life in bonin island: March 2011

Mar 24, 2011

nature of ogasawara

cloud - sky - mountain

death

life

man made VS mother earth

sky - ocean - sand

Mar 23, 2011

A duck - wild?

Gently swimming in the green colored river, like a romantic dancer enchanting the world. No compromises or bills to pay just a beautiful day to play with.

Where have you been? Are you just a passing duck? Where are your friends? All questions pop up but cannot be answered. Even more beauty to be found in this mysticism. Farewell to you.

Going back to the days after the disaster happened. I found this photos that we took thinking that it was our last night together. After all the worries we thought we might just enjoy and have some last fun. We played cards and chilled on our couch thinking of taking some last photos of us together that we could send to our family. Obviously now we look at them we think that we could do better...

Mark and I

Mar 21, 2011

After Tsunami and Earthquake

Yesterday we had our first peaceful day after Japan's big day. I live 1000km south of Japan and even so it has been an emotional roller coaster every single day. The first question I ask these days is if there are any news and Mark will give me the highlights of the news. Now it is not even showing up on the BBC although the situation has not changed. I guess this is the media, gotta get the hot news going on. Although it is strange that it is not top news anymore I am relieved to have my first normal day since then. Two days of consecutive sun and no wind in the Island and you close the computer and it is like nothing has happened. Like you had a nightmare and you have woken up.

Live music in Yankee town to raise funds for Japan

Talking about nightmares, uff... I tend to have really strong dreams specially during new moon and full moon. Yesterday I slept thinking about the full moon and how with the gravity there could be an earthquake.

Dream

There was our little shack that hangs on the side of a hill with a big window facing the forest. Suddenly I can feel this very strong earthquake happening and there we were Mark and I trying to jump through that window but suddenly the whole house starts to move as if a train was pulling it through the woods at high speed. I was on the window seal trying to jump but it was so fast and scary that I couldn't. I got the courage to jump and I hit something that hurt bad and then I woke up...

Yatsuse River - the biggest river of this Island.

So peaceful today... ohh and the colors wow, keeps blowing me away.

The Tsunami did some cleaning in this river, usually the river and the ocean are not connected but after the tsunami the river was connected for some days and the river got cleaned. You can see right to the bottom of it and all the fishes seem to be enjoying it, also the very very huge eels. You can hear the birds singing and welcoming the first days of spring/summer. The locals have also been enjoying these days and going for walks to the mountains. I am so thankful to be alive and calm and back to the NOW.

Mar 14, 2011

How to make an Earth oven

There are different instructions on how to make an Earth Oven. Kiko Denzer has written a book about it but I wanted to make an Earth oven that would cost 0 yen, if it does not work than I will buy the book.

I did some research online and found some useful information, I also talked to Ryo-san (my neighbor/landlord) about the Islands soil and history. The Island possesses a red clay looking dirt, some people have tried making an earth oven with it but it tends to crack. On my research I found out that sand is helpful to keep it together. I thought of using beach sand but it does not recommend soft sand, rather river sand which helps it keep together.

Step 1

MAKE EXAMPLE BRICKS

Mixing dirt and sand at different ratios. I made 3 tiny bricks with my hands and the dirt I had in my yard. 1) dirt only 2) dirt and tiny bit of sand 3) 2:1 of dirt and sand. Let it dry under the sun for days. The toughest looking one was the number 3.

Step 2

MAKE A BASE

You want your base to be at hip height so when you are cooking and making the fire you don't have to hunch every time. Use stones and dirt for the bottom of the base and on the top you want to have a bed of sand. It is important to keep the oven in a dry condition and that is what the sand is for. 15cm of bed sand will do, any kind of sand here. Make sure it is a parallel surface and it is not tilted. Layer red bricks or fire proof bricks. I couldn't find either so I used bricks made out of cement.


Layer of stone, sand and bricks

Base

It took me a two days to make the base. The stones I had to bring from the beach on the car and then bring each of them from the parking lot down hill to our home. After doing this it took me weeks to gather the energy and finish it up.

STEP 3

MAKE A DESIGN PLAN FOR THE OVEN

1) Based on the area that I could play with I designed the size of the oven . I did not have much space to play with so the oven was going to be small. For a beginner like me I think small is good, in case it goes bad than your hard work is less than if you had made a bigger one.

The Diameter: 56cm

Height: 30cm

The height of the oven cannot be bigger than 2/3 the diameter of the oven.

2) The oven has 3 layers. In the information I found there are many ways of making it but the more research I made the more it seemed that the thicker the layer the better it is for keeping the heat in the oven.

Layer 1- The Dense layer- Thermal mass is made of mostly sand and a little clay. 3-4 inches

Layer 2 -Insulative layer - Helps keeping the heat, made of straw, sand and clay.

Layer 3- Structural strength layer - Similar to the first one but with straw.

3) The door- The doorway cannot exceed 63% of the total height of the oven.

4) Make a draft of your design and layering. Draw the layout on your base with a crayon to keep track of the layers as you build.


I scaled it to see the real size and how big my pizzas were going to be.

Then I drafted the design on the base.

Step 4

MAKING A SAND CASTTLE

To be able to hold the shape of the vault you use the support of a sand castle. For this I used very thin sand from the beach. This is fun and easy.

Once you are done with that you cover it with a plastic bag, this is to help you dig out the sand from the inside and also to be able to stick your finger while making the layers and making sure that all around it has the same thickness.

Sand castle

Cover sand castle with a plastic bag

Step 5

BUILDING THE EARTH OVEN

1) Layer 1- Mix clay and sand. The proportions recommended were 2:1 sand to clay but as I was mixing the two it seemed too much sand so I turned the equation the other way around to 1:2 sand to clay and a bit of water. Spreading a plastic sheet on the ground and stepping on the mixture with your naked feet and dancing to some twist and salsa. Make sure you mix both ingredients well, pull the edges of the sheet and fold the clay and repeat that as many times as it takes. At first I intended to make the layer 6 cm thick but it ended up being 4cm thick.

Clay mixture.

Cut the door with a knife or some other tool that is thin and sharp.

2) Layer 2 - Mix clay, straw and sand. It recommended to have equal proportions of 1:1:1 but I mixed in less sand this time too. I do recommend that you follow your instincts and feel the texture of the mixture, also if you want to test it, make balls and throw them to the ground from chest level, it should stay together. There is no straw in this Island so I used a local palm tree trunk material that was strong and thin.

What I used instead of straw

layer 2

layer 2 finished

Layer 3- Similar mixture to layer one but with straw. I did the same mixture and didn't add the straw. I made enough to be able to design something around it.

Step 6

HEAT THE OVEN

Once you have finished the oven than you can heat it. Now it is important to heat slowly and many times before you start baking. Also I think it is better to have a rook on top of it to make it last longer. I named mine the Wahippo Wahiki. Get inspired and create your own oven. It is also important to consider your environment when you build one. If you are trying to be an eco conscious person and the forest around you is being deforested than cutting more trees will not help. To heat an oven you will use a lot of wood. In this Island there are cutting down the pine trees because they are alien invasive species and therefor there is abundance of it. The oven also creates CO2. But if you are in good position to build it than it is a fun project to do with your friends, family and loved ones. It is not that difficult to make but it does require energy :)

Mar 12, 2011

honeymoon spot - 100 layer cake

The Tides located on La Ropa Beach in the village of Zihuatanejo.

mmm I could go there...

Earthquake and Tsunami hits Japan

It was a normal day, I was doing some gardening when suddenly I hear this siren. Japan is well advanced in Tsunami warnings, there are megaphones all around the Island giving advice to stay away from the beach. At first I couldn't hear what it said since we live so up in the mountain but then I heard it two more times and then I started suspecting there was something wrong. I checked the news and there it was. One of the biggest earthquakes in history. We don't have a TV so no idea of what was going on. Decided to go to the top of the mountain and see if the ocean was any different.

There were some swell lines but nothing dramatic

That is town. The boats have gathered to the center of the bay. I guess it is the smartest thing to do, in case the tsunami hits and their boats get smashed.

Sunset was beautiful as well. We were very grateful to be in a safe place and hoped the affected people recover from this disaster. There are many natural disasters happening on Earth, I think we all should be prepared at any time. Not only mentally, physically but also spiritually. This earthquake took away many peoples life, it is a great opportunity for us to come together and practice love and peace. Also to remember the love and support that your loved ones have given you and to show appreciation at all times.