Let’s Talk Worms & Berms:
Have you been wondering in suspense about the Worms & Berms team? Wonder no more! We’re back to shed a little light on our affectionately named projects for this semester.
Project Worms!
This time last year, Rural Studio third years were working on the Storehouse. Situated perpendicular to Cat’s kitchen, the Storehouse is equipped with a walk-in refrigerator, two freezers, and a bathroom on the North half. The South half will soon hold some dry storage items as well as fresh produce and preserves from our garden that will one day be a full-scale farm. The produce and preserves will need to be kept at a certain temperature throughout the year, and our project is about doing that passively with an ‘Earth-coupled heat exchanger’ (also known as an ‘Earth tube’ or ‘Worm’).
A pipe will extend 100′ out from under the Storehouse and will be buried 6 to 8 feet in the ground where the Earth’s temperature is more constant (around 55 degrees). At the end of the pipe where it sticks out of the ground, we will design a cap to keep out rain and bugs and bring in outside air. The air will flow into the intake pipe, through the Storehouse, and out of a chimney located on the West side. This sun-heated chimney will pull the ground-cooled air through the system using the Bernoulli effect. The outside air might be less than 55 degrees in the Winter and higher than 55 degrees in the Summer, but by running the pipe so far underground, by the time it gets to the Storehouse, it will be around 55 degrees.
Project Berms!
If you’ve been to the Rural Studio, then you’re probably familiar with the Greenhouse made of barrels on the North side of our campus. While one side is (almost) all glass and (almost) all ready to start growing, cultivating, and producing, the other side of the Greenhouse looks like the image above. Last semester, our fellow third years did an awesome job with a tool closet and workshop for Eric, and now it’s up to us to fill the other cavities.
When the Greenhouse was built, that team constructed a berm in the second cavity from the right. The berm protects the barrels behind it and also allows light to reach any plants that could grow on the slope. Right now, our plan is to place another berm in the far left cavity with a similar barrel retaining wall. We will turn the far right cavity into a pump house for the farm’s new irrigation system (shoutout to the Irrigation Nation) and storage for Greenhouse equipment (shoutout to Shade & Shelter)!
We are diggin’ our two projects and we’re pumped about getting started! Check back often for updates on how things progress!