got land and i wanna start a communal farm

This is very interesting to me... Although i have lived my whole life in PA, I am looking for a commune exactly like this. my question is how many people do you have supporting your cause at the moment? The more brothers and sisters = more productivity. email me with more information, also details on how i can reach your destination. ilovejord1231@yahoo.com

 

you could try aiming for the stuff along any old dry creekbeds or washes, that should have rinsed away enough silt to leave something useful.

It sounds perhaps like you left too much sand in?
You're just siphoning away the clay slip and leaving all the grit in the bottom of the bucket once the organic crap has been skimmed., but the deeper you go the better. if there are any dry ancient lakebeds in the area, go down about 3-5 inches or so, double that in areas of heavy vegitation.

 

And as I've now found the tab which shows all the pics I've attached to threads over the years,,, heres my setup in the desert for clay. A bit different but about as effective as I got in the Ozarks, nowhere near the quality of stuff at that farm in VA though. The creek clay there is awesome stuff once processed right.





And heres some of the crappy test pieces I half fired in a campfire with the aid of a bit of forced air,



I was just checking for stuff like plasticity and shrtinkage and so forth.

Do you have much in the way of Iron ore in the area by any chance?
Or Copper mines, sites where much Malachite or Azeurite have been depositied from glacial activity and such? Copper could be a useful commodity with the local jewelers if theres any crude samples of ore to be found, most will bake out in a hot fire into a puddle.
I have a link on the how-to somewhere.

 

The little bowl seemed to hold up well. Good color. Did you try anything large like brick size? Can you sun heat brick? Will it get stronger over time? Or does it have to be fired?

 

The more reddish, well formed stuff was never fired. The smaller bis in front were as a simple firing test after the previous evenings dinner in mesquite and palm leaves (Lots of oils and resins in the palm. especially where the branches come away from the trunk, highly volatile)

If you added manure and straw, it would be Adobe brick. it was nothing but one big bed of bentonite clay under a few inches of sand untill you dug a few feet or tectonic action had otherwise juggled things around. AND the whole area was LITTERED with semi precious stones about ready to hit a lapidary bench.

But even as a standalone clay it was pretty resilient when sun baked.

As far as making bricks,,, not yet but from a tv show I saw in where a dude had to make a whole bunch to build this church or loose his land or some melodramatic scenario like that,,, they showed the bulk of the process for an open stack firing, not too bad a job with 4-5 people involved, I mean sure one dude can do it, but ffs, they're freaking bricks. In any event it's relatively simple as far as industrial processes go. And it's also detailed in great detail within the pages of,,, hang onto your hats,,, Wagners Handbook of Chemical Technology,,,

http://books.google.com/books?id=ES...ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Still, best clay I've had my hands on to date was the stuff in Virginia from the creek with all that Mica flake in it just waiting to act as a flux when the right temperature was found, might need some additional silica to initiate,,, dunno, never fired it, but I've never seen clay so thick dry so perfectly.

 

just a shot of the orchid:daisy: that is blooming this month. they are growing wild all over the farm along with about 5 other types. I can't wait till the other do their thing.
Also we just finished cutting the wood for the farm of our first structure on the land. A few extra hands it sure would go faster.:daisy:

 

i am totally interested. i'm currently homeless and in need of a place fast. this sounds perfect. please email me with details. cndcduke8@gmail.com

 

candu, where exactly are you located?

If you do find a place, check with the Travellers Aid association or see if there is one where you are. They will pay for your transportation 1 way in cases where you need to be somewhere else and have people there to vouch for you as having a place to go. BUT the drawback to using that service is it cuts you off from receiving public aid again in the state you leave from iirc,,, may be wrong on that though, not 100% sure they cut you.

 

This is an awesome idea, I wish you the best of luck. I'm sure you all are aware of cob or superadobe. But to reiterate the point; either one would probably work great on your farm. Particularly the adobe.

Cob


Superadobe

 

Yep, they both rock. I've also been considering the notion of something akin to a big adobe wall to surround the main housing area with 10' high and 3' thick,,, pretty much bullet proof,,, you know,, worst case scenario planning and all.

 

man your place seems totally awesome and i would love to help out im planning on going to oregon for the summer and now that i found this gem i'd like to come down for the winter. hit me up at ywarpeace@yahoo.com

 

this is fascinating! can you post pictures of your daily activity?

 

it's sounds great. At the moment I'm travelling around belize try to find some good place to stay at the countryside. If its possible can you send more information and contacts. pazaudejies@inbox.lv

 

Hi all , a quick update, we have been away from the farm in the city(Merida)working to raise $ for a well, but we did accomplish something major today. The RV in on the farm. It took a lot of road prep work,Trees trimmed and road widening in a few places, but is done and the road is much improved.
We have also cleared the first building site and have all the timbers needed for the frame.
Excuse the finger in the corners of the pics. It's a phone cam and I am definitively not photographer.
If anyone want to contact me directly my email is nowhereranch8@gmail.com

 

So is there much of an issue with "Illegal Aliens" there? And would they even give a crap if the alien in particular was making the effort to learn Spanish and provide power, fresh drinking water from the sea and all the rich topsoil they could use in the area?

http://www.************/kleiwerks/posts/187337931369476

 

I don't think mexico worries too much about US aliens.... The cops might take your money? unless you're in a drug running area, which this is apparently not.

 

Eh, with my plans, the Cop's can have some of my money.

 

Would love to join in few years...

 

this sounds very interesting....

 

found taebo on google maps, lol. how far is it from Merida? was wondering how accepting the local population is to a person who only knows the english language? I'm sure with the right amount of time i could learn to comprehend the local language, but as of now would have no idea. about where is this farm of yours located? from teabo. how would one get there. I doubt that i would drive to the location, i currently live in Minnesota. although driving would let me bring in more supplies, getting lost or robbed would be a major concern.

well, just thinking of the possabilities, have been thinking of getting away to panama too, not sure. I do love the concept of living off the land, grew up on a dairy farm, haven't been on once since i graduated high school and went off to the army, got back started a family that now most have grown and moved away. I'm 40, and now looking for a quiet area, with good weather, could live out the rest of my life and never see another snow flake ever, lol.

well, email me with any ideas or i'll continue to follow this post at times, thanks... chappie1971@yahoo.com

 

from the land to Merida is 50 miles. it is not a bad drive they redid the road two years ago, now it is wide and smooth. As for the people of Teabo they are very laid back and accepting. The internet cafe at the end of the dirt road is run by a guy that speaks perfect english. Most of the people speak spanish and Mayan, a few speak english.
I would not worry about getting robed driving down. I drove from Orlando to Merida with my truck loaded and a 22 foot boat and had no problems. Going south is easy it is just heading north when you have problems.