First Annual Summer Solstice Lavender Field Day

Sponsored by Peaceful Acres Lavender Farm

WHEN: Saturday & Sunday, June 20, 21, 2009

WHERE: Peaceful Acres Lavender Farm, 2391 Martinsville Rd, Martinsville, OH 45146

TIME: 10am - 11pm Saturday, Sunday 10am - 7pm

COST: FREE admittance, Fees apply for Adult craft workshops and handpick.

CONTACT: Contact Kym Prell

Farm Tel. 513-322-2415, or Cell 937-944-0149

Email: peacefulacres@verizon.net

Website: www.peacefulacreslavenderfarm.com

Peaceful Acres Lavender Farm will host Clinton County's first annual Lavender Field Day. The fields are filled with an acre of many different varieties of lavender in Full bloom and here for Handpick visitors. Daily workshops will be held for adults and children. Family matters on our farm so feel free to bring the young ones to many of our workshops.

Child workshops are FREE and include Herb Sachet making , Chicken feeding , Giant sling shots, Nature Trails, and Recycled Instruments. Please Pre-register.

Adult workshops include Lavender Wreath, Lavender Wand crafting, and Gourd Instrument crafting. Also learn how to build raised beds utilizing recycled materials. Pre-registration required. Please contact us for cost.

Peaceful Acres is located .2 mile from the Historic Martinsville Rd. Covered Bridge. Come out handpick lavender and spend the day with nature! You will be amazed what wild life can bring to our fields. This is a don't miss invitation, our farms magic is peaked on this weekend so rain or shine the farm is still here! BRING YOUR CAMERA or Anything to draw, paint, write while you have fun......and enjoy what nature has to offer on Ohio's Largest Lavender Farm!

"It is a great thing to see, a farm taking recyclable trash and using it for their construction projects. Especially the Earthship Biotecture we have been building that is now close to completion. This place is going to be great," says Jason, Earthship Biotech.

Peaceful Acres Lavender Farm blog....

http://ohiolavender.blogspot.com/

Subscribe to future farm activities along with blooming season updates. You can't miss this up coming spring.

http://www.peacefulacreslavenderfarm.com/



Thanks!

Roof Beams Installed on the Earthship! Questions and comments answered.

Well it's coming along. The Earthship has a roof.....almost! The two smaller rooms have beams installed now ready for the 1" deck boards. I have found it is a bit harder to work with ruff cut lumber rather than traditional pine. Heavier, crooked, twisted and heavy as you can imagine. I'm thankful for good friends helping bring this to reality. Another chapter of my life fulfilling at the blink of an eye. I think somehow I need to dedicate this building to these friends that helped with trash to construction. Keep your heads right because it's not over yet. We still need everyone's help.

NEW QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS

Will you see my beer cans I bring over inside the Earthship?
No! All cans, bottles and tires will be sealed from outside to inside. No Recycled trash will seen except the creative art light designs in the walls. Visit http://www.earthship.net here you will see how beautiful these Earthships really are.

I think their just glad you're not living in it!
A comment from a friend that must have been discussed some where around town. I know it meant no harm but the thought of citizens in the community worried about what doesn't have anything to do with them is oblivious! This structure is more reliable, stronger, sound, self sustainable than any conventional home built today.

My Comments: WELL, this Earthship project is aimed for storing our lavender products with out wasting materials for such a place. This is the original idea bringing people to our farm for agricultural/recreational use and still our plans for the future. But considering our economy and the down ward spiral we are still in, if some how, some time bad comes of it all then Yes we will have to move into the Earthship. Rules would be followed and I'm sure inspection of some kind would be needed. Seriously come on, no utility bills, no heating necessary. A place to live on our land with no house payment. Who wouldn't want to live in something they built that's a self efficient, self sustainable dream? It would look the same weather we lived in it our not. The only difference is our Earthship will be here for many of my family generations!

HELP US RECYCLE

Time is here!! We need as much garbage as possible for the earthship. Wine bottles, beer bottles, aluminum cans, plastic bottles all needed to continue our farm projects. I have a new route in future goals. ALL, repeat ALL future buildings, benches, raised beds and just about anything we can build will utilize recyclables to achieve these goals. We have a pretty good clean organizing system here so just drop off your trash or feel free to call for pick up once you have a can or bag full. Try to take recycling seriously I need everyones help. With out recyclers we just have more garbage that I could be using that I NEED. Even if you do recycle locally it doesn't help as much anymore because most recycling centers are full to capacity.

I'm organizing a campaign for locals to be able to drop off close to their home location. Future possibilites for drop off are Dayton, Wilmington, Reading, Yellow Springs and Martinsville, Ohio here on the farm. Please spread the word and get this blog rolling with responses and interest!

Another trash warrior raising the cause so come all!!

A new beginning for our future and the future of Clinton County!

Today I had the opportunity to meet the organizers of Energize Clinton County ECC. A cause dedicated to the future of our economy as well as the environment here in this beautiful county. Matt Rembert and Taylor Stuckert visited the farm interested in the Earthship Biotecture Project and our goal of creating a sustainable community utilizing the tons of recyclable materials. The added knowledge and resources these two have combined with the task at hand for me will help everything fall into place. It's a beginning that will only go forward from the generation of change with views of preservation.

Everyone's invited to visit ECC Head quarters open house on Jan. 8 @ 5pm. Also on Jan. 14 @ 6:30pm - ECC Greening Our Community Discussion Series - “Energy Efficient Solutions for Our Homes and Businesses” - Wilmington Municipal Building Community Room. Please attend or check this blog for the break down of the discussion.

Back to the Earthship Biotecture project here on our farm Jason has completed filling tire voids with one full U room done. Our tarps covering the U under construction has worn away due to the winds so we have to install the roofing, ground frozen or not. Frozen ground is dry ground so lets count on a cold spell.

I'm adding to my blogs questions I receive through out our projects. So here goes.

How much did it cost for completing the foundation up until today?
~As of now we have just around $800 in materials with a completed foundation of 700 tires including top plates installed ready to roof. It has taken one tire packer 6 months working part time to complete this task.

When do you expect to be finished with the Earthship?
~The original completion date is planned for summer of 2009. If weather permits progress will be on time.

Where do you get all the tires from?
~As a tire user I am happy to have such a great deal of waste at my finger tips. You ever pay for tire disposal? Well our local Tire Discounters has been very kind in supplying what ever tires we need. Most tires come out of Wilmington, but Hillsboro location has supplied at least 200 tires. Not only did it save money for tires and hauling but Tire Discounters saved a bunch of money on disposal cost themselves.

Hope this may help many find the way to a sustainable future!

Lets build our own community out of recyclable materials

Well I'm thinking ahead and taking the next step in building our GREEN community. Our plan is to complete our Earthship by this spring or at least have the majority of it complete for others to see. I will be adding dates for this summer for Lectures, Workshops and Writings on 'How To Build Your Own Earthship'. Not only will this give everyone the chance to live green but rather the education on where to start and the steps made possible to complete their own home or building.

We burn 40,000 tires a day in Ohio if not more! With this amount of tire waste we could build 56 -1100 sq' Biotecture homes, garages, etc. The American way is always to have new, well new can be made from recycled materials. Use the materials we have before taking more of what we don't need. Is this lack of responsibility to help the environment with recyclables, or just a scary situation for home builders? If a major GREEN movement started would we have problems with builders, government or suppliers trying to stop the progress and decide we are crazy? Well this is the generation 'X' coming forward and putting a stand on conventional ways of home living we are custom to. I believe we all x'ers can pull this off for the next generations have available to them what they will need to be GREEN. I know it's hard for the older generations to imagine this can come true. But think about what they have seen and how the planet has grown in their lifetime. They must be optimistic to a way of the future and need to think about our family generations to come. It is possible to do what’s best but if we Americans don't act now it may be to late in the near future to start using what we have readily available. So for the REAL GREEN thinkers, let's make our County the future in the first steps to living a sustainable life with the thoughts materials we have. It's not far fetched people, ITS HERE! Let's get this done and join together for our future and the future of Clinton County!!

I hope I'm not being the only one that really wants to make a difference in our County in a short life here on earth. I want to be remembered for what I did in our community and give my kids the lives they deserve in the future not ruin it for them and future generations.

Thanks for listening and stay tuned for our goals!

As of this week we have completed the installation on our top plates. I would like to start installing our rough cut beams but due the weather I'm holding off until it dries a bit. Instead we skipped a step and started installing our aluminum cans and mud into the tire voids to form a straight wall. You can see in the pictures how the cans are put into place by hand. Each void will have 3 cans packed around with mud. Neither of the cans will be touching one another. This has greatly added to our insulation and is keeping the inside under the tarp much warmer.