Mud Volunteers

Our plan for Saturday was to secure some quantities of clay rich red soil, that was used by villagers to build their houses in the old days. Even though earth was thought of as a building material for the poor, contemporary architects do (re-)discover more and more benefits of using this natural material in modern houses.

For us, the main arguments or this material are

1. Cheap - just pick it up by yourself, no payment needed.
2. Eco-friendly: can be found nearby, so little petrol required for transportation. Can be recycled or disposed after use without any ill effect.
3. Easy to use. Simply mix up and apply to walls.

We first obtained official permission, and then went to the spot in the forrest designated by the officer to pick it up. As you can see the inakahome volunteers Peter and Thomas look more than happy to dig in the mud on a rainy day.



Even Yanagisawa-san gave a hand in the digging. The earth on this slope was really clumpy, which is evidence of a a high clay content.



We hired a little k-truck to transport soil to the house. Because the hydraulic pump could only handle small loads, we made sure not to pile the earth higher than 15 cm.





Because of this weight limit I had to drive three times to get a good quantity of soil to the house. There we dumped it on a plastic tarp, for further processing.