What is Raven Rocks? --> Overview

'The Raven Rock" (left) is but a symbol of the natural world here and everywhere, a natural world that has inspired generations with its beauty while providing them and us with the very basis of our existence. Future generations must depend upon ours to restore and preserve this world for them. and to enhance it if we can. Below, Christmas trees grow to pay for forest, in its full Autumn glory on the left. The clear land between is slated for forest. On the hill above, a home that tries ways to build and to live that might diminish our threat to the environment, and that could, if we pursue this course earnestly, eventually make us real friends of our earth.

We human beings need giftful employment. . . . As many know from their own experience, we thrive on it. Without it, our lives are diminished, our spirits and vision blighted.

RAVEN ROCKS: AN OVERVIEW

What follows is not the whole story about Raven Rocks, by any means. To tell that story may take a book someday. This quick overview was prepared for two tours of Raven Rocks in the fall of 1989—the Monroe County Swiss Hills Autumn Tour, and Belmont County's Rubberneck Tour—to give a little more information with a few more pictures than would reasonably fit in the two counties' official tour guides. Emphasis is on the parts of Raven Rocks that the tours include. Most of the tour guide information is repeated here, but with both photographic and descriptive additions.

It was "The Raven Rock" that first attracted the nineteen folks—mostly young folks, their average age being 25, which meant they had little in the way of financial resources—to the ambitious project of purchasing the Raven Rocks property. They felt that the dramatic ravines, streams, rock formations and woodlands deserved protection and long-term preservation. Raven Rocks, Inc., was organized to get this job done.

As is probably clear from the places and projects the tour participants will visit, the act of undertaking the purchase and preservation of Raven Rocks was like the planting of seed. All kinds of projects, some of them almost as ambitious as the land purchase itself, have sprung up here.

But none of this—the land purchase and preservation, or the other projects that have grown out of it—just happened by some fortunate accident. Raven Rocks is the product of many ideas, the expression of many dreams.

"Giftful employment"—an idea bears fruit

As an example of just one of these, we would mention the idea of "giftful employment." This is not a new idea, at all. It is an ancient one, restated by philosopher Gerald Heard. We begin with what we all know and accept—that we must earn and produce what we need for our own sustenance, shelter, and growth. This is the gainful employment that we and our society understand and do best. But, with gainful employment accomplished and with our needs met, we encounter an additional need. We human beings need giftful employment. We need to engage our energies and our capabilities in productive work that benefits other people, that improves the prospect for those who will follow us in the future. This is giftful employment. As many know from their own experience, we thrive on it. Without it, our lives are diminished, our spirits and vision blighted.

This is the idea, and we, along with countless others, sensed truth in it.

It seemed so true to us, in fact, and its truth seemed so important for our times, that we wanted to try a rather intensive application of giftful employment in our own lives. We wanted to take the productive capacity that an affluent society lends its members, and make good use of it. That use, however, would not be to increase our own consumption, but to increase the benefits to others and to the future.

We wanted to see whether we could, in fact, be happy if we spent our lives with so great an emphasis on giftfulness. We wondered, too, what society might be like, guided by more giftful intentions. For certainly there are some assumptions in this idea which contradict some of those that motivate our consumer-oriented society. This idea assumes that generosity is important, in fact that it is natural, and that we need it, like a social-spiritual vitamin.

Our dream was to produce what we were able, to consume what we needed, and then to pass along to others and to the future all the surplus. Nineteen years into the effort, we think our dream was a practical one. What you read about here, and what you can see at Raven Rocks, are expressions and fruits of this and of other ideas. As other parts of this Overview will reiterate and make clearer, the land that we are paying for, the forest we are renewing, the buildings we are building, and maybe even some dreams we've been dreaming-all of these we'd like to leave for the benefit of our neighbors one day, and for the future, a gift from lives happily lived.

Who visited the ravines, and for what purposes for the next thousand years, we can only guess. But we do know that for many, many years, as Elsa Harper has described in her book An Enchanted Childhood at Raven Rocks, which focuses on the early years of this century, Raven Rocks was the favorite place for people from miles around to gather on Sunday afternoons. It was their custom to go to church prepared with picnic lunches, and head for the ravines when the services were over. In good weather the parking area above the Raven Rock was busy with their horses and buggies.

Paul Warfield laid the foundation for the present Raven Rocks project. Over a period of ten years prior to 1970, he purchased a number of adjacent small farms, many of them no longer actively farmed, making them a single property. The group of nineteen who purchased Warfield's 843 acres in 1970 set up Raven Rocks, Inc., as legal owner.

Since 1970, Raven Rocks, Inc., has added important watershed areas around the borders of the original property, raising the total acreage at this time to 1,053. There remain additional acres that should be added if the preservation intent is to be fully realized and is to work well. Some of these include parts of ravine formations themselves, while others are important as watershed.

From wilderness to farmland and back again

In the early 1800's, when the Northwest Territory was opened and the first settlers entered these hills, they had no way of knowing that they were in the heart of the largest hardwood forest on the North American continent, and one of the largest in the world. For families needing open fields for agriculture, the forest presented a formidable obstacle. Its removal was a challenge that taxed the energy and ingenuity of man, woman and child. But times have changed. Our needs are different, our understanding much enlarged. In today's circumstances, one of the dreams that motivates the Raven Rocks project is that at least 1,000 acres of that magnificent forest may be restored to something approaching its native state, and its long-term preservation assured. Wilderness objectives such as this, rather than commercial objectives, guide the Raven Rocks project.

Raven Rocks is not prime farmland. It has been prime forest land, and from the persistent eruption of little trees on these hills, one almost gets the sense that they yearn to have their trees back. Conditions of soil and climate that had made this the beautiful and vital forest that it was will also favor the restoration of that forest. That is why, as farmer after farmer abandoned his small Raven Rocks farm operation forty or fifty years ago, the trees lost no time starting their come-back. By 1970, when the preservation effort was begun, much of the Raven Rocks land had already become wooded. By rough estimate, 820 acres are presently on their way back to the oak, maple, beech, poplar, hickory and hemlock woods they once were. Some of these acres will make a long transition from reforestation white pine to a predominantly hardwood forest.

To all the good old reasons why places like Raven Rocks should be preserved—for their beauty, for education, as examples of wilderness for future generations to see and appreciate, or for recreation—new reasons, some of them compelling, have been added. Concern that human activity has already begun to create a greenhouse effect that could lead to global warming has rumbled on the distant edges of public awareness for many years. Now, with mounting evidence, the storm is, so to speak, upon us, motivating individuals, organizations and governments everywhere to action. It becomes increasingly difficult to deny the potential threat to the climates of the Earth. Raven Rocks, Inc., for its part, is proceeding with its forest renewal plans with a new sense of urgency.

Though by no means the only cause, the major cause of the greenhouse effect is carbon dioxide, which our unrestrained use of fossil fuels has dumped and continues to dump into the atmosphere in excessive amounts. To reverse the already measurable trend toward global warming, scientists the world over are urging several measures. Prominent among them is protection of existing forests, and the expansion of the world's forested areas. That is because forests are able not only to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but also to 'lock it up' for a time, first in the wood itself and then in the forest floor.

Raven Rocks, Inc., addresses global warming

Responding, as it were, to "doctor's orders," some 80 Raven Rocks acres that are now clear, much of it hay and pasture fields along Route 145, have recently been assigned to forest. We are advised that specific conditions in some areas make natural re-seeding the best route of return to native forest. Some of these areas, unmown and scrubby in appearance at this early stage in the process, will be apparent to visitors.

A little over 100 Raven Rocks acres will remain open for the time being, for homes, gardens, pastureland, roads, power line right-of-way, and Christmas tree fields. When the Christmas tree project is eventually laid down, whether because of the age of members or because the essential ravine and watershed land has been purchased and paid for and its future secured, these fields will also, for the most part, be returned to native forest.

It is perhaps fortunate that carbon dioxide is the major culprit in the global warming process, for it is the culprit that the average citizen can most readily do something about. At the same time scientists are urging preservation and restoration of forests, they are, as one can hear or read daily these days, also urging swift measures to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, and revision of other practices that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Saving and restoring forests can't do the whole job. After all, with a forest tree able to absorb about thirteen pounds of carbon dioxide a year, it takes an acre of trees to offset the carbon dioxide produced by driving a car 26,000 miles, according to American Forest magazine.

A number of projects at Raven Rocks, many of them undertaken a number of years ago, aim by a variety of means to cut fuel consumption and to reduce pollution. The tour includes several of these projects.

Members earn their own livings

Members of Raven Rocks, Inc., earn their own livings at a variety of occupations. Each person, as he or she is able, then volunteers time to do the work of the corporation, including such things as maintenance of buildings and equipment, reforestation, or erosion control. However, the major corporation effort, by far, is the planting, mowing, pruning, harvest and sale of Christmas trees. Income produced by this volunteer work pays for the land and other expenses of the project. At anyone time, there are some 40,000 Christmas trees in various stages of growth on the property. We estimate that each year it takes about 7,000 hours of volunteer time to accomplish all the corporation work. That's about three and a half years of 40 hour work weeks. Over the years, a number of friends of the Raven Rocks project have assisted in this work.

Members of Raven Rocks, Inc., who now number eleven, live on the property. Though in the past members lived in such distant places as Kansas City, Virginia Beach, Va., and Celo, North Carolina, distance made participation in the business and work of the corporation difficult.

Cooperation makes projects possible

Besides the shared work of the corporation to pay for and preserve the land, members are encouraged and assisted in projects of their own choosing. Some of these projects are major undertakings. That individuals or households could attempt projects of such magnitude is a reflection of one of the most fundamental benefits of the more cooperative style that is characteristic of the Raven Rocks efforts. The truth is that without the shared expertise and labor of members, many of these projects simply would not be possible.

In one way or another, these member-managed projects contribute to the over-all Raven Rocks objectives, including efforts to conserve resources, and to restore and preserve the environment.

When, as often happens, these projects result in construction of buildings on the property, or in the improvement of the land, these "assets" become part of the preservation. What this means in the case of a building, for instance, is that what a visitor sees being built at Raven Rocks today may be occupied by its builders in their lifetimes, but is not theirs to sell. It is part of the Raven Rocks preserved property. That is because the corporation has written into its rules and bylaws the fundamental intention of the group, which is that the preserved land itself, or any part of that land, cannot be sold again. Pockets of privately owned property within the preserved area would, in the judgment of Raven Rocks members, diminish the effectiveness and value of the project.

Following are some of the things at Raven Rocks, or associated with Raven Rocks, that you may want to see.

Stop #1: the solar pole building, which serves as repair shop for Raven Rocks Concrete. Located off Route 145 one mile west of Beallsville, behind the American Legion.

From the north (road) side, this looks just like any other pole building. And it is just that-except that it is well insulated, and its south wall is made into a "thermosiphoning Trombe wall." When this structure was put up in 1979, light colored siding was used on east, west and north walls to reduce summer heat gain, but on the south the darkest avail- able siding was used in order to convert winter sunshine into heat. A single layer of Kalwall fiberglass solar glazing, set out several inches from the wall, captures this heat, which then flows by natural convection into the building. All it takes to set the air flow in motion is to provide an opening into the building at the top of the wall and a second one at the bottom. Warmed air, which naturally rises, sets up a current, flowing into the building at the top, while sucking cool air out of the building at the bottom. This simple, natural process makes all the difference. This is a 100% solar building. It has no built-in provision for back-up heat, because it has no need for one.

The only moving parts in this system are pieces of paper which act as dampers. Anytime the temperature in the wall rises higher than the temperature in the building, this heat lifts the papers, and warm air flows up the wall and into the work space. More often than not, even on cloudy days enough of the sun's energy reaches the wall to lift the papers and heat the building. Whenever wall heat falls below the inside temperature, the papers fall against hardware cloth, and shut off the flow. The last time we replaced this paper—a job we've done twice in ten years—the cost was $7.53 with tax. We estimate the total solar heating "system" paid for itself in one and a half years.

Thanks to the solar heat, we are able, throughout the coldest winter months, to carry out annual repair and maintenance work on the concrete mixers and trucks, and on other vehicles and equipment. Without resort to fans, thermostats, motors or electronic controls of any sort, this building warms each day and goes through each night without freezing. On the coldest of January or February days—we weathered the coldest spell on record in Ohio—sunshine will readily push the shop temperature as much as 50 degrees above the outdoor temperature.

After ten years of experience, we'd have to say that the solar pole building, as a way to cut fossil fuel use and its pollution, while also reducing expense and maintenance, is an absolute winner .

First started in 1974 to supply concrete and supplement funds for the construction of the demonstration underground house at Raven Rocks, Raven Rocks Concrete expanded to its current two-truck operation at the end of its first year. Because of the mix-on-site capability of its Concrete Mobile mixers, which permits long hauls without detriment to the product, Raven Rocks Concrete delivers in ten counties, five of them across the river in West Virginia. A second loading plant at Clarington is used for jobs along and on the West Virginia side of the river.

With the more recent addition of Herbert Smith's cement hauling service, four Raven Rocks households now earn their livings with this business. Mixer trucks, the cement hauling rig, and other equipment will be on display.

Stop #2: Raven Rocks Press, located on Route 145 on the southeast edge of the Raven Rocks property.

Two Raven Rocks households established Raven Rocks Press in 1983. At present it is operated largely by John Morgan, with assistance as possible from others. Raven Rocks Press specializes in the printing of books and other materials that require painstaking printing, or careful handling of photographs or other art material. Elsa Crooks Harper's popular book, An Enchanted Childhood at Raven Rocks, was produced here. In fact, everything on this book but the binding, from editing and typesetting to design and printing, was done by Raven Rocks Press.

In the future, Raven Rocks Press will enable us to produce literature on a variety of subjects about which we have gained some knowledge and experience.

The fine old Heidelberg press used now by Raven Rocks Press spent its first fifteen years printing literature for Kellogg, the corn flakes people in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Also on display at this stop will be a small representation, as space permits, of the photographic work of John Morgan. Because John lived many years at Celo, North Carolina, before moving to Raven Rocks, his work to date is predominantly of the Black and Smokey Mountains areas. Art card reproductions of his photographs, printed at Raven Rocks Press, will be for sale at the garage at Locust Hill (Stop #5).

Notice: from the Press stop, you can get a long view into the Raven Rocks property. Most of the homes, including the two underground building projects, are visible from this site.

Stop #3: "The Raven Rock." That this spot, with its rock formations and overhangs, its stream and woods, should have been such a favorite picnic and scenic attraction for so many generations of Monroe and Belmont county folks will surprise no one. As is noted in the Postscript to Elsa Harper's book, An Enchanted Childhood at Raven Rocks, the Indians as well, going back at least 1,200 years, saw this ravine as a special place. Members of Raven Rocks, Inc., who decided the ravines should be set aside as a permanent preserved area, had become acquainted with them during their years as students and/ or teachers at the Quaker boarding school in Barnesville. For generations a spring hike to Raven Rocks had been one of the school's favorite traditions.

Stop #4: Sidwell underground house.

Two underground houses are currently under construction at Raven Rocks. Both are designed by Malcolm Wells, architect, who is considered by many to be the leading advocate of underground architecture, or what he calls "Gentle Architecture. " At Stop #4 you can see the Sidwell house. Locust Hill, which is the underground project most people have been hearing about for a number of years, is at Stop #5.

Near the old frame house (what we call the Roscoe Crum house, for one of its former occupants), Richard and Mary Sidwell, assisted by other Raven Rocks members and friends, are building their underground home. This building, begun in 1987, is the second and smaller of the two underground buildings currently underway on the property. Designed for single family use, it will be a two-story, passive solar heated home, with attached two-story greenhouse.

Though work is still in progress, the shell of the house proper is near enough to completion to give visitors a good sense of the structure, as well as the chance to enjoy the dramatic views this home will have of wooded hill lands and pond from its second story windows. The second floor, you will notice, is made of pre-cast concrete planks, called Flexicore. The roof is also Flexicore. The use of Flexicore provides economies of time and materials, along with exceptional fire resistance.

A word should be said about the unusual windows. These Duraco units, which were fabricated in Williston, North Dakota, combine exceptionally insulative vinyl frames manufactured in Canada, and triple pane glazing. A most useful feature of the Duraco frames is that the glazing units can be 'popped out' easily and quickly. This allows replacement with new units as damage to old ones or the inevitable improvement of glazings make this desirable.

With a building as airtight as this one will be, in wintertime fresh air will need to be supplied deliberately. A recovery system that utilizes heat pump principles will extract the heat from the air being exhausted, and use it to heat water.

A number of interesting and useful features that the Sidwell house shares with the Locust Hill project are described in the essay on Locust Hill (see Stop #5).

Architect's drawings of the Sidwell house will be on display.

Notice: looking from the Sidwell project, and also as you drive through the property, you can see Christmas trees along the way, sometimes in the distance. The sale of Christmas trees pays for the purchase, restoration, maintenance and long-term preservation of Raven Rocks. You won't find Raven Rocks' 40,000 Christmas trees in one big field. They are scattered about the property in small fields, generally separated by pasture land or woods, or both. This separation can slow the spread of pests and disease. Distance, by itself, is a factor. But besides that, the varieties of vegetation between tree fields provide habitat for a wider variety of natural predators. As a matter of policy established at the beginning of the project in 1970, all agricultural operations at Raven Rocks are conducted without resort to pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers.

Stop #5: Locust Hill, the demonstration underground building at Raven Rocks.

In the white garage building at Locust Hill, you will find a photographic story of the Raven Rocks land preservation and Christmas tree project, as well as the projects undertaken by individuals here. Elsa Crooks Harper will be here, too, to autograph copies of her book, An Enchanted Childhood at Raven Rocks. Copies will be available for sale. It so happens that Locust Hill is being built on what was the Crooks family farm. Also for sale in the garage building will be art card reproductions of photographs by John Morgan, printed at Raven Rocks Press.

Locust Hill, as envisioned by Malcom Wells, architect. August 1989.

Photographs and drawings of the Locust Hill underground building will be displayed in the garage. Many, no doubt, saw the beginnings of this project when Raven Rocks was part of the Belmont County Rubberneck Tour in 1974. But that was a different structure, on a different site. It was abandoned at the footer stage in favor of a much improved, solar design now well along in construction on the present site.

The fact that more than 1,000 people turned out on that blustery day in 1974 to see our first hole in the ground convinced us that the building should be designed to better accommodate interested visitors. So redesign was done with this in mind, but also with a much stronger and more thorough emphasis on varieties of energy and resource conservation, and production.

Conservation comes first

Given the technology currently available, the quickest and most cost effective strategies for reducing fossil fuel use and the environmental hazards associated with it are conservation strategies. Energy consumption, as we as a nation demonstrated during and since the oil embargo, can be reduced dramatically. We also learned that the results don't have to be disagreeable or painful. Cars that consume half the fuel with a fraction of the pollution don't run less well than the guzzlers did. Well insulated homes clearly are not less comfortable than their draftier predecessors.

Still, with the best of conservation, we're left with critical decisions to make about how best to produce the energy we will need. Moreover, we must be moving swiftly on these decisions. Locust Hill, along with other Raven Rocks projects, attempts to make what modest moves it can on both energy fronts: conservation and production.

Conservation, to repeat, is fundamental. Hence the underground location of this and the Sidwell building. A structure, if carefully designed and built, and then protected from the elements by earth cover, should enjoy a very long, low-maintenance future, thus extracting more years of use from the materials invested in it. A roof of earth conserves rainwater, and keeps more land area in oxygen-producing plants. Though the earth is not a good insulator, it does provide an environment in which the extremes of temperature are leveled out, which reduces peak energy demand as well as over-all use.

Conservation will be further improved with energy-efficient appliances, lights and motors, with waterless composting toilets, and a host of other strategies. As one example, Sun Frost refrigerators, slated for use in several Raven Rocks homes, will consume an average of 15 kWh per month. This is one eighth the current average for refrigerators of the same capacity.

Energy production: from passive solar, to solar electricity

And what about energy production? Both of the underground houses being built today at Raven Rocks will gain most of their winter heat through south-facing window glass. Windows, therefore, will not only provide view and light, but will also do most of the job of a furnace. This, of course, is the now-popular 'passive solar' approach. For passive solar to work, there must be sufficient mass inside the building to absorb the excess heat of sunny days, storing it for use on colder or sunless days. For both of the underground buildings at Raven Rocks, the concrete structure provides that mass. In the case of Locust Hill, the mass of the structure itself is sufficient to store near 1,000,000 Btu's of energy while permitting the temperature of the building to rise only one degree. This building can afford to take in a lot of winter sun  .  .  . comfortably.

Occasional use of a small super-efficient wood stove, built around a catalytic combustor to slash pollution, will provide what little back-up heat the Sidwell house will require. For the larger Locust Hill building, the decision about back-up heat will wait a while longer in the interests of taking advantage of new developments in a rapidly changing field.

A second passive solar technology will also be demonstrated at Locust Hill. Wings at each end of the building will utilize the passive thermosiphoning solar wall that has been employed so successfully at the Raven Rocks Concrete solar shop near Beallsville. (See Stop #1.) These wings, while fulfilling part of the retaining wall requirements for this earth-covered structure, will house a one-car auto repair shop at one end, a small woodworking shop at the other. These shops will require no back-up heat.

Locust Hill will demonstrate innovative cold storage for food supplies. A structure buried adjacent to the building, with direct access underground to the kitchen, will utilize what inventor John Hait calls passive annual cold storage. Air tubes, properly arranged, will draw cold winter air down into this space by natural convection. Thanks to a broad insulative "umbrella" that will cover the room and substantial earth mass around it, enough cold can be stored and then conserved, some in the room itself, but most of it in the earth mass, to last till the following fall.

Going a little farther up the technological scale from these simple passive solar techniques, solar collectors similar to those already in service at the Amburg Danford house (see Stop #6) will heat domestic hot water at Locust Hill.

A second, and much larger array of solar panels will convert sunshine to electricity. Photovoltaics, as this most sophisticated of the solar technologies that Locust Hill will demonstrate is called, will provide a significant part of the electric requirements of the building. On the basis of its excellent record to date for durability and reliability, photovoltaics is judged to be a most promising source of pollution-free, low maintenance, homemade electricity. Cost, down to a fraction of what it was a decade ago, has already reached the level of economic feasibility for some uses. Greater demand, along with constant technological and production advances, will continue to bring PV prices down, at the same time that anti-pollution costs and resource depletion will cause conventional energy prices to rise. The likely result is that at some future time the gap between the two will be closed.

Locust Hill, in order to make more efficient use of this home-produced electricity, is being wired for both AC and DC current. This is why, in case you wondered, electric boxes occur in pairs throughout the structure.

Many functions integrated in one building

Locust Hill is a multi-purpose building. Designed to house six adults, it also will include two greenhouses, space for conferences, a library and small museum, a business office for Raven Rocks Concrete, and a chiropractic treatment room. Also, already mentioned, are the wood-working and auto repair shops in the wings, and the buried cold room.

Another function should be described, one that is unusual for a house. Typically, toilet and garbage wastes are dealt with outside the house, whether with a septic tank or by a public sewage system. In both of the underground buildings at Raven Rocks, as in the Amburg Danford house (see Stop #6), these wastes are rescued and treated as useful resources. Clivus Multrum composting toilets make fertilizer of them. This done, the greywater from sinks, laundry and bathtubs still remains to be treated. A filtering device begins this process, removing and composting larger waste particles. Then, in the greenhouses of the two underground buildings, the filtering process is taken another step, to the point that the water can be released through a leach field.

Here a word about the greenhouses should be added. The greenhouses serve so many functions in both of the underground buildings that they defy classification and are difficult to describe. They begin as the backbone of the passive solar heating system, especially in the Sidwell house. At the same time, they perform essential greywater filtering, mentioned above. This function, which is accomplished in specially designed planting beds, permits the elimination of septic tanks.

But more than the elimination of septic tanks is going on here. When the sink and bathwater go out of the typical kitchen or bathroom, the heat in that water goes out with it. In these greenhouses, where the greywater must pass through planting beds three or more feet deep, much of this heat gets left behind. And what better place to leave it. One of the things that plants in a cold season environment need and thrive on most is warm roots.

We shouldn't overlook the fact that those roots are also going to benefit from the plentiful and regular moisture this system guarantees. Moreover, this water is better than fresh water, so far as the plants are concerned. They don't mind at all that it's recycled, an economy the homeowner won't mind, either. In fact, the plants positively appreciate it, because this water comes laden with tiny bits of 'waste' that contribute to the fertility and health of the soil.

Even that doesn't end the list of advantageous processes kicked off by the greywater. Those bits and pieces of waste in the greywater feed countless microscopic organisms, which in turn produce carbon dioxide. Energy-efficient greenhouses—which is to say, air-tight green houses—have had a problem, which is that the plants use up the carbon dioxide supply and then can't proceed with their business, which is growing. Because it is cold, 'fresh' air from outside, with its supply of carbon dioxide, is not permitted in. Organisms fed by greywater help relieve this deficiency. The plants can go on growing. And the energy-efficient greenhouse can remain energy-efficient.

Not all that the Locust Hill project hopes to demonstrate will lie within the walls of the building. A French Intensive/ Biodynamic [now (5/7/01) known as "Grow Biointensive] garden (See Stop #7) is considered one of the most important parts of the demonstration. (See north perspective.)

Tour visitors are welcome to walk through what is completed to date of the Locust Hill structure. With the help of the architect's drawing above, you may want to try to visualize the interior space. The second floor is built as balconies over the first, so that you will be able in the finished building to look all the way up through the balcony openings to the ceiling of the clerestory , almost thirty feet above. Occupants will cross from one balcony to the other on a bridge. In this building, the second floor will be supported on big oak joists, which will be left exposed to view. The oak, produced by Blaney Lumber in Bethesda, is under burlap wrap over the hill north of the construction site, where it has been curing for the last nine years. The roofs of Locust Hill will be concrete, poured with what is called a pan-joist system (not shown above), which produces in concrete a configuration that resembles the oak joists of the second floor.

More to see than first meets the eye

Those who don't mind stooping a little will enjoy a 'run' through some of the almost 400 feet of spacious duct (see drawing) that are part of Locust Hill's unusual heating and air circulation system. With so much space in these ducts, resistance to airflow will be diminished, which over a period of many years will mean lower energy demands for fan operation. This spaciousness also makes the ducts ideal avenues for plumbing and electric lines, with excellent conditions for future occupants to make repairs or revisions in these systems. Given the expectation that Locust Hill will stand for many, many years, careful attention has been given to details that could affect maintenance, repair, and revision.

As noted earlier, a significant part of the space being built into Locust Hill is designed to accommodate regulated visitor viewing. It was the choice of the six adults who undertook responsibility for this project—for the research, the expense, and the construction itself—that the demonstration potential of the project would become a major focus. In the years this project has been in progress, countless people, including other Raven Rocks members, the architect and engineers, people in business and industry, have given immeasurable assistance.

Dissemination of information about the design, materials, construction and function of Locust Hill is a primary object of the project. Literature, printed by Raven Rocks Press, will supplement what visitors will be able to see firsthand for themselves.

Locust Hill on the north side, with its bio-intensive garden, as envisioned by the architect.

Except for a band of windows that provide view, light and ventilation, Locust Hill is buried on the north side. As this perspective also shows, east and west ends are fully buried. By contrast, on the south side glass peers from earth-covered roofs on three levels, in order to take in winter sun. (See the architect's southwest perspective, earlier and the cross section, also earlier.)

Stop #7: At the Montana Danford house, you will see a demonstration of what is called French Intensive/Biodynamic gardening [Now called Grow Biointensive]. Unfortunately, there is no way in October to have the lush display that characterizes this kind of garden in spring and summer. Still, hardy flowers and a few vegetable plants will remain, as well as some plantings of compost material.

In the fall, it is easier to see the broad beds, which in this system replace the typical garden rows. The humping of these beds results from what is called "double digging," which is digging to a depth of two feet. Before each planting the soil is loosened and aerated with a special hand tool. This tool, called a U-bar, will be on display. The gardener takes great pains to stay on established paths. He does not walk on the planting area at any time, except when the U-bar is being used.

Crops are planted at spacings that result in total coverage of the bed by the leaves. The object is to shade out weeds and also to shade the ground from the sun, thus conserving both moisture and nutrients in the soil. But there is another function. Plants thrive on higher than normal levels of carbon dioxide, and three features of the biointensive system combine to offer them a bigger helping of this nutrient. First, annual applications of compost provide ideal conditions for healthy populations of organisms that produce carbon dioxide. Second, these organisms are kept alive and productive by the regular watering that is part of the recommended procedure. And finally, the carbon dioxide, rather than escaping swiftly into the atmosphere, is restrained under the leaf umbrella of the plants, permitting greater absorption by the leaves.

Grow your fertilizer in the garden

All fertilization is organic. But that does not mean that the garden must be dependent upon organic matter taken from other sources. This procedure can make one's garden thrive, but it depletes the other land. When a biointensive garden is complete, all the materials used for making the compost for fertilization could be raised within the garden itself as part of the regular rotation. Importing of any fertilization, except for occasional and minuscule amounts of minerals, should be unnecessary. Such a degree of self-sustainability has heretofore been considered unattainable. It is only because bio-intensive procedures so effectively diminish the leaching of nutrients from the soil, and that they permit more efficient use of the nutrient supply by the plants, that self-sustainability can even be attempted.

The combination of procedures in the biointensive method results in remarkable yields. For instance, in 1986 this garden produced 103 pounds of snap beans per 100 square feet of garden space, including paths. For truck farms, the USDA gives a national average of 8.2 pounds. That's a difference of more than twelve times. Green pepper yield was almost ten times better, amounting to 184 pounds per 100 square feet. In 1987, tomatoes exceeded the national average by more than eleven times.

Water requirements with this gardening approach are reduced by as much as 85%, in relation to yield. This is due partly to the fact that the plants shade the soil from sun and wind, as already mentioned. It is also due to the fact that when organic functions are balanced and vital in the soil, plants do not have to process as much water in order to extract the nutrients they require.

When the underground house at Locust Hill is complete, a garden of this sort, complete with beds for production of compost materials, will be part of its demonstration.

Notice: between Locust Hill (Stop #5) and the Amburg Danford house (Stop #6), you are invited to stop and look over some of the equipment used in the Raven Rocks Christmas tree operation. The tree baler, the shaker for removing old needles after trees are cut, mowers and other equipment will be set out for display. Nearby are white and red pine trees that will be part of this year's Christmas tree harvest. You may want to take a stroll through these trees. Close-up, you'll discover, some are real giants.

Stop #6: A Clivus Multrum composting toilet can be viewed at what we call the Amburg Danford house, the white house on top of the hill, with sloped roof and solar collectors at its east end. John and Wanda Rockwell completely remodeled this old-time building, turning it into a super-insulated house. There are, in fact, 8 ½ inches of insulation in the walls. One medium size airtight wood stove easily provides all the heat required by this home. Solar collectors on the low sloped roof provide domestic hot water.

Of special interest to visitors will be the Clivus Multrum toilet. When the first ten Swedish composting toilets were imported for trial in the United States in 1972, one was purchased for use at Raven Rocks. It has been in use since 1975 in the old frame house near the Sidwell project (Stop #4). The Clivus in the Rockwell house, an up-dated, improved model produced in the United States, was installed in 1981.

In a large plastic tank located in the basement, toilet wastes and kitchen garbage are broken down (composted) into fertilizer. In laboratory tests, the final products from the Clivus Multrum generally exceed the standards for bacteria counts that are accepted for swimming pool water. An unexpected benefit of the Clivus Multrum, one which has contributed to its popularity at Raven Rocks where the oldest unit has been in use for fourteen years now, is an odor-free bathroom. No odors from toilet use enter the bathroom.

With a complete Clivus Multrum system, one designed to handle grey-water as well as toilet wastes and garbage, the typical sewer or septic tank hook-up is unnecessary. A leach field is still needed, but with water volume so much reduced, it can be much smaller. More important, the leach field is not called upon to handle pathogens. Currently, in parts of the country where soils have poor leaching capacity, or where the degree of soil and water pollution typical of septic tank functions have become unacceptable, the Clivus Multrum is rapidly becoming a preferred alternative. The same is true where water supply is limited. Substituting a Clivus toilet for a flush toilet will typically reduce a household's water usage by 40%.

As mentioned earlier, both underground buildings at Raven Rocks will use the Clivus Multrum system. In both cases, greenhouses are designed to contribute to the filtering of greywater, while extracting heat and nutrients as well as moisture for plant use. (See further detail in essay for Stop #5.)

Raven Rocks members, through Alternatives from Raven Rocks, market the Clivus Multrum and a second toilet, the Royal Flush-o-matic, which is a flush toilet, but with water demand per flush reduced to as little as one to three quarts.

Typical water use for a flush toilet would be from three to five gallons.

Notice as you drive from the Amburg Danford house (Stop #6) to the Montana Danford house (Stop #7), you can see a small herd of grass-fed cattle. This is a project of Ted Cope, assisted by Raven Rocks resident, David Stetzel. The cattle are predominantly Charolais, with some Beefalo (part buffalo) blood.

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