Group E, Weeks 9 & 10: Building a Structure!

During these last 2 weeks of lab, we built a funeral structure (the original plan changed due to adverse weather conditions. Earlier in the week, we collected several posts & lots of branches from the wood pile, each at least 4ft long and of varying levels of thickness.

Friday

We mapped out the area necessary to build the basis for the structure. Our group was in charge of getting the initial structure for the building up, involving digging down a little bit to allow poles to be staked appropriately. The first post we chose to use extended 3 ft 11 inches above the ground, and we used that to guide the height of the others. We also needed to cut down some other branches to 5 ft long. In the same 34 minute stretch, we cut 8 branches to 4 1/2 feet, 8 more to 6ft, and a final 8 to 4 feet with a group of 4.

By the end of this day, we had the 4 poles standing up, along with the rectangle of branches on the ground & at the top of the poles. Each of these was lashed together.

Monday

We begun this day lashing the three pairs of branches for the roof using twine (in the absence of cordage.)

Time	Task
11:52-12:00	Pulling straw out of bale & spreading it out on the ground to start drying process
12:00	Running low on twine… Zach leaves to go to Boliou to grab more
12:05	Lashing for one of the pairs of branches for the roof snaps, affecting one of the posts in the ground
12:08	Post rotated & secure in the ground; branches balanced on top of it but not lashed
12:10	The first long wall is flipped upside down & secured
12:10-12:16	The pointed ends that were originally going to be staked in the ground are sawed off
12:15	Zach returns from Boliou with new, thicker, better twine
12:17	Post is lashed to the roof & the wall with new twine
12:18	Old lashing on the roof retied with new twine
12:16-12:22	Second long wall is cut down to fit, placed on the other side of the structure, and secured in place
12:23	Beginning to weave in branches above the first long wall: branches have difficulty staying appropriately spaced out, and keep sliding down
12:26-12:28	Brendan places the urn in the structure and delivers Grandpa Porkchop’s last rites.
12:29	The two shorter walls are prepared to be placed on the two short sides of the structure
12:33	The third wall is placed, and begins to have its sides cut down to fit with the two longer walls
12:35-12:37	The fourth wall is placed and twine is used to secure it in place.
12:37-12:40	Wood scraps are collected.

After class, others did more work to fix the woven branches on both long sides of the roof, spreading them out more evenly and preventing them from slipping down.

Wednesday

The final day! We spent today adding to the sides and roof of the structure. Our group focused on creating the turf wall, the second long wall of the structure.

Time	Task
11:34	Acquired turf and began to remove excess dirt with multiple tools
11:44	First row of turf placed along the bottom of the roof: appears structurally sound!
11:47-11:48	Discovered huge ant colony in one of the pieces of turf.. Austin moves that piece far from the others
11:48	Halfway up the roof on the lefthand side, still without issues
11:52	Piece of turf midway up on the righthand side sinking into roof but does not collapse
11:56	Turf on the lefthand side reaches top beam of the roof, continuing to add more on the right side
12:00	Adding a weaver to the upper right side for additional support, sinking piece of turf falls into house
12:02	Added more weavers (1 vertical, 3 horizontal) to patch hole, & turf removed from house
12:06	Turf completely covering roof except for 1 gap on the very upper right side
12:13	Added weaver horizontally to fill top gap
12:14	Finished digging out last piece of turf to place on roof
12:15	Turf wall is done, without any fallen pieces!
12:16-12:35	Collecting wood and tree scraps from around field, and redistributing them into the woods

The twine was a big obstacle, as well as the need for additional weavers higher up (due to a much slower sliding process), but the final structure was very successful!