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WineEast Straw has been used as a building material for hundreds of years. Many early structures were built using clay with straw mixed in to provide tensile strength and some insulation. In Europe, timber con- struction was in-filled with straw that was then coated with a clay slip. In this country, the mechanical hay baler machine was invented in the 1850s, and by the 1890s it was widely used. Settlers in the Nebraska Sandhills region used straw bales as a building material to supplement the limited availability of trees and the poor quality of the soil for sod houses. For walls and for support There are two types of straw bale buildings. In the houses, farm buildings, churches and schools built in Nebraska, the straw bale walls carry the weight of the roof. In con- struction using post-and-beam framing, the wood frame supports the roof, and the straw bales form the walls and serve as insulation. In both types of construction, the bales are placed on a concrete or stone foundation to prevent moisture seepage into the straw. Straw is similar to wood in that it is high in cellulose and not digestible by animals. After grain is harvested, about 15% of the remaining stalks of the plant—the straw—can be tilled back into the soil. The remaining straw stalks are a waste product, and in the past many grain farmers burned the stalks, releasing fine particulates and CO2 The basic elements of building straw bale walls include a concrete block foundation, straw bales, wooden posts to support the roof and overhang, metal roof trusses and framing for the windows. design: The window overhangs keep out the hot sun rays In the summer; in winter, when the sun is lower in the sky, warm sunshine helps heat the room. The solar heat in winter is supplemented by a clean-burning masonry fireplace that burns firewood from the own- ers' woodlot. Solar panels on the roof supply hot water for the building. The "living" roof, planted with sedum, captures rainwater as well as providing insulation in the winter and natural cooling during the summer. Planning the barrel facility In 2011, Boyce and O'Herron began to sketch out a new barrel facility that would add enough storage capacity for 400 bar- rels on the floor as well as space for a wine library room and case goods storage for more than 10,000 cases. The next step was to hire the architect, Sigi Koko of Down to Earth Design, who designed the tasting room building and taught the couple and their crew how to construct an eco-friendly straw bale building. The barrel room building is, needless to say, much larger than the tasting room, but in other ways it is not as complex. It has a concrete floor sealed with Ashford Formula (a liquid concrete densifier, sealer and hardener), and floor drains run the length of the barrel room. The mortise and tenon timber framing supports the metal roof trusses and trees harvested from Black Ankle's woods serve as the upright posts. When it is finished, the roof will be "green" and covered with sedum. To build the walls, straw bales (called "square" bales, even though each bale is more rectangular with dimensions of about 14 inches x 18 inches x 40 inches) are placed on a raised footing, or foundation, in a running bond pattern. Each straw bale is wrapped with two or three strands of Labels into the atmosphere. Over the years, such burning has increasingly been banned to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Consumers, especially since the 1990s, have been looking for natural, sustainable building materials, and consequently straw bale construction has been revived. At Black Ankle Vineyards it took 10 months to build the tasting room building, which opened in September 2008. The new build- ing incorporated framing from locally milled wood cut from trees grown in their woods; the walls were insulated with bales of rye and oat straw grown on Black Ankle's own farm and covered with a plaster coating made mostly from clay dug on the farm. Cob (a mix of sand, dirt, water and loose straw) was used to build a window seat, bar fronts, the cladding of the masonry heater and garden walls. In addition, the tasting room was designed to be eco-friendly. It is passive solar in for Wine, Spirit & Food Offering: Flexo Roll Printing Indigo Sheet & Roll Printing Die Cut, Foil Stamping & Embossing Branding & Design Services Knowledgeable of TTB Regulations www.wrightlabels.com Tel (800) 678-9019 WINES & VINES OCTOBER 2012 61