Two CruzinCobGlobal Cob Oven & Bench Workshops in 2020: Romania & Azores

Our two Oven & Bench workshops will take place in Petris, Romania, after the 5-week Advanced Cob Building workshop, from Sep 6-13, and  on the Azores island of São Miguel (see description below) also following the 5-week Advanced Cob Building workshop, from November 15-20, 2020.
Visit cruzincobglobal.org to see each location’s offerings.

Here is a description of both workshops as they will be the same.

HOST & LOCATION

The Cob Oven workshop will be located on the Quinta da Vida Beleza site and follow the 5-week Advanced Cob Building Workshop. Please visit the event page for that workshop to find out about the location and the island of São Miguel. Host will be Claudine Désirée, founder and director of CruzinCobGlobal, on her new piece of land.

PROJECT

We will be building a community-size cob oven for baking everything in fueling it with the plentiful wood in the forest behind the Quinta. Students will build the foundation, insulation, and three oven shells (inner, insulation, outer) and finish with plaster. The high heat-exposed cob is different than the building cob used for the benches and external sculpted shell and students will learn the difference and how to figure out each mix. The oven and benches will allow for maximum creativity that will depend on the students’ input and inspiration! All materials will be as local as possible and students will be building all phases with some lecture time to support the hands-on work.

COB OVEN WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

The 5-day workshop will begin on Sunday evening, November 15th, with dinner at 6pm, followed by an Opening Circle, Introduction to the Site & Island and to the Workshop. Monday morning November 16th at 9am we begin building the foundation. There will be hands-on building for 4 hours in the morning followed by lunch and rest for 1.5 hours. At 2:30pm there will be a 30-60-minute lecture followed by construction in the afternoon. Students will have time to relax in the afternoon and go to the beach or on a walk or into town if they like before dinner. There may be someone in the group offering to lead yoga or chi gong movement practice also.

SCHEDULE

The daily schedule (subject to slight modifications due to climate) will be:

7:30-8:30 Breakfast
8:45-1:00 Class
1:00-2:30 Lunch
2:30-5:30 Class
5:30-7:00 Rest/Yoga
7:00-8:00 Dinner

COURSE CONTENTS

The first day of the workshop will be building the foundation out of local rock, broken concrete or even tires. Day 2 we will build the support for the oven as well as the form and inner cob shell. On Day 3 we will focus on the benches so the oven can dry. We will be building the foundations and covering them with cob. Day 4 we will empty the oven (if ready to be emptied), and cover it with the insulation layer in the morning and the final sculpting cob layer in the afternoon. After sculpting, everything will be plastered on the final day. And, if the sand is out, we may even be able to light it and make pizza! Yippee!!!!

REQUIREMENTS & IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Students will need to come prepared for building from Day 1.

This includes:

Work clothes appropriate for the country and climate we are in
Work boots or other closed-toe shoes (for foundation work)
Flip-flops (for cob days)
Rubber dishwashing gloves (for lime mortar for foundation)
Work Gloves (for carrying rocks)
4”-6” Diameter Round Plastic Container Lids (for plastering)
Good Moisturizer
Hat
Sunglasses
Water Bottle
Notebook/Pen/Camera
Sample of Your Soil (Optional)

Please get the excellent cob oven bible by Kiko Denzer called “Build Your Own Earth Oven”…noone has written a better one yet. Amazon has it of course…https://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Own-Earth-Oven/dp/096798467X as do others. There are many inspiring pictures and it will prepare you well for what’s to come.

Students need to tend to their needs like making sure they drink alot of water (clay is drying), get good sleep and stretch before and after class. This class is not very demanding physically compared to the building workshops but if you are not used to doing any physical work with earth, sand, rocks….you should definitely prepare yourself in the weeks ahead by resting well, stretching, and even carrying rocks around properly. Also feel free to share your dietary needs (not preferences) with CCG and bring your special snacks and foods, pillow and whatever you NEED to be comfortable and happy. We also encourage you to bring slides, videos, movies and books to share, as well as a sample of your soil to test. And we always play diverse music onsite while we build, so bring your favorite playlists!

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS

From Europe, you can fly with Azores Airlines, TAP or Ryan Air. These are the main airlines flying here with Ryan Air being the cheapest, especially from Lisbon (19€/one way).

Coming from the North America, direct flights are only from Boston and Toronto with Azores Airlines. Delta was flying here from New York last year, not sure about now. Check TAP too. That being said you can book with Azores Airlines or TAP from anywhere in the US to connect in Boston or buy two separate tickets. You can also fly to Lisbon and then take RyanAir to Ponta Delgada. NorwegianAir is super cheap especially off-season and flies from the US to Barcelona and Madrid from which you can take RyanAir to PDL. You will be picked up from the airport to go to the land by the Host.

For students wanting to stay on and explore other islands, SATA airlines connects all the islands year-round.

MEALS, ACCOMMODATIONS & WHAT ELSE TO BRING

Students will be fed 3 high-quality prepared delicious meals a day during the weekdays. CruzinCobGlobal hosts always serve amazing food to cob students in gratitude for their hard work! Since this is the Azores there will be fresh and amazing vegetarian food, which will be the basis of our menu. Students that have non-vegetarian requirements can bring personal items to complete their diet and other requirements can be presented to the cooks a month before the start date so they can make sure to have what is needed. We will try to meet people’s requirements of course so it is important to communicate them as soon as possible. Local fish may be served once a week. On weekends, students will be on their own for their meals and can explore and enjoy the island’s offerings!!!

Students will be camping onsite with simple and rustic facilities like compost toilets, hot and cold outdoor showers, an outdoor kitchen & dining area, a yoga/dance space and a cozy hangout communal area with fire circle. This will be the first workshop and we will do everything we can to offer maximum comfort and enjoyment during this wonderful and transformational time together. The site has normal cell phone service with a 10€ sim card (3GB + unlimited calls & texts) which students can hotspot to their computers if desired. There are many cafés nearby for wifi use. There is a local Decathlon store with camping equipment if you prefer to not fly with a tent one way and you may be able to sell it to someone or us when you leave.

For those not wanting to camp, there are also other options nearby. The Pés Verdes Teahouse is a very sweet hostel with cute patios right near the Praia da Milicias and the owner Margarida will offer our students a good deal!!!! Students can have a bed in a shared room (6 people), full kitchen, several bathrooms, outdoor patios, massage space, great teas and vegan snacks. She also has a few private rooms. Price will depend on how long you are staying. The hostel is right near the beautiful black sand beach and several nice restaurants and cafés facing the beach. Those choosing to stay there will need to either rent a vehicle (maybe shared together and which currently is 2€/day or less with GoldCar) or rent a bike. Its only a 5-10 minute flat bike ride to the Quinta. You could also walk and there may be the option of local students being able to pick you up along the way! If you want this option you will need to let us or them know to save your space. There are also closer locations in AirBnB accommodations, Hotel Arcanjo, and Alojamento Rural. Let us know and we can help. Meanwhile we will explore other good deals with locals.

INSTRUCTOR

Claudine Desiree is the original “Cob Queen” of Santa Cruz, where she founded the original “Sunflower Cob Building” which quickly morphed into the California-based “Cruzin’ Cob”, the cob workshop and building business that evolved over a decade. Once her three sons were “out of the house”, she went for her dream of traveling around the world on a bike teaching cob workshops everywhere every few months to continue supporting herself by offering up what she loves in the countries and languages she is passionate about. To work internationally with no home base required a new name and a website, hence CruzinCobGlobal was born naturally and appropriately and, after 5 years on the road, Claudine has finally found a new home….for now.

On the island of São Miguel in the Azores (where are the Azores?) she will establish a home and a small Cob Village called “Quinta da Vida Boa” for retreats, workshops, education and just plain chillin’in with friends and family!!!! CruzinCobGlobal will continue to do the important work of building the best houses and best communities ever of course… with new Teachers hitting the Cob road in 2020 as CCG-trained students begin leading workshops and builds around the world. Claudine will also keep teaching in her favorite places and spreading the Cob everywhere, with more focus on the Azores land and project now. California will always be one of those favorite places, her and her children’s home for 20 years. And the demand to learn Cob in California is always growing with the fires and earthquakes threatening conventional houses. Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe are calling too! And the best part is we have a “legal” Cob Code to use anywhere in the world thanks to the CRI architects’ and engineers’ hard work and perseverance!

REGISTRATION & PAYMENT

The fee for the 5-day Cob OvenWorkshop which includes tuition, camping and meals from Monday through Friday is:

Full Rate: 400€  by November 8th, 2020

(Sacramento and Pietris workshops are 7 days and include benches and more details).

For European residents and others, payment can be made by bank transfer in Euros or you can use Transferwise or Paypal. For US residents you can also use Zelle or Venmo. To hold your spot in this workshop you will need to pay the full amount or a 50% deposit that will be non-refundable after September 15th, 2020. The balance will be due by November 8th, one week before the workshop start date. Please contact claudine@cruzincobglobal.org for registration forms and questions.

We can offer 2 work trade discounts in the kitchen making breakfast in the morning. Each work trade is for 1.5 hours per day for 10€off per day or 50€ off the full rate. Work traders need to pay a non-refundable 50% deposit at the time of their registration to guarantee their spot. To apply for these work trade positions please contact claudine@cruzincobglobal.org as soon as possible because these are the first spots to go.

CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU AT MY NEW HOME!!!