LAST PREPARATION DAY
We have had our last prep. day. We hauled pallets from the garden centre car park – they may be the start of our shelter which we will build next week. However we decided to put up a white gazebo on Monday 1 October, the First Day of our Residency – so that we have immediate shelter from rain and a place to lay out materials.
I have become interested in the original measures used to lay out allotment plots – rods, poles, perches – all these measure the same i.e. approximately 5.5 yards. Many old measures came from using the body like a ruler: a cubit is the average length from finger tip to elbow; hands are still used to measure horses. A foot needs no explanation. I decided to measure my allotment with my body. I loved lying face down on the grass and earth, like kissing my allotment. The plot is 12 bodylengths long by 4 bodylengths wide.
Crops were also used to measure: 3 barleycorns = 1 inch. I used runner beans grown this summer: the plot is 110 runner beans long by 47 runner beans wide.
On our last preparation day 3 weeks ago, using canes lashed together with string, I tried to make a 3D drawing of the shelter we hope to build. The result was a wonky bamboo frame which wouldn’t stay upright long enough to support the outline of a roof, a strong reminder of the need to develop my design and construction skills.
Last week I visited the Eden Project and was pleased to be able to take a close up look at a very solid bamboo construction together with information on various ways of using bamboo to build strong frames, walls, floors, roofs and screening panels.
Also at the Eden Project were wall paintings by two "vegetalistas" from Peru depicting the intertwined relationship between people and nature.
Our final preparation day is on Wednesday. We will do a final survey and set up arrangements for starting the Residency proper next week – exciting. We will invite Simon over so he can see the allotment "in person". I went up last week to measure the allotment in bodylengths. This was inspired by finding out that the plots used to be measured in rods or perches or poles. All these are the same length i.e. roughly 5.5 yards. This is equivalent to 11 cubits, 5.0292 metres, 16.5 feet. 4 rods make a chain. One source says a standard allotment is 10 poles (10 x 30 yards or 9 x 27 metres). Roughly 300 square yards. But this does not add up. I must measure my allotment. Remember those old exercise books with all these measurements on the back.
OUTSIDE BATHROOM
Judith’s thoughts about bringing the inside outside made me realise we have 3 baths on the allotment, only one with taps. I went up to take a closer look at them. They are used as water butts now. Jeannie, my co-allotmenteer and I throw in comfrey as it enriches the water and helps the vegetables grow. Washing in rainwater is supposed to be good for your skin, to make your skin soft. I think I will try it.
With the time we’ve set aside for the allotment residency drawing nearer, the issue of a shelter has grown more urgent. Out of the blue I received a call from Simon Barker, an architect based in Eastbourne, offering to join us to help build a shelter.
Simon has a long standing interest in the evolution of improvised buildings such as those found on allotments or developed on PlotLands. We met with Simon yesterday and talked about ways we could work together to build a structure on the allotment using found and recycled materials. We talked about what the shelter will need to provide for us, and how we can make it into something more than just a shed – could it have another function or in some way be a place of transformation, somewhere that offers “a new view”? A telescope? A cinema? A schoolroom? And we talked about the work of Folke Köbberling and Martin Kaltwasser who mount installations and interventions in urban space, building structures from found and re-appropriated materials.
Simon will visit the allotment and we will all start gathering materials ready for a weekend of building at the beginning of October.
http://www.barkershorten.com
