Earth cutting to the required depth for the foundation phase. The ground surface at Gorhe Khurd was not soft — excavation by hand was not possible, and a JCB was used instead.
Because the strata were hard and rocky, the machine dug broader pits than a careful hand cut would have produced. Small block areas such as bathrooms were fully excavated at this stage.
Topsoil was carefully separated and stockpiled for later landscaping and planting. Excavated subsoil is retained on-site for use in compressed stabilized earth blocks (CSEB) and other earth-building applications — embodying the zero-waste construction principle.
See the journal entry for the full write-up from this phase.