[GSBN] Hand Compressed bales

[Andy Horn]

Dear Martin

Thank you so much for your detailed and informative reply.

 

Given the extreme cold experience (there are only 3 frost free months there
a year), I would tend to stay with the thicker bales, but was particularly
thinking of the smaller ones for some of the internal walls.

 

Indeed we have found that the local straw in Lesotho has a value locally,
particularly for its use as roofing thatch. Luckily we have the co-operation
of the local chiefs to hopefully control prices from escalating once people
see a new use for it. So there is already an established price which we have
discussed with the chiefs. It is sold in bundles, which is oriented in one
direction for thatching. This means the laying of the straw end to end
alternately is the way we would need to go when loading up the baler. In any
case we have wheat straw, which is pretty brittle, so I have my doubts for
how a random style would work. However, I have also seen big stacks of it
unbundled for use as animal bedding. I did not get right up to it and see if
it was any less thick and tough. But it is worth investigating especially if
it is more readily available and less expensive. Straw certainly has uses in
Lesotho and does not look like it ever gets wasted. I have not seen it
burned in the fields, though they do burn their stubble. Incidentally in the
Cape there is massive amounts of straw burnt causing massive pollution
problems in the summer. Soil erosion in Lesotho is chronic and part of what
we do around food security issues will need to take this into account. 

 

I have also done urine separation toilets before and as the locals are used
to long drop toilets this may not be such a jump for them as our city folk.
Apparently if you also add in some half rotting leaves as well as dilute the
urine min 1:5 with water it makes an excellent fertilizer ..the leaves are
supposed to improve the diluted urine.

 

I am still awaiting Darcey's detailed plans for his compactor and I would be
interested to understand how it compares to the fulcrum type that Habib sent
me. It would certainly appear to be less physically demanding. 

 

Clearly one of the issues with the car jack will be how one keeps it clean
and well oiled, so I imagine regular cleaning and re-oiling is a critical
part of making sure one does not mess up the jacks.

 

 

I am looking forward to experimenting with it all and will be going up
during December and look forward to more lively discussion and input from
this group. Be sure that I will also feed back my experiences.

 

 

Many thanks again  

Kind regards,

Andy

 

 



 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sustainablesources.com/pipermail/gsbn/attachments/20111110/ae402291/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 15324 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sustainablesources.com/pipermail/gsbn/attachments/20111110/ae402291/attachment.gif>