My mud house
24 year-old Kate is doing a degree in Anthropology and Development Studies in South Wales. For the past two years she's been living in a 'mud' house made from straw and horse manure in one of the fields of an organic farm where she works part time. Here she explains why she loves her lifestyle.
Making the move to mud
The house is still in the process of being completed as it's a pet eco project set up by the farmer that I work for. When I arrived it was literally just a straw bale structure - it looked like neat piles of straw with holes for the windows and door and a wooden floor and beautiful wood roof and it was protected from the rain by tarpaulin. Over the past two years we've been adding to it all the time. We've put in windows and doors and used chicken wire to rat proof it as rats are a massive problem when you live in a field.
The best part of making the house is the rendering; it really is the coolest thing. You make the mix from two parts of sieved top soil to one part fresh horse manure. We have two horses on the farm so it wasn't too hard to get hold of. You mix all this together with a little water to a clay-like consistency and then spread it on the walls with your hands. So many people of all ages came to help me; it was great fun. You soon get past the fact that it is manure. My walls aren't straight up and down, they have lots of lumps and bumps on them but it adds to the charm. It's really beautiful, you know, I call it my little hobbit home!
So far we've coated the whole of the inside and outside of the house but it needs two more layers before it's finished. There are so many different shapes and designs that you can try; once my exams are over I'll be poring through all the books trying to decide what style to go for.
I lived in the city for the first half of my degree but I've found it surprisingly easy to adapt to this way of life. I grew up on a farm in Tenby, I've lived in a nice house and I've lived in a caravan so moving to live in a straw bale structure in a field wasn't that difficult for me to adjust to. I found that it was nice to have a space that I can call my own. Very few students have such a luxury.
Why I love this life
Even though I've been living here for two years, I still come home, walk in and think 'wow!' every day! It's so different, and I've made it so homely, comfortable and warm. I don't have any electricity but with all my candles flickering at night it feels like another world; a Moroccan den. I also love living so close to the woods and the beach, just being immersed in nature and living among lovely people and the organic farm. I live off the land and it's so good for me. I appreciate the simplest things from an old tree to switching on a light at a friend's house. Living my way I feel really healthy and grounded.
The downsides
Right now I have essay deadlines and I can't write them at home because I haven't got any electricity. It doesn't really bother me the rest of the time, though. I do miss listening to my music but I have a wind-up radio and I've been saving up to get some renewable energy. I'm looking into the possibilities but I need a little help choosing, I'm not an expert at this, I'm learning as I go along, but it proves how possible it is for anyone to try eco living if they want to.
The first year I did feel the cold because I wasn't used to being so exposed to the elements. It is cold when I first get home but by the time I've actually made the fire it soon becomes cosy and we've since wind-proofed the house. I find that I'm a lot less productive outside in winter; I like to get home before it gets really dark to make the fire, but then everyone hibernates a little in winter don't they? At first I found it hard to get used to chopping wood every night, it was a new skill for me to learn but necessity made me get to grips with it quite quickly. It's fine in the morning, I just get up and do 10 star jumps and a couple of sit-ups and I'm warm enough to get dressed and off to work or lectures.
At one with the land
The shower, warmed by the wood stove in winter and the sun in summer is basically a pipe running from the water tank to the woods by the house, so I wear wellies and shower alfresco - it's quite surreal! There is also a compost toilet which I share with another field dweller.
In return for my accommodation I work part time on the organic farm, which I love. The work totally depends on the season. Lately we've been cultivating the fields ready for planting seeds and recladding the poly tunnel, a big team of us has been digging trenches for eight or nine hours. It can be hard graft. Another day I might have a cuppa and chat with the farmer, Plant a few hundred thousand seeds, go for a swim on the beach, and then do a few hours of manual hoeing to get rid of all the weeds.
Before I moved here I'd never even planted a vegetable but I've learnt so much, I'm seriously quite obsessed about organic farming now. The whole experience has been so beneficial to my future because I'm studying development. I feel that one solution to many of the world's problems is learning to live more sustainably. Between my degree and my home and work I feel I can travel the world to help people to do this now. It isn't as hard as people think it is, and it's a hell of a lot of fun.
Article produced by the Choose Action Alliance.
Interviewed by Susie Wild
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