Happy New Year!

The year 2011 is drawing to a close, and a short reflection back on our first few months in the New Norris House reveals what we learned and what happened during that time. Similar to any new residence, there was a period of familiarizing ourselves to the house and the systems inside it. Some things in the house were brand new to us (the heating and cooling units, the rainwater cisterns, the solar hot water, and the small refrigerator and freezer), while others were familiar but required an adjustment (low flow faucets and shower, cabinet and storage configurations, and the furniture).

rainwater cistern in backyard (on flickr)

The house was ready for occupancy on July 1, and the finishing touches were completed throughout July and August. We set up our post office box and internet service, and enjoyed meeting people who came by for house tours over the 4th of July weekend. Students wrapped up their work on the yard and rainwater garden, and seeded the lawn. Kinks with fluctuating water temperature in the shower were worked out, and the solar hot water heater was installed. Railings on the deck and entry were leveled and secured. Temperature and humidity sensors were installed throughout the house. We became familiar with the air conditioning unit manual as we figured out the ideal way to run the systems in the summer heat.

the house in december (on flickr)

The official ribbon cutting ceremony for the house was in August, and hundreds of people attended and toured the house. Also that month, there were multiple media events to promote the finished project within the Norris and Knoxville areas, and at the University of Tennessee as well. Professors Tricia Stuth and Bob French, along with the student researchers and other student participants, have been a pleasure to work with during this experience. We've appreciated their patience with us while we went through learning about the house.

In the next six months, we’re looking forward to some new activities, including starting a garden in the raised beds in the backyard and exploring more of the Norris area. Until then, we wish you a Happy New Year!

Summer Landscape Mini-Term Recap

What a summer! Even though it was a HOT, muddy, dirty process the time spent building the New Norris House landscape is one that I will always remember fondly. I even miss the manual labor, but maybe that's because I'm in an air conditioned room right now...

During the landscape mini-term we accomplished so much. We finished building and installed plants on the terraced bioretention beds.

We excavated for, and built, the raised vegetable beds and installed the 200 gallon irrigation cistern.


We successfully installed the stormwater overflow from the irrigation cistern to the bioretention beds and installed the pipe that brings the house's greywater into the greywater bioretention bed. We also built a gravel plinth for forest-side seating, installed over 200 linear feet of aluminum bed edging, dug beds for the perennial plantings, worked with a local contractor to finish the site grading, installed a stepping stone path connecting the sidewalk to the existing walking trails behind our property, weeded, watered and installed erosion control measures.


Some of us even got a lesson in how to operate landscape machinery!


So far, the plants are doing fantastic. The bioretention beds are lush and the perennial beds are off to a great start. We have plans for native shrub and tree planting in the fall, but for now it is so nice to be able to see what started as just an idea on paper growing and thriving in reality. Thank you to everyone who helped make the mini-term such a huge success!

Tuesday Tour

This morning, Professor Stuth, Valerie Friedmann, and myself were joined by a group of representatives from the Tennessee Yards and Neighborhoods program. TYN is a task force, operating through the University of Tennessee Extension Service, whose mission is to "to help communities across the state meet their landscaping needs while also helping to conserve and protect our state's water resources." Their interest in the NNH project came as a result of Valerie's inquiries about rainwater and grey water processing to the Biosystems Engineering department. Dr. Andrea Ludwig, an Ecological Engineer and recent addition to the University staff, not only led us in the right direction with designing our rainwater and grey water beds, but also wanted to take an active role in promoting our project as a prime example of how the TYN program's mission could be utilized in a residential landscape. It is true to say that we love all of the interest and expertise we can get!

Our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guests included Dr. Ludwig, Beth Babbit (state coordinator for the Tennessee Master Gardener's Program/urban horticulture specialist/old friend of mine), David Vandergriff (Knox County Extension Agent for Horticulture and Urban Forestry), and Ruth Ann Hanahan (Senior Research Associate for the Water Resources Center). All four visitors were pleased with our work, our methodologies, and our ecologically-sensitive approach, and thankfully, all four had a whole lot of insight and information to share. Tricia gave an exceptional introduction to the history of the Norris community, the events that led to the creation of the New Norris House, and the design features of the home itself. Valerie then discussed the layout of the landscape, covering in detail the design philosophy, usage of water on site, and the construction methodology. I gave an overview of the planting strategies for the infiltration beds, woodland edge, and lawn areas. We definitely received four thumbs up for our hard work to date, and laid the foundation for a working relationship of project promotion and information exchange!

The Tennessee Yards and Neighborhoods website:

http://tnyardsandneighborhoods.tennessee.edu/Pages/default.aspx

Dr. Andrea Ludwig and Valerie Friedmann review the landscape

construction drawings as I gaze into the distance and contemplate

my love of Little Bluestem, bacon, and intelligent women.

Breaking Ground: Part I

Tomorrow is a big day for the New Norris House Landscape. Our team has been working to gather all the materials, get all the drawings finalized, and rally volunteers for our first big work day in the backyard. Thanks to the hard work Blake French did over the past week getting our terraced bioretention beds roughly graded and to the continued guidance from Alan Messler and Rick Cawston at Deltalok, we are ready to start installing the retaining walls that make up one of our biggest design features in the landscape. We look forward to having volunteer workers join us tomorrow as we fill 300 Deltalok bags with a special soil mix, and then stack them to form a series of retaining walls. It's not going to be easy - when full each bag weighs about 70 pounds, and unfortunately that is not an April Fools joke! We will post a full report of our work day including before and after pictures soon, so watch for Breaking Ground: Part 2!

Stormwater Management and Bioretention Cells

Checking the soil infiltration rate on site

Nowadays, there is a lot of talk about stormwater management. What does this actually mean? Also, how much impact can treating stormwater on site really have at the small scale of the New Norris House? In today’s blog we will take a look at these two questions.

“Bioretention cell” is the formal name for what we informally call a rain garden. Bioretention is the actual process in which stormwater is retained in a treatment area where its contaminants and sediments can be filtered out. Generally, the treatment area consists of an area of large stone or riprap where the inflow pipe or swale directs the stormwater. This area, known as a forebay, serves to slow the velocity and evenly distribute the flow of the water to help prevent erosion. The stormwater then filters into the ponding area, which is composed of a soil mix of approximately 80% sand, 20% organic material and native soil. The sand in the soil encourages rapid infiltration into the ponding area, and the organic material and clay in the native soil increases the soils water storage capacity and creates surface area that encourages the growth of microorganisms. Soil microorganisms aid in the breakdown of organic material, therefore making nutrients readily available to plants. Plant roots and organic materials in the soil help to further filter the water and hold it in place until it is able to infiltrate into the underlying soil or is evapotranspired through the plants.

In order to understand the impact that bioretention cells potentially have, we should understand what they help to prevent. When stormwater is channelized and piped into storm sewers or large-scale treatment plants, it results in an overall reduction of groundwater recharge. This leads to the long-term lowering of groundwater tables and the loss of stream flows during dry weather months. Also, when water isn’t allowed to slowly filter into the ground, it loses the chance to have the sediments and pollutants it may have picked up filtered out by soil microorganisms. Furthermore, when we plan new developments without providing areas for bioretention, the chance of “flash” flooding becomes greater.

Although the New Norris House site may seem like a small area, the benefits of treating our stormwater on site are actually quite significant. The roof area will receive over 31,000 gallons of rainwater on an average year—that is about 520 bathtubs of water that we will treat in the bioretention beds. And, hopefully, through our educational tours and community outreach, the impact of our rain gardens will become even greater.