Artistic Cob Oven & Benches
June 8, 2025 ∞ 4:00 pm - June 14, 2025 ∞ 4:00 pm
$600 – $700
THE PROJECT
Eight students will come together for 6 days to build a communal pizza/bread/anything oven & sculpted unique complementary benches that will embellish the wild land with its new Cob Apothecary (built in the previous 5 weeks) and provide a comfortable outdoor gathering space to commune and share food.Both oven and benches will be built simultaneously as the oven is built in phases that need to set before continuing, which will free the students up to create their artistic benches AND a personal cob sculpture that they will work on all week and bring home to gift someone special on Father’s Day!
SIX-DAY SCHEDULE
DAILY SCHEDULE
The daily schedule (subject to slight modifications due to climate/time of year) will be:
7:30-8:15 Breakfast
8:30-1:00 Class
1:00-2:30 Lunch
2:30-5:30 Class (Lecture on MWF’s)
5:30-7:00 Rest/Yoga
7:00-8:00 Dinner
8:00-9:00 Slides/Videos/Discussion (once a week)
Students are expected to be on time and participate in all sessions and required activities as the goal of completing the project depends on the whole group working together!
MEALS & ACCOMMODATIONS
Host Nicole’s layout in Pescadero, CA, 2024
We will serve three meals a day from Monday through Friday including the Welcome and Celebration Dinners and Farewell Brunch. Weekends students will be on their own for food and may use the onsite kitchen. Meals will be vegetarian and locally-based as much as possible, including farm produce and eggs! Carnivores & pescatarians & omnivores will, if desired, be offered non-vegetarian options of meals a few times a week and/or supplemented reasonably with canned fish, dried meats, cold cuts. They are also welcome to buy additions to cook on the side.
We will attend to vegan and gluten-free diets if needed, but any other restrictions & allergies that require extensive preparation needs will probably not be able to be honored. And kitchen will only be accessible on weekends for students.
Camping with your own tent and bedding is free and the only option unless someone lives nearby or wants to rent an AirBnB and drive in daily.
TRANSPORTATION
Students can fly in to Dallas/Ft. Worth 90 minutes away. There are shuttles, carpools with other students, and the Hosts can organize airport pickups on Saturday and Sunday as well. More info will be provided in the Welcome Letter sent a month before the workshop starts and a Whatsapp group will be created so students can organize rides.
TOM VAN WELL
COB INSTRUCTOR
I’m Tom from the Netherlands and living and working in Portugal now. I was born in
Amsterdam, soon after which my parents decided to take me out of the big city and we moved to Maastricht! Other cultures and languages were never far away, in Belgium and Germany right next door.
Doing honor to the region, I got my bachelor’s degree in ‘European Studies’, with no clue of where I wanted it to take me. However, following the example of an entrepreneurial father, I’d always known I wanted to do something for myself. I explored different paths which led me to South America for more than a year, where I was first introduced to earthen building and sustainable lifestyles. I finished my bachelor’s degree in Berlin and decided to stay there to work in a café, which I had been doing on and off since the age of 14.
Leaving all my stuff in Berlin, I decided to head to Portugal, and never returned. Life took me on a rollercoaster and since that felt good, I did not resist. While living on farms, my partner and I learned about distillation of wild plants for essential oils and hydrosols. Over the last 2 years we have led people on hands-on distilling experiences and travelled around Lisbon selling our products at markets.
Four years after leaving Berlin, I still find myself in Portugal, climbing its rocks, taking cold baths every morning in the Atlantic, playing guitar on the beaches, building my community of like-minded people, developing my own COB projects and continuing the business of artisanal distillation projects, all while enjoying life!
After some years of study, I found CruzinCobGlobal and registered for two workshops back to back: a Cob Oven course in the Azores and a 5-week Full Build in Tennessee. This turned out to be a catalyst for my skills and the beginning of the next new chapter of my Life: building independently, sharing knowledge through workshops and growing my COB community in Portugal.
Co-leading the 5-week Full Build Workshop in Puerto Rico in January will be a continuation of my teaching and learning journey, and my official entrance into the CruzinCobGlobal teaching world, which I am very excited about and proud of and have been working hard to prepare for. I feel blessed co-teaching that workshop with my friend Christian, whom I also met in a CCG workshop! I am super excited to be leading in Texas and Chattanooga as a Full Instructor, and to be working with my Cob colleague Clayton for this workshop. I can’t wait to meet you all and for you to join us, as these workshops are a life-changing experience, and have definitely been for me! See you in the Fall!
CLAYTON WILLIAMS
COB INSTRUCTOR
Hi, I’m Clayton – natural building enthusiast, part-time dancer, the most bashful Aries you’ve ever met (it’s in there though), and self-proclaimed expert in making animal sounds to liven up your day.
I think I was always destined to work with cob, and took a little while to discover it (or maybe it found me.) Since taking an internship in permaculture/natural building in Costa Rica 2021, I’ve been hooked. I’m also passionate about nature, wildlife, reading, writing, and reflecting on the simple things in life. Through natural building, I channel my creativity in a genuine and organic way.
At home on the farm in Martha’s Vineyard!
My sole aspiration is to create a life of purpose, while living in harmony with our planet. I want to show others that we can have all the modern conveniences, but in a less extractive and natural way.
I found my way to natural building through unconventional ways and by attending a two-month intensive internship in natural building, sustainable living, and permaculture in Costa Rica in the summer of 2021. I immediately knew that this was the path I wanted to follow for the rest of my life. Afterwards, I spent a year volunteering on permaculture/eco spaces in the mountains of Puerto Rico; helping with building projects, growing food, and immersing myself in living more harmoniously with Mother Earth.
While enjoying a slower-paced life and being inspired by my hosts, I decided it was time to steward land and create a place where people come together to enjoy a more peaceful lifestyle. In order to do this, I have been organic farming on Martha’s Vineyard for the past two years.
In January 2024, I attended my first CCG workshop in Puerto Rico. Working with the cob and seeing how healing/transformative it can be is what impresses me most, as well as the ability to create astonishing functional art. I look forward to continuing to gain knowledge in all facets of natural building and sharing my love of cob with others. I look forward to co-leading this Oven workshop with my friend and colleague Tom.
REGISTRATION & PAYMENT
Very Early Bird Rate: USD$600, paid in full by January 8th, 2024
Early Bird Rate: USD$650, paid in full by March 8th, 2025
Standard Rate: USD$700, paid in full by May 8th, 2025
We are offering 2 work trade positions which give you a $60 discount for working one hour each weekday from 6:30am to 7:30am either on the site prepping materials and other work as guided by the Instructors or preparing & putting away breakfast. One person for each service. These are the first options to go. Depending on when you pay in full, the discount is taken off the appropriate amount.
Payment can be made using Zelle, Paypal and Venmo to claudinedesiree@gmail.com. Europeans and other international students can pay in USD using the Wise app/website using same email.
Please contact claudine@cruzincobglobal.org or Whatsapp +1(831) 212-7225 to register and ask any questions.
To hold one of our 8 spots, you can make a 50% deposit. The balance owed depends on the date of payment in full. Final payment deadline is May 8th, 2025.
CANCELLATION POLICY
Students who have paid and cancel by February 8th, 2025 can get a full refund minus a 5% administrative/inconvenience fee on the amount they have paid.
Students who have paid and cancel by March 8th, 2025 will receive a credit for a future workshop within two years minus a 10% administrative/inconvenience fee.
Students who have paid and cancel after March 8th, 2025 will not receive a refund or credit unless they have proof of an emergency situation or other reason out of their control, in which case they will receive a credit for two years minus the 10% admin fee.
SEE YOU IN THE MUUUUUUD!
