Who Teach

Sustainable Learning Center, Cerrillos, New Mexico is a place to explore aspects of sustainable living through hands-on experiences. Our off-grid site demonstrates sustainable systems including permaculture, land restoration, photovoltaics, organic gardening and recycling wastewater. We build with natural and salvaged materials, cook with solar ovens, and rely on rain catchment. www.ampersandproject.org (505)780-0535.

Builder, Woodbury, Tennessee is a natural building team based in the Southeastern US. We offer a wide range of family-friendly workshops, from one-day earth ovens to comprehensive owner/builder courses. We also provide consulting services in cob building and occasionally build custom cob structures and landscape elements. www.barefootbuilder.com

Cottage Company, Coquille, Oregon, conducts hands-on research on natural building methods and materials, testing our own buildings by living in them. Through practical trainings in natural construction, we help empower ordinary people to build their own houses at moderate cost. By mail and phone, and through publications and tours, we supply information, support and inspiration for people to make healthy choices about buildings. www.cobcottage.com (541) 396-1825

Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, is committed to building beautiful, affordable structures with natural and local material in a spirit of cooperation and social responsibility. Cobworks offers workshops in homebuilding, carpentry, permaculture, cob basics, plasters, and has a 10-week natural building training. www.cobworks.com

target="_blank">Earthed, Chagford, Devon, England, Our educational workshops provide hands on learning experiences which enable people to access their own creativity and bring about positive change in their own lives, communities and environment. http://www.earthedworld.co.uk/

Hand, has taught earthen building since 2000. He founded Earthen Hand Natural Building to promote earthen art and architecture. His work can be seen in many places around Portland, Oregon. Each year Scott offers workshops about earthen building techniques locally and
natural building workshops. Earthen Hand Natural Building offers consultation, design, build, and training services. Learn to build earthen domes in Africa! see the workshop schedule at: www.earthenhand.com

Building School, West Chazy, New York, is a small “mom and pop” business run by Rob and Jaki Roy. Through its course offerings, books, videos (and DVD), building plans and conferences, Earthwood strives to promote an integrated approach to home design, emphasizing energy efficiency, self-sufficiency and responsible stewardship of natural resources. www.cordwoodmasonry.com/

EcoNest Building Company, Tesuque, New Mexico, was founded by Robert Laporte and Paula Baker-Laporte. Robert Laporte is a timber framer and natural house building pioneer and teacher. Paula Baker-Laporte is an architect, baubiologist and author specializing in healthy and ecological design. Since 1994, Robert and Paula have been co-creating EcoNests – homes which embody the principles of sustainable building, health and beauty. Paula and her team (EcoNest Design) work with clients to design their dream eco-homes. Robert and his team (EcoNest Building) build the shells and special home features. Together they teach seminars and workshops. www.econest.com

Earth, Boonville, California, is an intentional community in Mendocino County, California. We are located on 189 beautiful acres of mixed forest and meadows, which is owned by our non-profit corporation Emerald Earth Sanctuary. We take a whole-systems approach to ecological building, combining earth, straw, wood, sand and stone in various ways to create inexpensive, efficient hybrid structures. We invite you to participate in our work parties, natural building workshops, or work trade program. www.emeraldearth.org

Alive!, Jacksonville, Oregon, Workshops in Cob, Natural Building,
co-teachers, others in the natural building community and neighbors and friends. Together we create courses that are fun and satisfying. www.housealive.org

Valley Natural Building, Albany, New York, is a community-based artisan company that focuses on the application of natural building in the urban setting, through custom renovation and landscaping, educational workshops, and community work. HVNB uses natural building practices and materials as a sustainable alternative to conventional methods. www.hvnb.net

Asheville, North Carolina & El Cerrito, California, part of a worldwide network of people who are creating on-the-ground success stories of sustainability, peace, and justice. As of 2004 we’ve worked with people from 25 countries, spanning seven continents. Kleiwerks offers 10-day trainings, large-scale gatherings, longer internships, slideshow presentations, consultations, and co-sponsorship of related programs. www.kleiwerks.org

Foundation, Taos, New Mexico, Host of “Build Here Now” Natural Building Convergences, offers workshops in natural building, sustainable lifestyles, community building and much more. Founded in 1967, Lama Foundation is one of the oldest Intentional Communities in America. It was founded as a place where high-level teachers could offer teachings in America, and evolved into a summer retreat center in the 1970’s. A mountain fire in 1996 destroyed most of the buildings and surrounding forest, but re-building efforts and permaculture system design have brought about new buildings and new infrastructure, although we still have a ways to go. www.lamafoundation.org

Roja Sustainable Living Project, Campo Ramon, Misiones, Argentina, is a shared-learning project focused on creating a sustainable lifestyle, more self-sufficiency, and less environmental impact. It exists in the gorgeous jungle hills of Misiones, Argentina. This is a homestead, a learning project, a place to live in peace. Our goal is to be constructive, responsible beings, which for us means living as ecologically as possible, cultivating a deep partnership with the land we live on. We believe we can provide for our basic needs through simple, natural means: An organic garden; Natural building using local, earthen, site-found, and salvaged materials; Inspiring and empowering others by offering a place for experiential learning. We offer annual internships in sustainable living and natural building.
effect on our place in this world.

Alternative Technology, McGregor, Western Cape, South Africa, is a Non Profit Educational Institution teaching sustainable building, renewable energy, permaculture and holistic healing. We teach the poor and those who can’t afford a home by giving them skills on how to build and repair their own houses and those of other people as a means of employment. Our building courses of earthen/cob houses cover permaculture as a way of designing our homes and creating food forests, using minimal energy for maximum productivity. www.mat.org.za

LLC ,Asheville, NC, helps people create natural buildings that bring closer connection and harmony into the lives of everyone involved. We offer fun, informative hands-on workshops; beautiful, energy efficient, material-efficient design plans and consultation; construction services such as project management and crew training; general natural building consultation; rainwater harvesting systems; and various interior and exterior plasters, paints, and sculpture- even on your conventional home. www.mudstrawlove.com

Moab, Utah. What originally began as a project for illustrating a documentary film has grown into a full-time occupation. We now have over 20 years of combined experience in earthbag building. Our goal is to innovate and inspire affordable, enduring, eco-friendly homes, outbuildings, root cellars, and garden walls, which are as beautiful as they are functional. www.okokok.org/

Ecovillage, Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia, Canada, is a 25 acre model/demonstration sustainable village that is home to TOPIA: The Sustainable Learning Community Institute. OUR offers training in natural building and permaculture as well as offering site tours that include the recently completed Climate Change Demonstration Building and the Healing Sanctuary. Historically OUR work has focused on developing relationships with engineers and regulatory authorities in order to demonstrate/legitimize the natural building movement further (in Canada but also further a field). www.ourecovillage.org

San Isidro, Tlaxcala, Tlaxco, Mexico, is based on a 300-acre forest-farm in the mountains East of Mexico City. In the 1950’s Carlos and Magdalena Caballero began their pioneering work in landscape restoration, rural education and organic agriculture. They took 300 acres of dreadfully gullied erosion and without chemicals or foreign capital, have transformed 90% of it to productive farmland and forest/wildlife. Now their children and grandchildren are restoring of a further 50 acres. The environmental grade school they founded is thriving. It offers the only healthy alternative schooling for miles. The project’s buildings now include demonstrations of strawbale, cob, light-clay, rammed earth, thatching, stone masonry, local brick, adobe, natural floors and plasters, and local waste-wood. www.proyectosanisidro.com

Pun Organic Farm, Chiang Mai, Thailand, is a sustainable living and learning center. We propagate rare and indigenous seeds and host programs teaching organic farming, earthen building and sustainable living. Our second project is a family compound in Colorado, USA, to be a center for modeling different kinds of sustainable living techniques and natural building.
.punpunthailand.org.

Athens Georgia. We believe that people from all backgrounds can design and build their own homes and sacred spaces, homes that are naturally healthy for the Earth and the people who inhabit them. We focus on educating people on sustainable building and design. Our talks and workshops range from Natural Building philosophy, natural system and sustainable design, to natural materials such as Cob, Straw bale, Timber Framing, and Natural Finishes.

Generations Natural Builders (SGNB), Arizona and Hawaii, is dedicated to teaching people how to house themselves. We teach cob, straw bale, and other natural building skills. We advocate building with local natural materials using methods that are ecologically sensitive, environmentally sound, and economically affordable. We have three partners living spread out from the Southwest of the US, the Northwest, and Hawaii. Inquiries in these locations is wonderful, but we also travel throughout the US and over seas for the right projects. http://www.sgnb.com

Energy International, Carbondale, Colorado, offers hands-on workshops in solar, wind and water power and natural building technologies in 17 locations, as well as internet based online courses. SEI provides education and training to decision makers, technicians and users of renewable energy sources. SEI also provides the expertise to plan, engineer and implement sustainable development projects. www.solarenergy.org

target="_blank">Straw Bale Workshops, Jacksonville, OR offers hands on workshops in Straw Bale Building. www.StrawBale.com

target="_blank">University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, offers continuing education and professional studies in Natural Building including designing and building with natural materials, strawbale construction, natural plasters and finishes and more. Telephone 303-492-5148 or visit http://www.colorado.edu/
Oak Farm & Education Center, Williams, Oregon, is a non-profit farm based education center nestled into a northern fold of the Siskiyou mountains of Southern Oregon. The Farm is dedicated to pursuing community food security, fostering agricultural and ecological diversity, and teaching the arts of sustainable living. We offer a variety of hands-on workshops in natural building, permaculture, and ecological forestry that focus on real world approaches to housing and feeding ourselves and our community. www.whiteoakfarmcsa.org

Hands Project, Santa Fe, New Mexico, helps communities worldwide develop a better quality of life through natural building solutions. From providing passive solar straw bale homes, creating waste and water systems, to helping establish micro-economies within an area, we commit to provide solutions in the spirit of community and co-operation with the people we serve. www.worldhandsproject.org

Design/Build School, Warren, Vermont, inspires people to create a better, more sustainable world by providing hands-on education that integrates design and craft as a creative, interactive process. Yestermorrow offers over 130 classes per year in design, construction, woodworking and architectural craft and certificates in sustainable design and natural building. www.yestermorrow.org.

Bartels, Carbondale, Colorado. Consulting in design, construction, plasters, moisture & monitoring systems, school projects. Public presentations, seminars, workshops, curriculum development. Experience in design, project management, plaster, and moisture in residential, school and commercial projects. Laura is an instructor for Solar Energy International. www.greenweaverinc.com

Bednar, Oxford, Michigan, Illustrator of “The Hand-Sculpted House” and “The Natural Plaster Book”, teaches Natural Building Workshops in Cob, Straw-Bale, Earthen and Lime Plasters, Thatching, Sacred Spaces and Design at her Strawbale Studio. www.freewebs.com/strawbalestudio/

Burnoski, Osceola.Wisconsin is currently based in the Midwest in a small Western Wisconsin town conveniently located one hour north of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I will be hosting various workshops focusing on cob structures using balecob, rocket stoves, earthen ovens, garden walls and benches. Projects will be ongoing and may not always be in a workshop format. I am interested in hosting people who want to learn how to build with local resources in order to create beautiful, simple and natural structures. Email: bryanburnoski [at] hotmail.com or call 651-428-5493.

Elke Cole, Victoria, British Columbia, Natural House Design. Elke designs, builds and teaches “houses that love you back”. Her background is in architecture with a degree received in Germany. After independently working on home designs in the Comox Valley since moving to Canada, she became involved with natural building in 1994. Since then she has worked both independently as well as with the Cob Cottage Company, the Down to Earth Building Bee and Cobworks. She is also coordinating the “Natural Building Skillbuilder” at O.U.R. Ecovillage, Shawnigan Lake, B.C. www.elkecole.com

Carole Crews, Rancho de Taos, New Mexico, Artist, consultant, teacher and specialist in alis finishes and adobe plasters. Built an adobe and cob “simple living” retreat space bordering national forest which includes a 16 ft. diameter adobe dome and is available as a short term rental for individuals or small groups. Email: seacrews [at] taosnet.com

Shannon Dealy, Philomath, Oregon, Cob Builder and Teacher, offers workshops and consultations locally and regularly in Australia. Moderator of the Cob Email List-Server. www.deatech.com

Kiko Denzer , Corvallis, Oregon. Kiko shares home and garden with his wife Hannah and their two small boys. Kiko make things, writes, teaches, builds, and runs a little company called Hand Print Press. He’s worked with earth as a building material since 1994. In addition to providing material for sculpture (and his home), the sudden coalescence of a “natural building movement” has provided him with a context where art is not just an aesthetic product or service, but rather a means to create harmony, beauty, and a living culture. Kiko is interested (and has experience in) various kinds of work, from sculpture to ovens, stoves, and fireplaces; compost toilets; interior and exterior design, construction, community development, and teaching. He is the author and publisher of Build Your Own Earth Oven, Dig Your Hands in the Dirt: A Manual for Making Art out of Earth, and Make a Simple Sundial. Blodgett. www.handprintpress.com

Kurt Gardella, El Rito, New Mexico is a part-time instructor at Northern New Mexico College in El Rito, NM, USA where course offerings are available in Adobe Construction through internet/distance education. Contact Kurt by email to learn more at kurt [at] nnmc.edu. www.kurtgardella.com

Steve Kemble, Tucson, Arizona, strawbale builder, producer of the videos: “How To Build Your Elegant Home with Straw Bales” and “Straw Bale Construction: The Elegant Solution”. Email: primalpulse [at] earthlink.net

Sigi Koko, Ambler, Pennsylvania, Down to Earth Design, Inc. We provide three types of services: Design, Teaching and Consulting. We work exclusively on projects that create symbiotic relationships with their environmental context instead of fighting to overpower it. Our philosophy centers on empowering clients to make informed decisions and we use a collaborative process that gives voice to all project stakeholders. http://www.buildnaturally.com/

Christo Markham, The Netherlands, of CobSolutions, has experience in Rammed Earth and Poured Pumice. At the moment he builds Earthen Ovens, Rumford Fireplaces, Garden Walls, small Gazebos and Trombewall Greenhouses, and hopes to build code approved houses in the future. Contact: cobsolutions [at] quicknet.nl

Bernhard Masterson, Estacada, Oregon, cob builder, designer and art teacher. He lives in the cob house he built, which is available for tours, and offers workshops in natural building and fuel-efficient wood stoves. Email: bernhard_masterson [at] hotmail.com

Christopher Reinhart, Bloomington, Indiana, Chris is a natural builder, designer, and educator. His writings have been featured in The CobWeb, The Last Straw, and Ianto Evans and Leslie Jackson’s book Rocket Mass Heaters. His own home is combination of balecob, cob, straw-clay, stone, and timber.

Betty Seaman, Los Olivos, California, Artist, teacher and builder with emphasis in cob and earthen plasters. Has taught extensively with the Cob Cottage Company and has built more than 5 homes of cob, including her own. Email: cobbetty [at] gmail.com

Resources

Cob Workshops, provides a comprehensive directory of cob and related workshops in North America. www.cobworkshops.org

The Last Straw, sharing news and developments from around the world about straw-bale construction and natural building. The journal includes diverse articles about projects and up-to-date techniques, written by and about those who design and build with natural materials, research them, live with them—and just plain love them. www.thelaststraw.org