April 2013 Volume XI

Springtime at Cal-Earth

A Note From Dastan Khalili & Sheefteh Khalili

Hello Cal-Earth friends,

Our sincere apologies for the long break between newsletters. It is amazing how quickly time flies and how busy we have been! Those of you who follow us on Facebook have seen some updates and photos, but we hope to stick to a quarterly schedule from now on to keep all of you up to date on the latest news. Here is a brief overview:

Cal-Earth hosted a total of 18 workshops in 2012: 10 on-site workshops including 1 combined Permaculture Training workshop (with a special visit from Geoff and Nadia Lawton), and 8 international workshops -- 7 in Spain, 1 in Colombia. We are thrilled that the international program is going strong, and hope to continue to expand to new countries as our alumni network grows. We gave partial scholarships to over 1/3 of our workshop participants last year. Since the very beginning our father was committed to helping students come and learn regardless of their financial situation, and we are proud to continue this commitment. Also on-site research and development was amazing last year, stay tuned for future posts from the site director and others detailing these efforts.

On a more personal note, last month marked five years since our father passed away. There are many moments when we need his guidance and advice; luckily he wrote down his ideas and left them behind for us to explore. I (Sheefteh) still remember the day in 1993 my father “consulted” with me (age 9) as he was picking a title for his book, Sidewalks on the Moon. I picked up the book last week and read it for the first time. It was a stressful day, and sitting down with that book was like sitting down with my father for a nice talk over a cup of tea. He had a special way of giving advice; often weaving in stories and poems that helped me find the answer on my own. He would say, “Babajan, did I ever tell you the story about the man who lost his camel?” And even though he had, I would ask him to tell it again. For those of you who have been to Open House, you know that I love to tell this story every month, just like my father loved to tell it to me and to countless groups of visitors and students.

Here is the gem from Sidewalks on the Moon that I stumbled across on that stressful day last week; a piece of advice my father wrote down for me 20 years ago: “All things in the universe are but one. And the truth of unity is hidden behind a heavy locked door. I have no key. To see beyond, I must break the door. I am the door.” That line, and all the other wonderful stories from his life that fill the pages of that book were just what I needed to refocus and move forward.

The final update is that the Cal-Earth family has a new member! Moxie Rose, the daughter of Dastan and Jessica Khalili, granddaughter of Nader Khalili was born on October 22, 2012. It is exciting to think that Moxie will grow up with Cal-Earth and the stories and legacy of her late grandfather. Thanks to all his stories, books, and the magic of YouTube, Moxie (and all of you) can enjoy our father's words as much as we did growing up. He would be proud to know that Dastan is already working on teaching her the amazing poetry of Rumi, even though she is mostly interested in anything she can put in her mouth.

Happy Spring! Sincerely, Sheefteh Khalili, CFO Dastan Khalili, President

Director's Corner: Heroic Plaster Effort in the
Middle of Winter!

Over the Christmas holidays, a number of Cal-Earth apprentices and alumni went to the Joshua Tree area of the Mojave Desert in California (Yucca Valley to be exact) and worked on a house owned by another previous Cal Earth Alumni, Mark Reppert. Deep gratitude goes to the following individuals who worked with me in freezing conditions, bitter cold winds and rain: Whitey Flagg, Serafina Mejia, Michael Plansky, Nisu El, Christopher Hammock and Santiago Ricout (and the owner himself, Mark Reppert). It's always a challenge to build a house and meet the demands of a full work schedule but it is particularly demanding to do so in bitter cold weather! These are extraordinary individuals who come with the highest commendations! The project objective was to complete rough and finish plaster work on the entire house in a two-week time frame. The house is an 800 sq ft (75 sq M) Double Eco-Dome partially buried in the ground with a substantial sunken patio which functions as a buttress to the front of the house.

The good news! We arrived onsite and set up for the coming two weeks of work to discover that the house was 60ºF (15.5ºC) inside. Since the weather was mid 40s F by day (7ºC) and close to freezing at night, something really good was happening here and our team, as well as the owner, were surprised by the noticeable difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures. I remember walking into the building and literally feeling the warmer air envelope my skin. It was surprising! I remember asking one of our team members a couple of times whether they too were feeling this warmth and they confirmed that it was indeed quite a bit warmer inside than out.

For those who might be new to building and new to the topic of natural conditioning, there are a number of ways to use natural elements to warm or cool a home. All such decisions must emerge out of the local conditions of the site and of the region. In the Mojave Desert of Southern California, there is an abundance of sunshine. In fact the average number of sun days in this area is close to 300 which means that 80% of the time there is abundant solar energy available. When the house was built, the owner was interested in maximizing whatever natural elements were available and decisions as to the placement of the house were such that as much of the house as possible was exposed to sunlight. Apparently, it worked! The ideal interior temperature for a house is typically between 65ºF and 70ºF (18ºC - 21ºC) which means that if the interior temperature in the coldest part of the year in this house was 60ºF (15.5ºC) then one has only to raise the temperature by 10 degrees in order to achieve comfort. This was great news for the home owner and it's great news for resource conservation.

The bad news! In spite of a fast and effective rough plaster application over the entire building, and, in spite of meeting the objective of completing this task within one week, the project was derailed during week two due to freezing temperatures. For those who are new to building, it should be noted that it's not possible to plaster in freezing temperatures because plaster involves mixing materials together with water and when temperatures go below freezing, the water in the plaster freezes, expands and results in substantial weakening and damage to the plaster body.

The salvation! We plastered the interior of the house, we were much warmer and happier, and we finished one entire interior Eco-Dome, including all four apses! Thanks to Chris Hammock, the house now has an attractive front door and is effectively closed and sealed off from the outside.

Remember:

1) Think carefully as you orient your building on the land so that maximum gains can be had from natural weather elements. It really matters!
2) Don't plaster in winter! It's no fun — and the work will likely be worthless!
3) Make sure you have an AMAZING team of builders when you work on ANY project because it's really that camaraderie that makes all the difference between success and failure. Only due to the adaptability and amazing attitude of the individuals above, did this project close with a good ending!" -- Ian Lodge, Site Director

2013 Workshop Season

Third Annual Permaculture Workshop October 7-18, 2013

This has been our most popular workshop the past two years! The combined workshop delivers the full Cal-Earth and Midwest Permaculture curriculums and upon completion students will receive both their Superadobe Workshop and Permaculture Design Certificates.

Cost: $2300 early registration until July 31st (includes Cal-Earth Superadobe Workshop Certificate of Completion, full set of Cal-Earth Books and DVDs, Permaculture Design Course Certificate, Permaculture Design Book, access to both Cal-Earth and Midwest Permaculture Forums). As with all Cal-Earth workshops, some partial scholarships are available.

http://calearth.org/permaculture

Featured Alumni Project: Abeche, Chad
Franklin Cobos, James Appel, Arlo Mojica

After traveling two days across the African desert to receive surgical care for broken bones, several members of a Muslim community arrived at the Seventh-day Adventist Hospital in Bere, Chad. Dr. James Appell, the full-time resident physician there, repaired their deformities and they were able to successfully return to their place in society, unlike many others who remain crippled after such injuries and are only able to beg for a living. These men and their community leaders invited Dr. Appel to begin a clinic in their village so that people wouldn't have to travel for days, often in excruciating pain, for care.

Dr. Appel and his former Loma Linda Medical School classmate, Dr. Franklin Cobos, along with former mission volunteer, Arlo Mojica, participated in a one week workshop at Cal-earth. About a year later, Dr. Appel and Arlo, with coordination and logistics support from Dr. Cobos, were able to go to the remote village in Eastern Chad near the Darfur border with Sudan, to build a demonstration/training dome. More information about this proto-dome can be found in our November 2010 newsletter.

Cal-Earth Technical Director, Hooman Fazly, had been in touch with Drs. Appell and Cobos since their workshop and helped them plan for building in African remoteness. He also helped hone the design and development of the surgical clinic footprint and anticipate construction needs. In January of this year, Hooman and Dr. Cobos left together for Chad. Their time on the worksite was characterized by a total lack of running water, five watts of electricity per day via solar chargers and no bathrooms. The nearest water source came from the hand pumped well, 1000 feet south of the building site, and 30 feet lower in elevation. Daytime temperatures of 110F in the outside shade, 125F in the sun, and a cool 90F in the proto-dome, while night/dawn temps dropped to low 80s. Strong winds, at times reaching 40-50 mph, blew sand, earth and animal waste across the land. If ever there was a place on Earth that needed Superadobe, this was it.

In six weeks time, the quad dome surgical clinic was nearly completed using twenty-two locally trained workers, many of whom had already worked on the proto-dome, and supplies mostly bought in Chad, rather than brought from the US. This was done to prove that dependence on western supplies and workers isn't necessarily essential for the success of such endeavors. About one more week of earnest work remains, as well as the arrival of surgical supplies this summer, until Dr. Appel has what he needs to meet the request of the community near Abeche, Chad, now five years in waiting. It is our hope that those who come to Cal-Earth will learn not only how to build, but also to persevere and learn that patience, commitment, and courage, combined with steady small steps, will carry them through the pursuit of their quest.

Children's Workshops

"Even children growing up in the Middle East, when asked to draw a house, will draw a pitched roof and chimney, even if they've never seen one outside a book ... That image of a pitched roof has destroyed more forests. I want to teach children to think of houses in the shape of bubbles and rainbows." -Nader Khalili

Our hands-on tours and workshops give children a chance to explore the structures on our site, inside and out and up and over. No matter how small their hands are, we know that they can build, and we are here to show them how.

Basic Tour: Grades K-12, Tour and Brick Arch Instruction (3 hours)
$10 per student, $50 minimum

Mini Workshop 1: Grades 3-12, Tour and Brick Arch Instruction; with Bag Laying (5 hours) $25 per student, 15 student minimum

Mini Workshop 2: Grade 3-12, Tour and Brick Arch Instruction; with Bag Laying and Mud Plaster Instruction (6 hours) $35 per student, 15 student minimum

For more information, or to schedule a field trip for your school or homeschool group, please send an email to tours@calearth.org

Open House at Cal-Earth

Rumi Corner