Essential for the Helping Hands: The Volunteer Kitchen

One of the major projects in preparation for the Doighouse Earthship Build was the volunteer kitchen. Now that it is “really almost finished”, one wouldn’t even think how much time and energy has been put into it. But to tell the story of this kitchen, I have to start with the sawmill and four cabins… 

When Tony and Susan bought their property, it was completely grown over with the thick forest Vancouver Island and the region is famous for. Clearing an access path and setting up a camper was their first step years ago. Now that we are almost ready to build their eventual home, the only working kitchen (fridge, stove, sink, food storage) remained their camper. A very limited infrastructure, clearly not capable of taking care of more than one volunteer (even then in a tightly cramped circumstance).

Two years ago, when I was learning the workings of the saw-mill with Tony, the objective was to build a number of cabins. They were going to be just small enough so they won’t require a building permit, and simple enough to be set up quickly out of lumber straight from the saw-mill, on a concrete slab. For various reasons, this project turned out to take more time than expected, but by the time I arrived here, there were five slabs, four of which had a structure built on them. The first two were almost completed, with covered walls, the second two had only a roof over a 2x4 frame.

The idea was to use the first two cabins as a tool-shed and storage building, as they only need a set of doors to make them lockable and safe. The third shed could be used as a workshop, while the last one would become the outdoor kitchen. The materials were there, more or less, it just needed to be put together. The sink and the counter came with the revolving cabinets in the corners, they just had to be cut in shape to fit the kitchen. Also, there were a number of shelves and cabinets to be installed on and around the wall.

Amazingly, the cabinets of various styles and sizes fit together as if it had been designed for the space provided. The sink is plumbed in properly, leading the gray-water into a rock-pit. The water would be gravity-fed from the gigantic rainwater tank, which had been filled up with the rain caught on the cabin’s roof in as little as a couple months. Though at the moment it’s only a mere garden-hose with a manifold supplying the water, we want to build a proper Earthship WOM (Water Organizing Module) with a potability filter… Though for that project I should dedicate the separate article it deserves, when we get around to actually installing it. Instead, I’d like to point out the composting bin stalled above the sink. This can be removed back outside, and fed right into the worm-box behind the kitchen.

On the left side from the sink I built a long running counter on the same level as the sink. This is where we put the camping stove. So far this stove has been used for little more than making coffee, but we are planning to have large cooking events here. After all, the facilities are there, with way more space than we’ve ever had! However, the cabinets and their contents should make it evident: this kitchen is yet in search of a soul.

The fifth and last slab just behind the kitchen doesn’t have anything built on it, so we decided to use it as a terrace. The picnic table and the extremely well-designed parasol above it make it the perfect place to relax over a cup of coffee.

Above the entryway we drilled holes into the framing to stick flags of relevant places: on top the ones of this place: Vancouver Island, flanked by British Columbia and Canada, and on the bottom the ones of the places our volunteers are from. So far we’ve got Jamaica, Quebec, Ontario, and Mexico (for me). We’ve still got Sweden, the USA, and Newfoundland waiting to be hoisted when the respective volunteer arrives. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing the Árpád stripes of Hungary, the Silver Fern flag of New Zealand, the Douglas Fir on Blue-White-Green for Cascadia, and of course the Jolly Roger flying among the bunch as well. But we’ll see about all that…

If you are interested in this project, please visit the other posts I have published in my Doighouse Series:

1. Earthship and Permaculture - Introducing the Doighouse Series
2. Shower for the Earthship Build  
3. Complementing the Earthship: The Permaculture Garden