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Welcome to this, the first ever blog entry for our project in South Gippsland. We are Corinne, Matt & Sienna Noyes, and we're building a Rammed Earth home on Mt Best, 14kms north of Foster in the Strezlecki Ranges. Our property is 46 acres of mostly rainforest; Mountain Ash, Blackwoods, Mountain Pepper, Tree Ferns and many other natives. It is a place we love, going there instantly centres us and recharges our batteries.
A short history:
2000 - Corinne found the property, fell in love with it instantly, and purchased it
2000 to 2003 - planted fruit trees and re-vegetated some areas with natives.
2005 - Met Matt, and also engaged architect to design a dream house to be built on the lower of the two grassed areas (approx 4 acres). Completed the design process and obtained planning and building permits.
2006 - Got married in one of the gorgeous, fern-laden gullies and had the reception in the local Mt Best Hall. Later that year we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter Sienna (yes, we move fast!)
2007 to early 2010 - Life got in the way. Not much activity on the land, but regular visits staying at our neighbours (and wonderful friends) Nic and Ian.
During 2010 (yes, I know this is going backwards!) - helped a very old friend Peter Mills to build his strawbale home in Merrimu, near Bacchus Marsh. If you are interested they have a fantastic blog at http://www.peterandnatasha.net which has tons of useful information about owner building and strawbale construction. This experience really turned us on to the beauty and environmental benefits of non-conventional building techniques and materials. It became obvious that we didnt want "single brick veneer" as was specified on the plans; that idea really began to repell us..
2010 - We realised that we had only a year left of our planning permit and that, due to changes to federal legislation, we would not be able to extend unless we were "substantially commenced" by the deadline (3rd Feb,2011). Nothing galvanises us in to action like an immovable deadline, so we went for it!
Our blog begins at the point that we decided to get moving on building our dream at "Paradis Farm" (Corinne is half French, so the missing "e" is not a mistake).
