Aug
10
2014

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This is Kevin & Joy: Part Two

by Guest

Sunday morning started with coffee and plaster in equal measures...

Kevin

Joy:

Sunday, we spent the morning and afternoon plastering. Once we got the plaster mixed, it was time to smash it into the wall. It's not like spreading frosting, but more like scrubbing it into the gaps in the wire mesh and straw to make it stick with sheer brute force and physics. Then you watch it slide off and smack to the ground below. And then you do it again, and sometimes you climb up and down a ladder after every third or fourth smack.

Joy & Kevin Plastering Kevin Plastering Joy Plastering

Despite how it sounds, in the presence of friends, it was actually pretty fun, and we became quite the plaster connoisseurs, reveling in a good batch of plaster and being loath to stop plastering when we had a particularly good batch going. How gratifying it was to work and work and then step back and WHOA—there is plaster ON A HOUSE. I particularly relished getting to climb on the scaffolding and then on a ladder on top of that—a far cry from my daily life which involves exactly no climbing apparatus.

Joy Taping Windows w/ Plastic

We packed up and left Tara and Tyler on Sunday evening, with 1.75 walls plastered with their first coat. I am anxious to hear how it cures before the next coat goes on! There will be two more layers of plaster to come, and each takes a week or so of curing, but now it looks less like a house that the big bad wolf would blow down, and more like a place that one could snug up in on a cold winter night.

I am continually amazed at all that Tyler and Tara have done. Kevin and I are planning to build in VT too, but not homesteading. Seeing all the work and emotional cost to what they're doing is a reality check. And through it all they continue to be loving and kind to each other and remember that this is going to be the home that they have dreamed of rather than an endless chore.

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12 comments

I forgot to mention one of my favorite parts--the plaster smacking down your shirt, creating my new favorite band name, Boobs of Stone.
Posted by Joy O'Brien on September 21st, 2014 at 2:12 PM
Stone Temple Boobs?

Good on you two for helping out, and I know what you mean by it being a lot of fun to work with friends. I used to love helping people move. What T&T have accomplished so far, and are accomplishing, is really inspiring.
Posted by Nathan on September 22nd, 2014 at 10:38 AM
Oh, Yayyy, plaster!!
Maybe it was mentioned before, I CRS, but what are the sections of lath that don't appear to have straw behind them? Access to something, plumbing... electrical?
Posted by Anne Art on October 6th, 2014 at 7:09 AM
idle curiosity howd you 2 meet?
Posted by sarah on October 10th, 2014 at 9:02 PM
Sarah, are you asking where Tara and Tyler met, or where Joy and I did?
Posted by Kevin on October 14th, 2014 at 4:54 PM
Joy - Gotta love Boobs of Stone!

Nathan - Aw, thank you!

Anne Art - The lath in these photos is covering up various wooden frame members (window framing, etc.)

Sarah & Kevin - OR! Are you asking how Kevin and Joy met Tara and Tyler?
Posted by Tara on October 14th, 2014 at 4:58 PM
I just finished reading your blog starting when you started looking for land in Vermont. What an adventure you have had! I am so excited to see what you will do next and what your wonderful straw bale house will look like when you move in. I have to tell you that what you are doing is incredibly inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing the ups and downs and the reality of turning your dream into reality!
Posted by Mary Ruth on October 16th, 2014 at 11:05 AM
howd tara and tyler meet? and then howd you all connect? ive been reading along since scotland..must have missed that part!
Posted by sarah on October 19th, 2014 at 7:40 PM
Hi Sarah,

Tyler and I met online. We met Kevin and Joy through our website. They'd been reading along for awhile, and Kevin offered to build us a table for our little house. And the rest is history! :-)
Posted by Tara on October 20th, 2014 at 9:40 AM
Hi Mary Ruth!

Thank you so much for your kind comment. It means the world to us to know our adventures have inspired you! :D

All the best,

Tara
Posted by Tara on October 20th, 2014 at 9:43 AM
crazy, i met my husband on line too! thru a something called ever quest! trite i know! WOW became so much better tho neither of us play either one anymore,,,still interesting way to meet! 15 years later a homestead, 2 kids and chickens soon to add more in southern maine...what a life eh?
Posted by sarah on October 20th, 2014 at 7:12 PM
just wanted to add my husband is from cali and im from maine..talk about long distance!
Posted by sarah on October 20th, 2014 at 7:14 PM