Dharma House Changes

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Thanks to the dictates of city building codes, we are in the midst of big changes to the Dharma House. We need to install large windows in the basement rooms to permit exits in case of fire, but also to permit firefighters to enter with their fire suits and respiration equipment. In order to do this, the planting near the house had to be moved. We are creating earthen hillocks from the dirt dug away for the basement windows, and planting native ferns and ground cover along with the rhododendrons that had to be transplanted.

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In this photo and the one above, you can see how the landscaping has moved away from the house. The roses in the corner nearest this shot will remain for this year, but we plan to move them next year and add a magnolia for shade and more native plants. Native plants will be easier to care for, make the yard friendlier to native birds, and match the side yard to the west, which has become home to pacific tree frogs, and is visited by many native birds, including small hawks.

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Resident Fred Green during a recent Work Practice Day helped dig out the window well directly below the office.

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The yard to the east of the Dharma House was mostly lawn. That will disappear as native ground cover takes over, and a stone walkway meanders through the rhodies.

There will be four enlarged windows providing more light and basement exits. Here resident David Choten Robinson works on the window at the front of the house, under the tea room in the east yard. Click here for larger image

Steve Faddah Wolf working on the window under the small Zendo in the east yard. Click here for a larger view

Kenryu Binns pruning one of the transplanted Rhodies in the east yard. Click here for a larger view

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There are changes afoot inside as well. The library has moved to the former upstairs dorm room. Here Todd Fifield and Rob Holt work sealing and painting the fascinating old wallpaper we discovered under the paneling in the former library, which we haven't yet renamed. Some of us call it the "fireplace room," others the "parlor," or "sitting room," or even "The Board Room."

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Meanwhile, the library has new bookcases and more wall space, even though the room it is moving into is a little smaller. Alison Shin'ei Brown and Sylvan Rainwater work on organizing the books.

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The new library has space for a work table as well as a computer desk. It really feels like a library.

On the same Work Practice Day pictured on this page we hauled away lots of debris. Thanks to Rick Nin'yu Harlan and Domyo Sater for taking on that chore. Click here for larger image

Meanwhile, back at the window well job-front, here's another shot of Faddah that shows where both new widow exits on the east side are being excavated. There will be two on the east, one the west, and one on the south walls. Click here for a larger view

The Dharma House as seen from across the street to the east, looking west. Click here for a larger view

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This shot and the one below show where the path will run between the hillocks and rhododendrons.

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A irrigation system is also planned, which will make watering much easier.

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Jill Bukkai Washburn works on the planting in front of the Dharma House in the west yard. We're not planning many changes there, but it too has been replanted with more native plants.

Six weeks after the Practice Day, the landscaping is taking better shape. Click here for a larger view

New compost improves the soil so that the ground cover will have a good chance to take root. Click here for a larger view