100% Natural shelter

[John Fenna]

I went out and had a play today - making a 100% Natural Shelter.
The site I am using is limited as to materials for this and everything has to be 100% bombproof as Service users of the Care Farm come up to the site with their support workers.... and we have a school visit coming along next week - 60 kids!
The Shelter is conceived of as a Gear Store for bits I leave on site ... but I will also use it for the odd night out
I started off just thinking of a lean-to but then it developed a foot wall and a half length second wall.
I did not get to finish it today - but hopefully I will get back to cover it in a huge depth of ... brambles!
The site has little leaf litter - but it has plenty of brambles and I am sure that if I mat them down they will give good weather protection - and deter Zombies!
The Virgin Site

Lashing the roof pole - with brambles!

laying on the poles - lashing with - brambles!

the roof extends...

and gets a covering of the leaves torn from the lashings


From the inside - note the lashings ... brambles!

 

[Tracker NTS-054]

Interesting use of... Brambles! I assume you used work gloves to harvest them, and processed them like withies?? Thanks for posting!

 

[Mesquite]

Nice work John, look forward to seeing the completed shelter

 

[Cromm]

Outstanding work.

 

[John Fenna]

Nice work John, look forward to seeing the completed shelter

I will be back up there today to do some "thatching" using ..........Brambles!
I long for leaf-litter!

And tougher gloves...

 

[Steve27752]

looks good John, a nice hideaway.

 

[Ogri the trog]

I will be back up there today to do some "thatching" using ..........Brambles!
I long for leaf-litter!

And tougher gloves...

Same for me John with leaf litter, its pine needles or nothing!

As to gloves - why not try the old "Brickies" gloves - a square/rectangle of leather with a slit cut close to one edge where you put your hand through, when you want them, you rotate the leather onto your palm, when you don't you swing them out of the way for making knots or handling non-spikey stuff.

Seconding Steve's comment to see the finished article.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[John Fenna]

Same for me John with leaf litter, its pine needles or nothing!

As to gloves - why not try the old "Brickies" gloves - a square/rectangle of leather with a slit cut close to one edge where you put your hand through, when you want them, you rotate the leather onto your palm, when you don't you swing them out of the way for making knots or handling non-spikey stuff.

Seconding Steve's comment to see the finished article.

ATB

Ogri the trog

Unlike bricks, Pembrokeshire Brambles have been gene-spliced with anacondas and delight in throwing coils around any naked flesh they find ... full gloves are needed!
I like the idea of brickies gloves though - I might make some up anyway

 

[Mesquite]

And tougher gloves...

Want me to pick you up a couple pairs of these John?

 

[Corso]

looks good. is there room for a fire?

 

[rancid badger]

Not bad John, definitely getting there.

Shame there are no recent windblown conifers or thinned out "christmas trees"


I built this as a demonstration piece from a huge windblown Corsican pine and the dead trunks of small pines that had been thinned out. The small tree's were a nightmare to work with as they had been down a while and had hardened right off, making snedding difficult. The brash from the small tree's was used as a second layer for the thatch, with the actual pine bough from the Corsican forming the main covering.
Same as your shelter, all the lashings were brambles. For processing them, I grabbed them at the base of the stems, cut them off and then pulled them under the arch of my boots, till they were stripped of thorns and pliable. The thatch was about 2 feet thick and it took 2 days to finish. I used issue pallet handling gloves, which were a heavy suede with thick cotton lining and looked very like this:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kent-Mens-Thornproof-Pruning-Gloves/dp/B0017RO0A6

Happy Days!

Steve

 

[John Fenna]

Pine is easy - real men use Nature's barbed wire!
I got out again today and started the thatching ... with Brambles!
All hand cut using my Golock Machete (MOD type)
I managed to get about half done at 2 - 3 feet depth ... and cleared an awful lot of my site of Brambles!
Getting started

back view

A little of the area I cleared

Thet is the area behind the shelter area in the first shot...

 

[presterjohn]

Thorny stuff is a nightmare. No matter how covered you are a bit of it will whip about you and catch flesh eventually. You would need a full biohazard outfit to come out of a job like that unscathed.

 

[John Fenna]

Finished the shelter - not as pretty as RBs - but it was comfortable enough for all that. I had a god night - once the Owls in the tree above me shut up at 2am!
At least 12, perhaps as much as 14 hours solo work, cutting brambles of about a soccer pitch are, bundling it and using it as thatching. All cut with a Martindale Golok , all lashings made from brambles. Both arms covered in scratches, several horsefly bites.
The local birds had a field day now that the ground is disturbed and I was visited by Thrushes, Robins, Wrens, Owls and overflown by Red Kites.
There is a mouse in the thatch already....

 

[dwardo]

Looks very cosy John.

 

[Goatboy]

Excellent stuff Mr Fenna especially with the lashings and lashings of ...ginger beer!(sorry brambles). Shelter looks excellent and look forward to hearing how it survives the vagaries of multiple types of tenants. Somehow you look very at "home" in those pictures.

 

[John Fenna]

It IS my second home

 

[markheolddu]

Nice work John very cosy, see you soon M.

 

[redneck]

That's a good shelter!! I always wondered about shelters when people say they could put them up in less than 4 hours!! Your timing sounds about spot on for a proper shelter and it certainly looks the part!

 

[Ruud]

great to see so much natural shelters posted on this forum lately, lots of inspiring projects Nicely executed John.