November 3, 2025
All drainrock and rebar procured and placed, foundation fully leveled, drain installed!
Perforated drainpipe placed on downslope side, solid pipe on side where floor drain will empty. Through pipe to bioswale area also placed.
Alternating cells all now have rebar, and have been filled with drainrock. This was a large mass to gather and transport!
Thanks Joe, Nick, Elysha, Victor and Bryce for all your help building retaining walls and moving fill out of the heap to distribute downslope, and Tyrel for providing a tamper to compact the clay.
October 31, 2025
Much progress since last update!
We pyrolyzed half the biomass on halloween night, yielding around 120 liters of carbon. We dug a conical burn pit and continued adding biomass in layers until the pit was full of char, this took several hours and quite close attention but is definitely a viable process. We distributed char to community members and the Gill Tract farm, and saved enough to mix with our compost for the greenhouse trees. Another burn will convert the remainder of the biomass into permanently sequestered carbon. Efficiency calculations coming soon! Thank you Elysha, Victor, Nick, Harrison, Bryce, Joe and everyone else who has supported us!
October 26, 2025
Tyrel visited for a geotechnical consultation, bringing LED floodlights so work can continue at any hour. We discussed leveling, drainage and the potential for slump and decided to place a drain on the outside of the inner long wall to reduce hydrostatic pressure from the hillside above.
Next step is acquiring enough drain rock to fill alternate cells of the cinderblocks, and finishing placing and driving rebar to flush with the top block surface in these cells. I am continuing to raise the slightly lower outside corner and tightening up the block alignment.