Iona Land Shelter

Day 4 saw the pit foundations finally bottomed out. We think we've got the technique down pat now and would like to share it with other unfortunate folk who have to dig very deep holes by hand. We had to do this give our miniscule budget and the inaccessibility of the site to heavy machines.

Firstly, make the hole as wide as it needs to be at the end of the day. If this is too narrow to work in, make it wider. A deep narrow hole is very difficult to get earth out of.

Secondly, dig a step halfway across the trench. This gives you somewhere to stand while breaking up the foot of the hole, and somewhere to step up to which really helps ergonomically. When the step gets too high, it is very easy to break down the step into a bucket placed in the lower part of the hole.

Thirdly, use square buckets- you can lay them down and scoop earth sideways into them, which is a lot easier than trying to scoop the earth upwards in a confined space.

Finally, if you can afford it and you can get access to the site, hire a machine to do the job.

In other news, Nick continued to craft the logs to shape. Nick is a sculptor who works a lot with timber, it is great to have him around to do this work. You can see some of Nick's more delicate and nuanced pieces on his website.

Iona Land Shelter- pole preparation from Buzdjow on Vimeo.

Day 4 progress shots: