Crappy weather the past week – clouds and rain and minimal amounts of sunshine make for dreary days and little electricity in the Common House, hence a total lack of updates this week, even though there is news to tell.
Today I am headed out to Oregon for the annual Natural Building Colloquium, a regular gathering of natural builders. I’ve never been to one before and I’m greatly looking forward to it. I’ll be in OR for at least a week, if not more, because I’m hoping to meet up with folks and do some traveling around the area, perhaps touring all of the great cob and natural building happenings in the state.
We’ll see what happens. But don’t expect any updates for a while! Off I go…
I, along with four others, have embarked upon a new building adventure. We have just begun the very early phases of building a shared kitchen and social space. Thomas, Ali, Liat, April, and I are part of a sub-community at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Thomas, Ali, Liat, and I started discussions last year about working and living more closely with one another. These talks and many more discussions throughout this year lead us to design a kitchen space that we can all share. We started eating together during this summer in a rugged outdoor kitchen setup (we keep our food in a filing cabinet, for example), but we definitely want a more permanent structure. Read More
I, along with four others, have embarked upon a new building adventure. We have just begun the very early phases of building a shared kitchen and social space.
Thomas, Ali, Liat, April, and I are part of a sub-community at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Thomas, Ali, Liat, and I started discussions last year about working and living more closely with one another. These talks and many more discussions throughout this year lead us to design a kitchen space that we can all share. We started eating together during this summer in a rugged outdoor kitchen setup (we keep our food in a filing cabinet, for example), but we definitely want a more permanent structure.
Here are some interior and exterior photos of my cob house, GOBCOBATRON at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. These are the latest photos since the cob house has gone through a few renovations and design changes since it was “completed” in 2009. The home is built entirely of cob, with a living reciprocal roof, and terracotta tile floor. The house does not have any electricity.
Enjoy!
(Updated with latest imags: February 2013)
Living in rural northeast Missouri, one thing I have (very thankfully) not had to deal with is building codes. At times, I have totally taken it for granted that I could just wake up one morning, and decide to build a house without telling anyone. There is nothing preventing me from building a home (or any type of structure, really) here. That’s why I can build a house out of cob, without electricity, with a living roof, with all of these crazy things that would NEVER fly in many other places.
I highly recommend reading the Better Outdoor Pizza Oven Plans if you’re interested in building one of these for yourself. The instructions there are much more detailed, too. Here’s the original article for posterity…
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I must admit, I’m a bit of a breadhead. Few things are as exciting to me as freshly baked bread with a dab of butter, or hot and greasy scallion pancakes, or fluffy and airy naan, or a pizza fresh from the hearth of a wood-fired cob oven. (That last one trumps all the others.) I thrive on bread. I love eating it, and of course I love making and baking it, too.
(This lovely DIY how-to is written by my partner April, who made a straw mattress for our cob bed. Read ahead!)
[UPDATE: Do you have experience making alternative mattresses, including using straw? We were forced to give up this straw mattress due to back pain and an unfortunate uneven sleeping surface. If you have tips about how to make a more comfortable natural mattress, please contact us!]
Living in a hand-built home can often mean making unique and non-conventional furniture choices. I recently transitioned from a tent to a cob house and ran into the dilemma of what to do about a bed. My criteria was something natural and sustainable, economical, readily available, quick and easy to assemble, and comfortable. Is that too much to ask? I decided to do some research first.
What to do now that the cob house is finished being built? Build a cob oven, of course. April and I have just finished building an outdoor cob oven and we had our first firing on Sunday. Be sure to check back soon again for more details on its construction… and the bread that we’ve baked. There will be plenty more to come, oh yes, there will… pics and bread, that is…