New Orleans update 2

Here are some more pictures of the building and the property. I've also included a video at the bottom. It's Turner explaining the school.


This picture is from the back of the garden. As of the the garden is more of a mud hole but it's one of the projects of the projects of the school. The main strip of land on the left is the current garden project. The land on the right is a future garden. And of course there is the building in all its glory.







On the left is the main room. Right now we're trying to take the sag in the joists that run across. We have to get it straightened out so it can look good with drywall on it. We've been going around the neighborhood looking for straps and angle iron to hold the joists straight once we've jacked them up. It's kinda hard to get much done when you don't have money for new materials...but we're getting closer.

This is the upstairs room. Before we started jacking up the joists this floor had a huge arc to it. We also have to patch the leaks in the roof before we can hang drywall downstairs. That's the main thing I want to get done before I leave.

When we doing the last bit of demolition the other day we came across this bottle in the wall. Since it has been tucked away in the wall the water in it didn't evaporate. We're assuming it is flood water. It would be rad to get it tested for chemicals and heavy metals.

As soon as the water was pumped out a few weeks after the flooding rescue crews went from house to house searching for survivors and the dead. On each house there's a marking that indicates what they found inside. Most of them "TFW" - Toxic Flood Water. Because of the oil refinery and other chemical warehouses around, there was a shitload of chemicals that polluted the soil and poisoned animals and people here.


The stove on the left is our heat source. My friend John who is here was a squatter in NYC for years. He built a stove like this when he was living in the Manhattan Bridge. It puts out a ton of heat and we've got plenty of wood to burn. It's supposed to be in the 40s for the next few days so I'll be sleeping by that.


The tub here is the beginning of the garden. Most of this stuff we found growing around here so we just transplanted it. Oh...and the dog in the middle is Buddy. A crack head dropped him off to Turner because he heard that Turner took good care of the dog he already had.





Hopefully this link attaches the video. If not, just google 'school at blair grocery' and look for video results.