Earth and Sun Sustainable Builders An Earth Bag Building Workshop Taos, New Mexico May 30 – September 29, 2017 earthandsunsustainablebuilders.com Learn sustainable building practices while participating in a hands-on earth bag building project. Co-create with a conscious community. We’ll build an affordable, off-grid home within the local building codes. Be guided from thought form through finished building — literally from the ground up with earth bag walls, conventional metal roof, solar electric, and passive solar. Women and men with varied…

CO-CREATE A SUSTAINABLE EARTHBAG HOME JUNE 26 – OCT. 27, 2017 TAOS, NEW MEXICO Join for a week to four months. Earthbag building is an environmentally friendly and affordable building method suitable to most climates and geographies. Building blocks are made with soil collected on the building site and contained in polypropylene woven bags. In certain circumstances the bags are filled with other materials such as gravel, pumice, or sand. The bags can also be made of natural fibers such…

The Sundog 9-day workshop is designed to teach ordinary people the skills to build their own cob cottages, from the foundation to the roof. Our projects are small, mostly under 200 square feet, geared towards attaining a high level of completion in a short amount of time. We’ll take you through an intensive, step by step, instructional course on how to: site/design, excavate, build a foundation, build the walls, AND get the roof assembled on a small cob cottage.

Location & Project Quinta do Rabo de Palha is a 7-hectare parcel just outside of the city of Castro Verde, in the Lower Alentejo region of southern Portugal. This region is traditionally known for raising free-ranging cattle, sheep and goats and growing grain for feed. The plains in this part of the Alentejo are extensive and far-ranging. Several protected bird species like the buzzard (otis tarda) and the “peneireiro das torres” live here. Birdwatchers love to frequent this area. Susana…

Jacksonville, Oregon Fee: $1200. Early bird registration (before 2/1/2017): $1100. Bring a friend: Each get 10% off the workshop fee. Included in the fee: Instructions camping spot 3 vegetarian meals, Coffee, tea, water Our book “House of Earth” Versaterra Certificate Transportation from Medford airport or bus station. Ukulele lessons (optional) Instructor: Conrad Rogue. Overview This is the most comprehensive workshop you can find. Decades of teaching on 4 different continents has helped us design this rich learning experience,  giving students…

Ever wonder what it’s like to build a timber frame structure from the ground up? Join The Year of Mud this summer for a 7 day Timber Frame Workshop at South Slope Farm, our homestead in the beautiful Appalachian foothills outside Berea, Kentucky. Using timeless techniques and traditional hand tools, students will learn how to lay out, join, and raise a beautiful timber frame structure. Learn valuable new carpentry skills working as a team in a gorgeous mountain setting, and discover what…

Learn about the most common natural materials and techniques for designing an ecologically sound building. Experience natural building techniques such as cob, earthen plasters and paints with your own hands. Tour natural buildings that were built using a variety of techniques to get first hand experience of what is possible from foundations, roofs and wall systems to site selection and passive solar design. This introductory course to natural building will provide you with a foundation to build upon, empowering you…

An Introduction to Ecological Building Techniques With focus on wattle and daub, earth bags, cob, and natural plasters August 19-26, 2017 Intro to Ecological Construction For thousands of years, people have been building their homes out of the dirt beneath their feet. Natural and vernacular building techniques have roots in every culture around the world, but share the distinction of using local materials, being energy efficient, and having a low ecological footprint. Only during the past century have natural building…