Let’s face it, not everyone is going to buy land and build their dream house. But now you don’t need to! This workshop will give you the skills and confidence to transform your existing house into a natural building, all on a shoestring budget!

We will start by looking at 12 ancient natural design principals and learn how to apply them within the context of your home (bring pictures and drawings if you can). You will learn to adapt houses so that they may coexist in harmony with natural principles, while at the same time serve us better as human beings. In that process we will look at design possibilities that strengthen our connections with the people that we live with, as well as the place that we find ourselves in.

Next, we will look at how we can bring in natural materials into any existing building. These materials are non-toxic, inexpensive, easy and fun to work with, and pleasant to live with (think earthen floors and plasters, clay paints, straw insulation, cob “Pony” walls, outdoor cob garden walls, and more). We will teach you where and how to find materials and the tools you will need. Plus, everyday during the workshop, you will be using these materials and techniques. We will also teach you how to prepare surfaces and foundations for the application of natural plasters, and we will look at how to do all this within the restrictions of the building codes.

Last but not least, we will look at how we can bring in “Appropriate technologies” that will improve your lives, lower your cost of living, and help you connect to the seasons and cycles of life. We will build a $50 hot water heater from scratch, as well as a composting “Bucket toilet,” an olive oil lamp, and a solar oven. We will also cover rainwater gathering and grey water systems. During this workshop, students will have an opportunity to acquire some basic plumbing and carpentry skills.

Expect long days with lots of hand-on time, and slideshows and lectures in the evenings.

No previous building experience is necessary. Class size is limited to 14 people, so register now and reserve your spot! As a bonus, after participating in this workshop you will have access to free phone and e-mail consultations from House Alive while working on your own project. This workshop is very comprehensive but questions still may come up and we want to see you succeed.

House Alive is a leader in combining natural building with appropriate technology. Our teachers live in natural structures themselves and love to teach and build! Visit our general workshop information page if you would like to know more, or feel free to contact us if you have any questions about our programs.

This post was submitted by Coenraad Rogmans.

This course will teach you everything you need to know to dig up some dirt and magically turn it into a
home. We’re not kidding! Oh yeah, and we will show you how to do it for under $1000 bucks… and one
more thing, we will have a blast doing it!

Come stay and play with us for eight awesome days near Yosemite National Park and learn the skills
necessary to build a cob home.

Camping is available free onsite and those looking for a little more
creature comforts can find lodging in the cool town of Groveland just two miles down the road.

Expect the day to be filled with instruction, practical application, and laughs, good food, and loads of fun!

A typical day will involve a fabulous breakfast prepared by one of our awesome chefs. Afterwards we will have some classroom instruction and then a few hours of actual building. We encourage you to dive right in and
get muddy! After another great meal, expect more instruction and building. We then like to wrap the
evenings up by feasting yet again and then entertaining ourselves by storytelling, hanging out, playing
music, and kicking it by the campfire.

This post was submitted by Guy McBryde.

Natural Building and Green Design for the Owner/Builder/Contractor

The Sustainable Shelter Workshop Series is a 10 week course designed to empower participants with the ability to design/build/renovate their own home using simple techniques and natural, vernacular materials. During this course we will start from the ground and move up teaching not only the art/science of natural building and green design, but the corresponding appropriate technologies essential for successfully integrating your shelter into a permaculture landscape. The course is taught by a team of Pacific Northwest natural builders with over fifty years of experience in the field whose teaching emphasis is direct, hands-on involvement for the students complimented by classroom/theory time when appropriate. This course may also be helpful to the contracting community looking for new and sustainable alternatives to offer their clients. Take the course as a whole or pick and choose based on your interest and experience.

This post was submitted by Chris Foraker.

For the seventh straight year, House Alive! is offering an opportunity for people to get beyond the basics and experience an extended Natural Building apprenticeship. This popular, hands-on, intensive course is designed for people who want to use natural building skills in a professional context or who want to take extra time to work on skill development for their personal project. Participants will get first-hand experience with every aspect of building a natural home, from the foundation to the roof. Learning how to build a natural home is one of the best investments you can make: once you know how to design, build and shape your own living space, you can save many thousands of dollars in living costs.

This program will be almost exclusively “hands-on” learning. Learning to build is like learning to play a musical instrument: It is hard to learn without another experienced person guiding you and, the more you do it the better you get. The apprenticeship program for 2011 offers 7 weeks of building, problem solving, designing and discussing all aspects of natural building, allowing you to take the time to develop new skills under the guidance of experienced natural builders.

This year we’re pleased to be collaborating with Lydia Doleman of Flying Hammer Productions (www.theflyinghammer.com). Lydia has been building with mud and bales for more than 12 years, and has a vast portfolio of beautiful natural buildings she’s built in Portland. Lydia and James will each teach approximately half of the apprenticeship.

Throughout the course we’ll be working on the different elements of building a small (about 200 sq. ft.) cob and straw-bale cabin from the ground up. Demonstrations and instruction will be given as needed to explain building techniques and design choices. Participants should expect full and exciting days.

The course will take place at Full Bloom Farm, a developing intentional community and large organic farm in a beautiful, secluded valley in Southern Oregon. It is also the home of Rise Up Bakery, which provides delicious fresh bread from their wood-fired oven to businesses and residents in the area. The farm has 280 acres of meadow and forest, 2 creeks and a swimming pond.

For more information or to apply to the program, please read the full workshop description!

This post was submitted by House Alive.

Join us for a weekend workshop ideal for beginners.

Learn the fundamentals of energy effective and environmentally responsible building while gaining hands on experience on a real project!

This post was submitted by Alex Christakis.

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.

Ian Miller
(563) 379-1006
millerbakery@gmail.com

This post was submitted by Ian Miller.

This workshop will familiarize students with the basic family of natural building materials: clay or earth, straw, wood, and stone, and what can be accomplished with each alone and in combination with the others. At least half of each day is spent on hands-on building with a high ratio of experienced instructors. This year’s projects will focus on earthen infill techniques (slipstraw or light straw clay, slip-and-chip, clay wattle and wattle and daub) and on rough and finish earthen plasters. We will also build an earthbag retaining wall. Our site has examples of many other natural building techniques: cob, straw bale, cordwood masonry, adobe floors, round pole timber framing, living roofs, lime fresco, clay and casein paints, and much more. Lectures and discussions cover passive solar and other design principles for energy-efficient, compact natural homes. There will also be an extensive tour of the most complete natural building demonstration site on the West Coast, with an emphasis on natural materials harvesting, off-grid electrical generation, greywater reclamation, composting toilets, and more. Evening slide presentations and videos, a sauna with a dip in our pond, and wood-fired pizza from our earthen oven round out this 7-day intensive experience. The workshop begins Saturday evening the 7th and ends Saturday afternoon the 14th.

This post was submitted by Michael G. Smith.