WOW! We are so thankful in looking back over 2012 and realizing what has been accomplished at the Sustainable Learning Center. In January 2012 all we had was a metal frame but still no walls, no second floor and decided that we really needed to see some progress.
Actually there had been progress, but not the kind that was visible which starts to get a bit discouraging. Made the decision to hit it hard and made the commitment to host an open house in the spring. Hit it hard we did with the help of many friends and family we managed to get the second floor down, the back wall in place and hosted our first official open house with over 100 people coming through and seeing what we had been doing over the last few years.
Needless to say some were surprised, pleased and even shocked! The fact that we had actually lived there for a few months the previous year Tammy’s friends were especially interested and appropriately thankful it was her not them that had somewhat roughed it out for awhile. During the open house we had a number of workshops and classes and served numerous amounts of poeijie (South African Stew). We had an incredible sun rise service with friends and family on Easter Sunday with the sun coming up over the mountain behind the wedding wall (from our son’s wedding) and the little ones had fun hunting for eggs.
We were excited with the turn out for these events and decided to keep going with our big push to get things done. The spring and summer we had some amazing interns that helped us to get all the straw bale walls as well as the SIP panels up.
We managed to get the west wall foamed before our trip to Alaska for a much needed break.
By the end of 2012 we had all the walls up and the first layer of stucco completed to have a completely enclosed structure hooray! Just in time for the freezing weather that came in January.
The deal this time was we would have an enclosed structure, hot water and sufficient power. That hasn’t actually happened yet but having done it before made this time a bit easier and we have a place to stay to keep warm until those are completed which are coming very soon. Looking back though on where we were and where we are makes it so much easier we can see the promises of what will be and are thrilled. We now have all the walls up and should have it completely air tight in the next few weeks, with the final coating and paint on the outside. A huge thank you to all our friends, family, and supporters for all their hard work and assistance in so many areas! Really can’t wait to see what 2013 will bring!
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