permaculture

["Kelly Finigan" <kfinigan@telus.net>]

Meg:

pigs can tear a building apart.. a pig farmer around here built a strawbale
barn with stucco. The pigs tend to "root" about with their snouts and
demolished the stucco. Another pig farmer friend thinks a knee-high concrete
wall inside would prevent the pigs from damaging the stucco. I don't know
about the other animals, but my gut feel is a greenhouse with high humidity
might begin to rot if made from strawbales...maybe somebody has seen a straw
greenhouse?

cheers,
Kelly

Kelly Finigan, M.Sc. P.Eng., Permaculture Designer
Essential Elements Inc.
744 - 4 Street NW       Calgary, Alberta, Canada         T2N 1P2
1-403-283-7270           fax 283-9783     kfinigan@telus.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Meg Mullett" <meg@kcnet.com>
To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2002 8:13 AM
Subject: [permaculture] corn burning and straw building


> Hello,
>
> My family and I moved to our little farm in NE Kansas 2 years ago.  We've
got
> 12.5 acres, a little 70 yr old house, 1 acre of vineyard, a small orchard,
a
> little woods and several acres of pasture.  We spent the first year mostly
just
> seeing what's here and putting in our vineyard. (I'm a winemaker)  The
second we
> started a large garden and got a couple pigs.  This coming year we wish to
fence
> more and add some more animals.  We're thinking about chickens (a few for
eggs),
> guinea hens (for bugs in the vineyard) and some meat goats (helping to
clear
> some brushy areas and for cash - we've got large hispanic and muslim
populations
> in Kansas City and we believe we've got a good market for them).
>
> As we grow our little farm each year, we are wishing to tread more lightly
on
> the planet.  And with a "dance with the one that brung ya" sort of
attitude, we
> are looking to use resources that are plentiful in our area. We are
thinking
> about building our animal shelters out of straw bale, and installing a
corn
> burning stove in the house for winter heat. We're using propane right now.
>
> I am wondering if any of you might share some of your experiences with
either of
> these things.  Have you used straw bales for animal enclosures?  Are there
any
> special considerations we should be taking or thinking about when doing
this?
> How do straw bale buildings hold up as animal enclosures?  Can they take a
> beating by goat heads?  Might pigs leaning on them and scratching every
day
> cause some problems?   Do some animals like to eat the stucco/plaster?
What
> kind of measures might be required if you wanted to create a fairly high
> humidity enclosure, - like a greenhouse, or a chicken coop?   What about
> moveable enclosures on skids?  Would the weight of such a building be too
great
> to move about as you pasture the animals?  Do you think straw bale would
work
> for those sort of things?
>
> How about corn stoves?  Have any of you used one?  Do they really work as
well
> as advertised?  For those that aren't sure about what there are, here are
a few
> links:
>
> http://www.agriculture.com/buyersguide/sidebyside/sbs_cornstove.html
> http://news.mpr.org/features/200101/31_galballye_cornstove-m/
>
>
> I look forward to your thoughts.  Any tips or advice you might send would
be
> greatly appreciated.
>
> Meg
> Spring Hill, KS
>
>
>
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