Clay Plaster Recipe
Dig up red clay and mix with water to create clay gumbo
Pass gumbo through hardware cloth screen
Mix 1 part gumbo with 3 parts sand, adding water as needed as you would if making cement.
When sand and clay gumbo are thoroughly mixed, add wheat straw chopped up with a weedwhacker.
Ta da. A low carbon/high beauty plaster.
However, the plaster doesn’t jump on the wall, so next is the fun/frustrating/ meditative/….. part; finding the right trowel and technique to get the plaster to stick to the wall and not slop to the ground, slump, be uneven, or done in a way that risks future cracking or falling off.
The next level of craftsmanship involves composing the little details around windows, rafters, and foundation and smoothing out the bumps and undulations in the wall.
Next up this coming Saturday we’ll be doing the same for the inside walls. After that, we’re looking at scheduling a weekend in October to put in a rocket stove and bench. Stay tuned, and by all means, come join in if such activities are calling you!
Anyone who has been to visit the Hart’s Mill property has surely been struck by the wondrous white oak near our pavilion. Estimated to be 80-85 years old, she has a beautiful symmetry that begs to be photographed. Recently she has acquired a bluebird box and a swing.
It does not seem wise to build our community around a giant that could lose its crown within five years. The Land Stewardship Circle has accepted Jake’s diagnosis and agrees to be proactive, though the time-line and details have yet to be decided upon. Hart’s Mill-ers have proven to be a resilient and creative bunch and have come up with some ideas for moving forward. One plan is to have the wood evaluated at take-down to see if it has enough sale value to defray some of the removal costs. We all would like at least some of the salvaged wood to be made into memorial sculptures, benches, counter-tops, and the like. There are quite a few young white oak scions around that could be dug and replanted–the tree’s children, so to speak. The 
cutting can also be accompanied by some sort of commemoration ceremony. Other ideas are welcome!
The Second Annual Memorial Day Weekend Work Camp had a lovely mix of good work — trail maintenance and building, and cobbing, mostly — with lots of great 4-year-old energy (Gaius), thunderstorms going right over our intrepid Saturday night campers, shared food (watermelon! cherry pie!), our very first on-site Farm Market, and to top it all off, a community tour of soon-to-be Hart’s Nest, now linked to the rest of the land by our first “Hartery” (artery between two Harts, Hart’s 
Mill and Hart’s Nest. Jeffry and Margret flayed buckwheat, harvested new potatoes and Yukon Golds, and planted 300 sweet potatoes while Paul mowed and others tended to their raised beds.
post entitled “Good Boots and a Hat), a partially marked and mowed route for the planned main village path (this will continue), lots of excitement for Hart’s Nest, and overall a still stronger sense of shared commitment to and enjoyment of each other and the land. Many thanks to everyone! 
The whirlwind of April activity has resulted in the little cob and straw bale building emerging from the ground. 
To date, 16 people have helped out with a total of 296 hours of on the land effort. HUGE SHOUT OUT!!!!
