If you’ve been inspired by natural building and need a jump start, this is the course for you. We’ll give you the solid foundation you need to take your dreams further. Join us for our 5 day introductory Natural Building Essentials Workshop. In this course, you’ll get hands-on experience building light clay straw walls, mixing and applying natural plasters, and stomping and sculpting cob. We’ll tour several beautiful natural homes in the local community and have a cob oven pizza party, too. Think of it like natural building summer camp! Families with children are welcome.
For our 2025 workshop series, we’ll focus our efforts on our new Japanese kura-inspired structure. A kura is a traditional earthen storehouse used for keeping possessions safe and dry, usually fully wrapped in lime plaster. Our “Kentucky kura” features an oak timber frame with light clay straw walls, clay and lime plaster finishes, and a slate roof. Come join us on this one-of-a-kind natural building project!
Workshop Info at a Glance:
- Workshop Dates:
May 3-7, 2025
- Location: South Slope Farm, 15 minutes outside Berea, Kentucky (map)
- All-inclusive: Workshop includes camping accommodations, and 3 delicious home-cooked meals a day
- Natural Building Tour Day: Take a tour and visit natural homes and homesteads with us
- Led by Ziggy Liloia & April Morales
- Cost and Discounts:
$980 Early Registration Discount (register 21+ days in advance – $100 off savings!)
$1080 Regular Registration (register less than 21 days in advance) - Families with children are welcome! Please contact Ziggy for more details about family rates
Food and Dining
This is an all-inclusive workshop experience. We provide all meals during the class. The lovingly prepared meals will consist of hearty organic dishes featuring local ingredients from our powerhouse chef, April. You won’t go hungry with us! In fact, many participants remark that the food is one of the best parts of our workshops. We do our best to accommodate dietary restrictions and food allergies. (We’ll follow up after registration to make sure we have your preferences on file.)
Lodging and Accommodations During Your Stay
All accommodations are included in the cost of the workshop. Here is what you can expect during your stay:
- Ample camping space close to indoor facilities
- Access to composting toilets
- Heated outdoor shower facilities
- Wi-fi available on-site
- Library with large collection of natural building titles
- Easy 15 minute drive into town for any town needs you might have
Please note that we cannot accommodate pets during our workshops.
Workshop Location
The Natural Building Essentials Workshop is located 15 minutes outside of Berea, Kentucky (map) at our land, South Slope Farm. We live in the gorgeous Clear Creek Valley on 30 acres of hillside pasture and woods. Our farm sits in the middle of a rural community with many folks dedicated to art, music, community building, permaculture, and activism. We are pleased to be surrounded many motivated friends and neighbors who want to live creative, heartfelt lives.
Berea is a small town in central Kentucky with an active population of craftspeople, artists, woodworkers, musicians, social activists, and homesteaders. The town has a longstanding tradition of diversity, social justice, environmental responsibility, and community service. The historic Berea College is the first interracial and coeducational college in the South, and its influence on the town remains to this day.
Workshop Schedule
Students must arrive the afternoon prior to the official workshop start date. For example, students should arrive on May 26th for the May 27-30 workshop. We’ll start with a leisurely dinner and introductions. The workshop will end during the late afternoon of May 31st. Please factor this in to your travel plans!
Our daily schedule will follow the same general structure each day:
- 7:30 A.M.: Breakfast
- 8:30 A.M.: Begin morning work session
- 12:00 P.M.: Lunch break
- 1:00 P.M.: Afternoon work session
- 5:00 P.M.: Pre-dinner free time, shower, relax
- 6:30 P.M.: Dinner
- 8:00 P.M.: Evening presentation or activity
Day 1: Natural building principles and materials talk, light clay straw hands-on demonstration
Day 2: Light clay straw wall construction
Day 3: Cob oven demonstration, earthen floors
Day 4: Natural building tour day, cob oven pizza party (and how to make the best wood-fired pizza)
Day 5: Clay plaster prep and application
Participant Praise
Natural Building Summer Camp!
Are you an aspiring natural builder? A landowner, artist, or just looking for a quality personal learning experience?
We’ve been hosting workshops for over 10 years and take great joy in cultivating a welcoming, laid-back, and community-oriented experience. Think of this workshop like summer camp — you’ll receive quality instruction, meet like-minded individuals, feel revitalized by amazing meals, and create meaningful social connections. Come and discover the beautiful versatility of clay, sand, straw, and wood.
During our tour day, we’ll get to see real life examples of straw bale homes, cob, and timber frames. We’ll discuss design features beyond the basics, including permaculture principles, passive solar, home orientation and siting, building according to your needs, etc. Additionally, we’ll discuss ideas about incorporating natural building elements into an existing conventional home.
What You Can Expect
- Framing and preparing a stud wall for light clay straw insulation
- Mixing and installing light clay straw for insulation
- Making and applying clay plaster with local materials
- Building with cob (and how to make a great batch every time)
- How to build your own cob oven
- Working with clay and lime plaster finishes and appropriate troweling techniques
- How to install and finish an earthen floor
- Mixing clay paint from simple ingredients for use on a variety of surfaces
- Understanding the differences between thermal mass and insulation
- Cob oven pizza party and how to cook with wood fire (!!)
Discover the joys of building with mud, and expect to get your hands dirty in this completely hands-on experience. Expect to walk away with a solid understanding of natural building basics. Consider it a vacation… where you’ll take home much more than just pictures.
