Cob wall collapse
Get this mud wall a roof!
The not yet roofed part of cob wall collapsed this morning after an extended rain storm. Per the warnings in all the cob building books, it had saturated with rain and collapsed. I had initially tried to cover it with a tarp a week or two ago when the rain started in earnest, but the tarp kept blowing off in the wind. I had intended to build a shelter over the top of this part of the wall instead of putting a roof on it like the rest of the wall, but other priorities had continually got in the way. I had spent many days building that part of the wall and putting in green, blue and clear glass bottles to make stain-glass Cascadia flags, and when it had finally come together I was very proud.
Partial collapse opens up view to the street. Yikes.
I am definitely feeling a great sense of loss and disappointment in my lack of initiative to complete this project which opened the door for its partial collapse.
New beginnings
You may be wondering how these sad events lead to a muse about regenerative living. The reminder of how creation and destruction are part of the natural cycle is part of what leads me to the way I want to live the rest of my life.
Sweet Pea had a great chicken life with much abundance: good organic feed, fruit she could jump for, plentiful vegetable scraps often fertilized in part from her own droppings, and semi-frequent forays through the garden. She got to experience much more not just in time, but in her part of the natural order, than many of the poor creatures that are “grown” or “harvested” in factory farms. Their unfortunate lives are much shorter and the gifts they give us are reciprocated with what is convenient rather than what they deserve. Her passing is sad, but her life now feeds other organisms and is not waste, just the foundation of future life.
With the right tint on your glasses, works in progress look like beauty.
The cob wall collapse is a setback in our hardscaping, but since ruins are just clay, sand and straw, we do not need to trash anything. Time was lost and temporary inconvenience created. Other tasks have now been delayed. My appreciation has deepened of why folks, in the name of permanence, have sacrificed consideration about the whole cycle of a structure. However, there are things I might have done better the first time, and now part of the template can be cleared. The space created by nature’s erasing of what was apparently the clay, sand and straw mandala that I thought was my wall, can be filled with something beautiful again. I have learned a good lesson.
Priorities...
Embrace the whole cycle.