks; you can apply a thin skim coat of lime plaster over the plaster of Paris, transfer the drawing to the plaster by pouncing the pin-holed drawing with chalk powder, and then paint.

Nice work Nicole! I have done fresco with my kids, but we used just lime plaster. It is, indeed, about 50% lime and 50% super fine sand. Ideally powdered marble. But I've just sifted my sand to get something acceptably fine.

There's no problem using lime with kids so long as they aren't finger painting. It's a good opportunity to teach them proper handling of real materials.

It doesn't have to be expensive; just go to a DIY store and buy a bag of lime powder. Lime gets stronger the longer is "slakes"--that is, remains wet. Ideally, mix a thin lime putty and store it in a sealed bucket for a month. The Romans aged theirs in a pit in the ground for up to five years for public buildings.  Otherwise 3 days will work too.

The strength of your finished product depends on the support material. Burlap is not gonna do it. The easiest thing is to buy floor tiles and apply the plaster to the unglazed ceramic on the back of the tile. My kids usually use a brick they find laying around.

Lastly, working with plaster of Paris is an entirely different chemistry. Plaster of Paris hardens by a reaction with water--it would harden in a sealed container. Lime hardens in a reaction with carbon dioxide. As it cures it is turning into limestone again (i.e., calcium carbonate, from whence it was originally processed). As the calcium carbonate crystals form, through a reaction with the air, the mineral pigment particles actually get trapped within the crystals that are forming. You are literally painting into stone. This is why once the surface of the plaster is dry, the paint just sits on top.

But all this depends on actually using mineral pigments. If you're using something synthetic then you might as well wait till it sets up and paint.  

Have fun!!

Clay could be used to plaster the interior walls.

Mike Barkley wrote:If rookies don't work with bees they will never progress further. Practice makes perfect. Maybe next time have your son constantly spray smoke while you work with the bees???

Thanks Barkley! After watching many youtube videos I have come to the same conclusion. Some people even keep Africanized bees and just deal with it, so certainly I can. I also think my bees are hungry. Anyway, I'll wait 6 months and try again.