Down on the farm with Jaan Timusk

On Monday morning we woke to another glorious day. Perhaps it truly is summer finally and the incessant rain will become less frequent. Jaan and I loaded up the car for a trip to his farm. The farm is 100 acres located 2 1/2 hours north of Toronto. His neighbor on one side is Amish and the area is heavily influenced by the Amish and the Mennonites. We had great conversation on the way up and arrived at lunch time. There is such a different variety of plants and birds than I am used to and I really love the red wing blackbirds.

 The house was built in 1981 with a dynamic wall system that was an experiment at the time but was successful for the most part. I read an article in a 1971 edition of Popular Science which was partly written by Jaan.

We spent the afternoon exploring the property and sitting on the porch discussing building science. Jaan was generous with his time and his knowledge. My grasp of the physics of water and it's interaction with other materials was reviewed and enhanced. What a gift to have this time with one of the most dedicated and knowledgeable educators the world has known on the subject of building science.

He made many sketches to help me understand what he was saying and was very patient with me, never moving on until I fully grasped what he was teaching. Thank You Thank You Thank You. We stayed up late into the night and got up the next morning to continue the discussions into the subject of concrete and how it is made and the chemical reactions involved and the ways to destroy it and preserve it through understanding the physics involved.

 When we left to head home we stopped in at the Amish neighbor's for eggs but their buggy was gone so we helped ourselves and headed on.

 Notice the power lines have been removed.

 When we arrived home, Tiina had a wonderful dinner prepared and afterward we drove out to the yacht club and spent time on their sailboat and later took a nice stroll on the boardwalk. I got some ideas for the next days ride around the city.

So for the first time in a long time I am caught up with this blog but at the expense of my sleep. I was up into the wee hours but now I head out to explore Toronto.