I’m back in Seattle, working a retail sales job.

I crave good teachers. Right now I’m learning from someone who helped start this company 5 years ago.

He knows a lot about retail sales, and gives me regular feedback on how to be more effective in face-to-face sales with people I’ve often just met.

In my last gig, I was mostly on the phone with business customers, talking to a few people per day.

Now I talk with far more people, but the fundamentals are the same.

What do they need? What is their level of expertise? What is their budget?

I’ve had some big successes- man walks in wanting to spend $1k, ends up spending $3k because of my suggestions.

I also know I have a long ways to go to be a highly effective retail clerk. But I’ve taken the first steps on learning this aspect of the sales world, and for now, this is a good place for me to be.

So, the first thing you need to understand is that building an earthbag house is hard work. A lot of it.

That said, it is totally worth it. I finished my work on the house as the second story floor was going on. To see the central support placed was a wonderful thing.

All told, I put 2 weeks into the project. Well worth it.

At the hottest part of the day yesterday, I took off on the six wheeler off to the far side of the property, down to a creek.

Turns out that splashing creek water on yourself doesn’t keep the bugs away…

But I realized that I was getting eaten alive, and so went back to the farm.

In other news, while tamping down sandbags today, I noticed that my endurance is going up.

If only I had been vain enough to take a shirtless picture before I started building this house…

About 4 hours total today.

The walls are now high enough that shoveling into the bags is a hassle, so now we use the Bobcat frontloader to scoop up wet dirt, then park it next to where we are working.

It takes about the same amount of time as wheelbarrows, but is far less strenuous.

We’re taking pictures so we can post all of these solutions for other folks contemplating earthbag homes.

Off to relaxation!

Tired. So tired. And it’s only 8:20.

We did another 2 and a half hours last night, and 2 so far today. We’ll rest this afternoon and take all of Sunday off.

On Monday, we’ll start again, hopefully refreshed.

Today I didn’t even get out of bed before the sun rose. Bed… so… warm…

I got a cowboy hat. Highly functional.

Today is my second day working on an earthbag house.

This one is circular- 37 feet across.

It will be 2 stories when done, or about 40 layers of earthbags. We are in the middle of layer 10 now.

To make an earthbag, fill a poly feed sack with dampened dirt. You want enough water so that no grit will blow away in the wind, but not so much water that it becomes mud.

After you finish placing a layer of bags, you tamp them down so they are all flat. Then, lay two rows of barbed wire (careful!) to keep the bags from sticking.

In 3-4 weeks the bags will cure, and be near the hardness of concrete.

For this house, we are probably going to use wood for all internal walls. You could build the internal frame with earthbags if you desired, but in this case we would rather have the additional space.

I came on the job yesterday, and we worked 5 or 6 hours.

Today, we started at 5:30 and went to 1 with about an hour and a half of breaks- so 6 hours in so far today. It’s windy, which should keep the mosquitoes away, so we may get in another 4+ hours tonight.

Two best times so far- taking a break from work to watch sunrise, and when your head is about to hit your pillow after a day of work.

Read Sex & Cash by Hugh MacLeod.

Then read Twitching by Mark Twight.

It feels like the best course of action lies in pursuing my marketing career while doing educational nonprofit things on the side.

I’m going to start work again in August or earlier, so I still have a while to decide what is next.

What to do when you are young and don’t have a family to support?

How about all those things that you can’t do later on- projects too speculative, too dangerous, or too low paying to pursue when you take on the obligations of family life.

What about helping start a school in Ethiopia? Or working to reduce violence in Seattle? Or working in schools teaching kids to read?

I don’t know what my next project will be- but you’ll here about it here.

Brian