2010 March

Central Kentucky

Instructor Diane Jennings

http://www.disputantacob.com

Tuition FREE

Natural Rock and Lime Mortar Foundation – Saturday, April 3, 2010 – Price: FREE!!

We’ve scored big here on Clear Creek with a bunch of big, beautiful, natural rock. We will be building a Natural Rock and Lime Mortar Foundation atop a rubble trench next Saturday, April 3rd.

Learn to mix and build with lime mortar instead of cement for a healthier home. Learn the basics of building with natural stone and preparing a foundation for cob walls.

There is no charge for the workshop, but please reply by email to register and receive directions.

Diane Jennings
dianejennings@disputantacob.com
(606) 256-8954

Turtle Rock Farm, Red Rock, Oklahoma

Instructor Steve Kemble and Mollie Curry

http://www.turtlerockfarmretreat.com

Tuition $375-425

Join us for an informative and inspirational week of hands-on experience constructing a straw bale hermitage at the Turtle Rock Farm and Retreat: A Center for Sustainability, Spirituality and Healing. This educational workshop will be led by natural building experts Steve Kemble and Mollie Curry of MudStrawLove, LLC from Asheville, NC and Oklahoma builder Tom Temple of Sustainable Design. During this week, we will stack and secure the bales, prep the wall system for plaster and apply the first coat of earthen plaster on a small post-and-beam hermitage. We will be using clay found on the farm, as well as straw bales from the farm.

This workshop will provide hands-on training in straw bale construction as well as instruction on other natural building methods. We will learn about all the aspects of building beautiful, durable, cozy straw bale walls, including stacking, shaping, chinking, and plastering. We will also have a chance to connect with others and build community in a beautiful, peaceful setting on the north central Oklahoma prairie. It promises to be a whole lot of fun! See the website to get a good feel for the place and to register! www.turtlerockfarmretreat.com

Participants have the choice of lodging at one of the houses at Turtle Rock Farm, or tent camping on-site. All meals will be provided by Turtle Rock Farm staff and shared by the community.

Fee for the week of instruction, lodging and meals is $425. Couples, $375 each. Instruction, meals and camping, $375. Deposit to hold your space is $150. Spaces for this retreat will be limited. Call for more information.

For those who cannot attend the full workshop, Mollie and Steve will lead a discussion and slide show about straw bale construction and natural building on Sunday, June 6 from 2:00-5:00, for a cost of $25 (no additional cost for week-long participants).

Send non-refundable $150.00 deposit and registration form payable to:
Turtle Rock Farm, 5900 CR 90, Red Rock, OK 74651

Find the registration form at www.turtlerockfarmretreat.com under workshop/retreat schedule. Then click on the title to get the registration form.

Registration ends May 6. All classes have a non-refundable reservation fee. If the class is cancelled, all funds will be returned to you. If you are unable to attend, funds can be applied to a later class at Turtle Rock.

For more information about the site, accomodations or registration, call Turtle Rock Farm at 580.725.3411 or 580.917.6011, or email to HYPERLINK “mailto:annmcferron@hotmail.com” annmcferron@hotmail.com.

To contact MudStrawLove LLC, call 828.775.4823 or email to connect@mudstrawlove.com.

John Day, OR

Solwest Renewable Energy Fair

Instructor Bernhard Masterson

Tuition $360

Come to sunny eastern Oregon, and learn to do miraculous things with dirt! EORenew will offer three Workshops in John Day, Oregon this July on natural building techniques.  Camping is available on-site for workshop students, and breakfasts and lunches will be provided.  The other workshops will cover natural wall panels and earthen plaster.  Sign up for one, two, or all three workshops! Join us in making new friends, laughing, and turning the new cob bench at the fairgrounds into beautiful, usable art.

Want to expand your understanding of solar and wind energy?  Combine your trip with the highly praised SolWest Renewable Energy Fair following this workshop.

In the Cob Essentials workshop July 19-22, students will build a beautiful, durable, and thermally massive cob bench using soil, sand, and straw. The class will cover core principles and techniques for cob construction through lecture and hands-on building. Issues and techniques to be covered include: mixing, application, materials, test bricks, and how to connect cob to other parts of a structure. Lectures and labs will cover foundation, drainage, siting, passive solar, roofs, and tools. The workshop will prepare participants to use earthen materials to build anything from benches and ovens to cottages.

Berkeley, CA

Instructor Sasha Rabin & Massey Burke

http://verticalclay.com

Tuition $200

This workshop offers a hands-on introduction to working with clay, sand, and fibers to make beautiful, non-toxic plasters and finishes. These methods and materials can be used over conventional sheetrock as well as earthen and straw bale walls. We will process both unrefined and store-bought materials into plaster and paint, and we will apply these finishes over both earthen walls and sheetrock. Participants will leave the workshop with enough understanding of the materials and process to mix and apply their own paints and plasters on a variety of substrates.

Berkeley, CA

Instructor Sasha Rabin & Massey Burke

http://verticalclay.com

Tuition 150

learn to build your own earthen bread and pizza oven using natural materials from your backyard. Using wood, stone, clay and straw, we will explore the entire construction process from foundation to roof. Class sessions will be comprised of hands-on construction, lecture, and presentations covering building fundamentals that include structure, moisture protection, materials selection, heating and insulation for the oven. Join us and develop the skills you need to build your own small structure and feed your friends and family on fantastic baked goodies!

Berkeley, CA

Instructor Sasha Rabin & Massey Burke

http://verticalclay.com

Tuition $275

This is our most intensive hands-on class of the summer. Cob, the traditional earthen building technique of the British Isles, has been reborn on both sides of the Atlantic. In this country it is famous for its whimsical forms and artistic expressiveness. This class will provide students with an in-depth feel for various ways to mix and apply cob, and will include earth-appropriate carpentry and roof structures.

Berkeley, CA

Instructor Sasha Rabin & Massey Burke

http://verticalclay.com

Tuition $150

Adobe block, a sun dried earthen brick, is the most common natural building technique in the world. Many of the worlds most striking earthen structures and techniques are executed in adobe brick, and more people around the world know how to build with adobe than any other construction technique. The hands-on portion of this class will focus on the basics of evaluating soils, making bricks, and stacking them to make different structural elements of an earthen wall. The discussion portion will focus on low-tech seismic design considerations for earthen building, and will include an introduction to various earthen building standards including the recently published ASTM standard.

El Sobrante, Ca

Instructor Sasha Rabin

http://verticalclay.com

Tuition $60-85

This class is an introduction to the world of urban natural building. The class site is a 1/3 of and acre suburban lot, which currently has four structures built of different natural materials. Three of these buildings are small enough to not need a permit, and the fourth is the first-of-its-kind permitted straw-clay retrofit. The first half of the day will include an in-depth look at these buildings, as well as a slide show of other urban natural building projects and discussion of the possibilities for integrating natural materials into your urban lot and home. The second part of the day we will spend gaining hands-on experience mixing and applying earthen paints and plasters. This class is being taught through the Institute of Urban Homesteading, for more information or to register, contact them: http://iuhoakland.com/