Nicole Davis's blog

On the snowy evening of December 30, these brave people entered through the gate and began their silent retreat.

Cabin 34 finally got its Certificate of Occupancy THE DAY BEFORE, on our fourth try. This was followed, on the final day, by the receipt of the CO for the last two cabins - Geshe Michael and Lama Christie. Amazing!

We haven't had a snowstorm like this here in southern Arizona for a long time. In town, there were people buying snow shovels and testing out the snow plows to see if they still worked, getting ready for the big storm. I heard that the last snowstorm this big happened at the beginning of the last Diamond Mountain Great Retreat. If anyone out there knows this story, there are a few of us here who would really love to hear all about that.

As for those of us on the outside, we had a day or so to come down from the building frenzy, topped off on the last day by the activity of carrying the last remaining tools and building supplies out by hand because the roads were too icy to get a vehicle in, and enter caretaker mode. But I can't let this blog transition into retreat mode until I post some finishing shots of cabin 34, which I helped birth as if it were my own child. So you could say I am kind of proud of how she turned out. The photo quality got less there toward the end when we were past busy and tired and into plain loopy. But here are some of the best ones I have:

The heroic Jeff lowering the slope on the south side so that water can't pool up there.

Joel reveling in the new steps up to the deck.

Sylvia filling those last few cracks.

Kitchen lotus by Teresa.

Main room.

Becky's altar wall.

The very happy retreater.

Porch rails going on.

Welcome Angels!

Scott's gorgeous deck/balcony.

Dylan, contemplating how to turn the interior of this house into an unbelievably gorgeous top-of-the-line installation with only $600 and two days.

That same spot, 48 hours later. It was kind of too dark and crazy to take photos that would do justice to what Dylan did here. It is truly a work of art, like so many aspects of this cabin, coming from the pure deep open heart of remarkable people.

Varnished cabinets.

We love our Sun Frost solar fridge!

We did a lot of research on fridges that run on propane, with and without electric backup, and fridges that run on 12 and 24 volt solar electricity with no propane. Nothing compared to the Sun Frost. Any type of propane or solar fridge costs a lot up front. But with the Sun Frost in my opinion it is totally worth the investment. It's the most energy efficient fridge I could find, and now that the solar electricity is installed, this fridge will not use any more resources, and of course that means it costs $0 to run.

Here are the last things that the inspectors wanted to see before we could have our CO: 

See those pretty little grounding lugs? Here's a close-up in case you missed it. Our solar panels are securely rooted in the earth now. No one will ever get electrocuted touching these panels!

...and the hot water heater's pressure release valve is now safely routed outside the house, more than 6" off the ground, and we (re)did it using CPVC not regular PVC, since CPVC is rated for high temperatures.

There it is, the pressure relief valve.

The vented box for the propane tanks (not required, but allowed me to practice very minor carpentry skills finishing the lid). If it is anything like my sewing jobs, it will be coming apart in a few weeks.

Scott's beautiful job with the shower trim.

The crew, enjoying the post-midnight hours.

Everyone shows enjoyment in their own way.

One of Cortney's beautiful walls - turpentine and linseed on bare adobe.

and another one - American Clay over Becky's brick with earth plaster.

The victorious and exhaused three who began this project together 8 months earlier took a few silent minutes to rejoice before hiking down that final time, through ice and snow, to the Temple, to celebrate and send off our Friends and Teachers as they embark on this inner journey to outer and inner peace.

Cortney and Brian

Nicole and Cortney

We will remain forever changed by this time together.

We had an inspection the other day, and his first words when he walked in were "you guys are very close now." We went for it once already, but they told us that it had to be ready to move in the next day if you want a CO. I guess that makes sense. Anyway, we are very close now. 

The beloved fridge!

We have sinks, with running water, and a working fridge, and working radiant floor heat.

..and a floor to sweep!

finish adobe floor!

...and pretty things!

...and the porch goes on

and the finish interior plaster

Yesterday, we turned on the lights at Lama Chukyi's cabin. It was a very proud day, especially for Brian who did all of the solar installation, and Scott who did all of the interior wiring. 

Then today, Brian got the house water working. Now we just need to hook up the plumbing inside and we should be set!

Oh, the wacky things we (we being Scott) had to do to install a tub surround in a straw bale. 

Scott built the frame using the foundation form boards that he had to cut down and trim to go around straps and all kinds of fun stuff. Then Cortney and Orit stuffed it with mud.

Next comes the wonderboard and the plumbing in the wall...Brian got nominated to become the plumber for this job.

Suzanne came and helped prepare the bathroom walls so that the tub surround could go into place.

...and, here is the finished product!

Becky's gorgeous work on the altar. 

And then, the sprayer!

Brian will have to upload pictures at some point of the actual spraying process, because I was too tired and covered in mud from head to toe to touch a camera, but the sprayer saved us 2 weeks time. We got 2-5 inches of mud on the interior of the cabin in about 7 work days.

But although it was quite a mess at the end of each day, the walls turned out really nice.

Then, the finish floor in the kitchen, so that we can install the kitchen cabinets/sink.

The floor is going in...

And the drywall is done, mudded and sanded.

leaving our clothes very dusty for many days.

The utility shed and bathroom drywall is done too, and the floors are painted, thanks Pete!

Insulating the bathroom ceiling

The adobe subfloor layer is in!!! Thanks to Eric, Teresa, Jane and Rafael!!!

And the bathroom has a shiny new concrete slab.

Thanks to Brian's acrobatic floating.

Then on to the front step.

Today was another momentous day in the retreat valley. Three of us die-hards arrived at 7 to get the last bit of lime plaster on Cabin 34. With the weather turning cold, plaster and stucco timing has to be done very carefully. Tonight was slated to be the warmest night this week, 41 degrees, the lowest temp recommended for lime plaster to be exposed to before it is cured. So, we started early to give the wall all day to be in warmer temperatures in hopes that the chemistry would cooperate. And, by 10 am, we had a fully finished exterior to a very beautiful retreat cabin. Here are some photos of our lime plaster day last Saturday, when we did most of the house. Thanks to Della, Michael, Keith, Eric, and Teresa for their help. It was an awesome day.

Three straight days of jackhammering by Scott (he gets all the best jobs) and we had some beautiful holes in which we could pour concrete for the piers on the porch, composting toilet house, and utility shed.

Charley and Elizabete were a great help in putting up the form boards for the interior stem walls.

Cortney and Kelly drilled into solid rock using David's giant hammer drill, in order to pin the rebar for the porch footings.

Then we stuffed more mud in holes, this time on the interior, and covered the inside walls with slip.

Valentina, Peter, Elizabete, Amie, Eric, Tina, Lauren, Susan, Orit and Kelly made this happen!

Then it was time to frame up the interior walls, which Brian masterfully crafted with the aid of Rory.

Kareen made the eaves look beautiful with her flawless application of the California Rustic stain.

Rory, Scott, Cortney and Brian built the floors of the bathroom and utility shed.

Then the walls went up!

Mark and Eric did a great job cutting and attaching the sheathing.

Then the rough electrical, plumbing and gas lines go in before drywall.

And then Bill, Scott and Keith got the ceiling drywall up, David and I insulated it with blown in fiberglass. 

Meanwhile outside Becky was putting the finishing touches on the earth plaster with her sculptor's hands to get us ready for lime plaster.

It is unbelievable how much we have gotten done. Thanks to everyone who has contributed their time, effort, money, love, support...we could not do it without you. We are only half done with the house, and 2.5 months to go before retreat starts. If you get inspired to help on this project we would love to have you!!

It's been months since a moment like this has come - a moment when it is 3:30 in the afternoon and I am still home and, yes, still in my pajamas. Quiet. Rest. Sewing the holes in the work pants. Petting the kitty. Sitting down to write some of our story to all of you.

It's been a long uphill on the roller coaster. We are sitting now at the top of that biggest drop looking down, anticipating the stomach drop. There have been a few crazy upside down loops on the way up here. But the view from here, and the moment of stillness before the plunge...nothing sweeter. Yes, friends, it's official. We have at long last reached the halfway point in building the holy place that will be our Lama's retreat cabin. 

When last we wrote, the shingles were going on. Now our straw bales are completely covered with earth plaster on the outside, the interior walls are framed out, the bathroom and utility shed framed and decked. All of the parts are there. Now we just need to finish them - lime plaster over the earth, adobe floor over the tamped base floor, drywall on the wood frame walls, earth plaster on the interior walls and then, hard to imagine, appliances, fixtures, cabinets, furniture. 

After the shingles were on we made cob and stuffed it in the holes, then coated the walls with slip, thin mud. Thanks to Peter, Katie, Michael, Mikey, Jane and Jill for rocking this out! The unstoppable Scott V did the dirty work for us by trimming the bales with a chainsaw to shape them and get rid of loose straw.

In July and August we could barely think straight because of the tiny biting gnats, but still we braved the bugs and mudded nonetheless. Cortney of course shoveled, screened and mixed all of the mud pretty much single-handedly.

In there somewhere, we put in all the windows, prepared them with diamond lath, and poured mud behind the lath to make a nice shape to plaster on.

Kelly is our new window installation expert. Nothing like learning on the job.

Then begins the earth plaster. This is what makes the walls go from kind of wonky shaped straw bales to relatively smooth.

Earth plaster is by far the most time-consuming step on a natural building like this. It took us a month to finish. We are enormously grateful to Kelly and Tassy for their help with this stage.

The plaster has to be many inches thick in places, and you are sculpting the shape of the house as you go.

Once we passed our sheathing inspection we move to shingling. Thanks to help from David, this step progressed quickly and with few issues.

Which makes us VERY happy.

Now that the trusses are up, and the RBA is settling into the bales nicely it is time to nail the sheathing to the trusses.

I'm Scott, and I'm ready to go.

So what is it you want me to do again?

"I'll be right down here if you need me."

A job well done!

Once the trusses are up and before the roof is in there is quite a bit of work to do.

 "OK here is what we need to do."

First we need tie-down straps to hold the RBA and foundation together. This keeps the roof on the house in the case of strong winds. ... Boy do we get strong winds here!

Next we adjusted the position of the doors and windows.