Instructor Danielle Acres

danielleacres@gmail.com

(540) 623-3394

http://earthenacres.wordpress.com/

Tuition $225

Spend a week in North Carolina learning about cob building as we work together on the construction of a small cob cottage. We will work on mixing and applying cob as we build up the walls, as well as incorporating straw bales (balecob!), installing windows, a door frame, built-in shelving and seating. There will also be discussions on siting, passive solar design, rubble trench foundations, and dry stacking urbanite.

Our farm is located in the piedmont of North Carolina, 30 minutes south of Chapel Hill, and 15 minutes west of Pittsboro.

Food and campsite provided.

Decorah, IA

Instructor Ian and Andi Miller

Tuition $750 includes camping and meals

Learn how to build a house of cob! Cob is a building material made of clay soil, sand and straw. Join us, Andi and Ian Miller, at our farm, Bergbauernhof, as we build our home and teach you how you can build your own cottage, house or tool shed out of the earth beneath your feet. Techniques learned here can also be applied to restoring an existing house. This will be a hands-on workshop where we actually build a house. Topics covered include siting and foundation; passive-solar design; foundations; windows and doors in cob; balecob; and roofs for cob buildings.

Cost: $750 for full week, $250 weekend of June 19/20. Includes camping and three meals a day. Full week is strongly encouraged if you’re looking to build on your own, as you’ll only get a taste of using cob over the weekend.

We are open to bartering/work trading.

To register contact Ian and Andi Miller: (563) 379-1006 or millerbakery@gmail.com

Umberstown Great, Summerhill, Co. Meath, Ireland

Instructor Christo Markham and Xavi Roriguez

www.buildingtraditions.eu

Tuition 525 euros

During this seven day workshop we will build the walls for a cottage in the country. Learning how to mix , apply cob, place windows and doors, integrate sculptural elements using local and recycled materials. Cob, BaleCob, cordwood, siting, resources, tools and more.
Info and registration: Pete and Carmel Duffy: tel. +35346555595
carmelduffy1957@yahoo.com or
Christo Markham tel. 31(0)224-298729
buildingtradition@gmail.com

Jacksonville, Oregon

Instructor: Coenraad Rogmans

http://www.HouseAlive.org

Tuition: $825

This workshop offers an incredibly rich learning experience that has made it our most popular for the last 5 years. During the workshop you will develop the confidence, knowledge and skills to design and build your own natural building and sustainable living project. This workshop is for you if you are interested in building your own natural cottage, want to use natural materials in you present house in the form of a “natural renovation”, or are looking to make some lifestyle changes.

House Alive workshops focus on “learning by doing;” be prepared to do a lot of building. Constructing a house takes determination and sustained physical activity. We believe building your own house can be possible for anyone and teach “democratic building” techniques: Simplicity of design, building in community, using simple hand tools, taking care of our bodies, and extreme affordability to free ourselves from debt. But you don’t have to build your own home to employ these techniques. You can improve the beauty, comfort, and affordability of any living space by employing “Natural renovation” techniques or using “appropriate technologies.”

mixing cob We will focus much of our hands-on time on building with cob. Cob is often considered the “mother” of all natural building techniques. It has been around for millennia, is practiced worldwide, and the materials can be locally harvested. Cob doesn’t rot or burn and offers great flexibility to shape spaces to fit our lives. You will learn how to find materials, mix them into cob material and build strong, beautiful walls. You also will learn how to deal with foundations and roofs, how to put in windows, doors, plumbing and electricity, how to easily add arches, niches, and other sculptural features, and how to finish buildings with earthen floors and plasters. Afternoons and evenings will include lectures and demonstrations on a wide variety of natural building and appropriate technology topics (see curriculum). Over the course of the workshop you will learn how to easily integrate various forms of natural construction, such as straw bale, light-straw-clay, adobe brick, natural plasters and floors, round wood, and more.

John Day, Oregon

Instructor: Bernhard Masterson

http://www.solwest.org

Tuition: $450

Construct a shelter out of cob and other earthen and natural materials. The building will have architectural features including a window, roof, built-in shelving, fireplace and bench. These features will allow participants to see how a full-fledged cottage or home is constructed. 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, bale cob (a hybrid of insulation and thermal mass), roofs, and tools.

Los Olivos, California

Spirit Pine Sanctuary. Builders Bernhard Masterson and Betty Seaman will be teaching how to build a small inexpensive dwelling using the earth under your feet. We will cover drainage, foundation and stem walls, cob and bale-cob techniques, door and window installation, plumbing and electric installation and roof systems. For more info please contact cobbetty@gmail.com or phone 805-698-3840