Rajasthan is not a state known for rains. Yes, we do get a couple of months or so of monsoon rains, but we've rarely been worried about too much rain.
But around about this time last year the onset of the monsoons was a cause of worry. Our rammed earth walls were naked from above and we were in the middle of a national lockdown.
Top facing edges of rammed earth walls need protection or they may get eroded heavily. That compromises their stability and strength.
In ideal circumstances, we could have had the next layer of building on top of them by now, but no work had been done since the end of March when the lockdown began. No work could have been planned for the next few months either.
That's when, in conversation with our architects from Studio 8:23 and expert builders from Thumbimpressions, we decided we needed to cover the walls.
Lockdown had also meant that one of our poultry shed's remained empty. We had sold some of our flock of hens in early spring and with uncertainties around, we'd not added any new ones.
That empty shed saved us. We took it down in a day and in the next two days re-assembled it over the rammed earth walls.
The walls now had protection from rain - and the monsoons were no longer a worry.
As we enjoyed the rain, the walls spent the next few months under the shed, and were opened up to the sun in September end.
