The Not-So-Secret Garden
By Marlys Hersey
The Big Bend Gazette, May 2004
MARATHON — I feel like Alice in Wonderland. Or Charlie in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. I’m clearly in a magical place, however there is no sinister rabbit coaxing me on, no enigmatic, snappish Willy Wonka leading me further into his factory and testing to see if I’m worthy of learning his secrets of the trade.
Rather, I’m wandering through the gardens and rooms of Eve’s Garden Bed & Breakfast and Ecology Center. The place is instantly enchanting, full of flowers everywhere, brilliant colors inside and out (painted in pastel oranges, shimmery golds, deep purples and lavenders, and green-blues reminiscent of the ocean in the Florida Keys), smells galore from things growing and cooking, and the sounds of water running and birds singing. There are original paintings and sculptures on walls, under archways, in gardens, and in nooks and crannies. There are fountains (made out of old paint cans and buckets, wine and beer bottles, I’m told later) with lily pads and fish. All this is mixed in with fantastical architecture full of arches, domes, and curves.
And then there are my hosts, Kate Thayer and Clyde Curry, who are friendly, brimming with energy, and giggle a lot.
And they want to share their knowledge. When I ask Thayer, co-founder of Eve’s Garden, if she is willing to share the recipe for the “magic tea’ they use on all of their thriving plants, she exclaims, “Oh, you always give away secrets — for everything
This incites Curry, other founder of Eve’s Garden, to launch into an explanation of how their “biodynamic tea’ works on the plants by using mycorriza, or the symbiotic association of the vegetative parts of fungi with the roots of certain plants. Curry concludes his complicated riff with what could be construed as the modus operandi at Eve’s Garden: “All we really gotta do is fund research to find the natural way to do things
This tenet is the foundation for Eve’s Garden, described (on their website) as “a research level organic gardening demonstration site and an urban hacienda, combining to provide a comfortable Bed and Breakfast environment and a conversational forum to address issues regarding the ecology we live in. Every effort has been made to combine elements of ‘art,’ ‘architecture,’ and ‘ecology’ in the layout and construction of this unusually progressive piece of work
And it really feels like that.
The place is even more amazing in person than you might expect from driving by (which is intriguing enough) or from visiting their website, complemented by the vivacity and magnanmity of its hosts. Kate and Clyde live what they are trying to promote.
In fact, they live in what they try to promote: the very structure of the place (which is their home as well as a guest house and ecological retreat) is an experiment in sustainability, from the foundation up.
Adding to the original house (circa 1910-ish) on the corner of 3rd Street and Avenue C, Curry has been working with “papercrete,’ a mixture of recycled paper and Portland cement, since they started building more rooms and cottages 3 1/2 years ago. The goal is to use low-weight, super-insulated papercrete bricks, and local labor and materials. “We didn’t invent the idea of mixing paper and concrete; we’re just experimenting with how to use it.’
There is a catch: to make cement requires heating it to 3000 degrees Centigrade. “It takes a lot of energy,’ Curry concedes, “but makes phenomenally sticky cement to hold paper together that will then make phenomenally long-lasting bricks — which will save energy in the long run
There are other glitches, too. “When we first started, we were making our own bricks,’ says Thayer, and laughs. “You could still see the colors and words in them, from the paper. And the bricks would sag in the rain. But we used them. Every brick’s been used. There’s no such thing as a bad brick.’ This is why they currently get their papercrete bricks from Zach Rabon at Mason Ready Mix in Mason, Texas. For now, anyway. Curry hopes to turn others in the Big Bend on to using papercrete, thereby generating enough demand to make it feasible to manufacture the papercrete around here. “There’s no agribusiness around here anymore. We need other micro industries, so we’re not dependent on transportation
Equally appealing is that to build this way, claims Curry, all you need is a shovel, trowel, mixers (for cement mortar), and (papercrete) bricks. “It’s a stupidly simple method of construction – like adobe.’ Anyone can do this, they insist. Adds Thayer, “We can build houses – we’ve just been scared out of it.’
Curry had worked for years as a solar consultant to 27 architects involved in building a planned community (for 50,000 people) in Virginia — in exchange for access to each of their architectural libraries.
Then, 13 years ago, Curry moved to the Big Bend. “I got out here and was like ‘What? No [building] inspectors? Watch this!’’ And he built a straw bale house on the south side of town (now the “Adobe Posada’ for rent as part of Eve’s Garden
Thrilled to finally build from his own designs, Curry has made several small buildings and other structures on the premises, including, two guest rooms/cottages, Thayer’s 2nd-floor office, ponds with fountains, and a coffeehouse that’s not quite finished. With much more still to do.
Curry leads us into the “Lotus Suite,’ a guest room painted in rich oranges, reds, and golds evocative of the Near East. It has a domed ceiling. “Are you a musician at all?’ he asks. He points to the bed directly under the dome. “Sit there and talk.’ Our voices bounce back down to us with phenomenal clarity.
The papercrete bricks provide “concrete-like strength, but without the heavy weight of concrete,’ allowing Curry to build domes, some of the most stable structures known.
It’s tempting to call these structures “alternative,’ since the arches, domes, and curves are atypical of most buildings in West Texas, yet that would be misleading. If anything, Curry’s year of informal study of the architecture of New Mexico has inspired him to make desert dwellings following designs that have been used “for 3,000 years.’
And he’s nowhere near done. “The plan came after the building started,’ says Curry. What started as Thayer & Curry’s idea to have a few rooms for guests, organic gardens, and an artist’s studio has morphed into something much larger, and keeps growing and changing, in what the couple jokingly refers to as the “plan du jour.’
The latest and most exciting development in their plan occurred just two weeks ago. Dennie Austin, an 81-year-old jeweler and rockhound who is returning to the Big Bend after a three-year stint in Colorado, stopped by and after a few hours of talking, the three of them decided it would be ideal to have Dennie move to Eve’s Garden, open a jewelry-making studio/rock shop, and live on site. He’ll be settling in this month, and the trio plan to have his shop open for business in July.
Thayer and Curry view Austin’s residence here as the beginning of an artists community on site, in which several artists will live, work, and teach classes at the center. They plan to offer week-long seminars in various arts, so, for example, “a group can get together, have a good time, get to know each other, eat good food, and make jewelry,’ says Thayer.
They are both ecstatic about Austin’s imminent arrival. “He’ll be our first ‘artist in residence,’’ says Thayer.
“Second,’ corrects Curry. “Kate’s our first.’
Thayer’s art can be found throughout, in the form of sculptures, paintings, and flower bouquets.
And then there’s the garden. “When was the last time you saw a snapdragon that big?’ asks Curry, leading us into the greenhouse of sorts. “There’s something wrong with this end of the greenhouse; everything grows huge!’ he imparts.
Covered by rip-stop polyethylene stretched over metal arches, the garden is so productive it’s getting unwieldy.
A gardener for many years elsewhere, Thayer now tends the gardens and the organic orchard outside, and is clearly fascinated by each and every plant. “You could sit anywhere within the desert and find enough in a 6-foot square plot to be entertained — if you’re so inclined,’ Thayer muses.
Thayer moved to Marathon 5 years ago, and stayed for “the dump, the rocks, and the broken glass.’ She laments the closing of the dump (“You could find the most amazing stuff there!’), and apparently shares this affinity for the cast-offs of others with her brother, Ted Thayer, who lives at the east end of town and is notorious for collecting.
In addition to harvesting vegetables and fruits for their own and guests’ consumption, Thayer also harvests flowers for her latest business, “Flowers by Kate.’
Catering for weddings can pose unique challenges for Thayer, intent on doing things in ways that are kind and sensible, i.e. organically and locally. She tells the story of a bride-to-be insistent on having miniature calla lilies at her wedding. “Those don’t grow here. I found out I’d have to order them, and they’d come from South America, where women work in greenhouses full of pesticides and either can’t have children or have children with severe birth defects. Then there’s having to have the flowers shipped up here on an airplane, using all that fuel! I’m not going to do that.’
If Curry and Thayer are pleased with the results of their labors, they’re insistent on sharing their knowledge, and continually learning from (and giving credit to) others.
Pleased to help others live more “thoughtfully’ as well, their website, created and maintained by Kate’s son, Noble Baker (in Costa Rica), and his longtime friend Paul Cone (in Oregon), is a testament to their commitment to share the wealth, with provocative ideas and helpful information (including hyperlinks to other very interesting websites: check out the hyperlink to a site full of information about domes!).
As business owners dependent on the wild fluctuations of tourism, Curry and Thayer work at striking a balance, trying to garner enough business during the busy times so that they can also pay the bills during the slow times. Their latest thrust is marketing to potential visitors in the hot, humid, eastern half of Texas, who “don’t realize that even even in the heat of the summer, since it’s dry here, the temperature drops 20 degrees at night, down to 80.’
“Why can’t we have a life and an environment?’ posits Curry. “We can. We just have to think hard, work hard, and make money doing the right thing.’
Reprinted with permission from The Big Bend Gazette.
Marlys Hersey, Editor
Big Bend Gazette
PO Box 466
Terlingua, TX 79852
Phone/FAX: 432.371.3172
email: marlyshersey@yahoo.com