Working on the Cob House

July and August 2014 

Traditional earth dwellings of the Pueblo Indians, Taos, NM

Vernacular buildings record lifestyles of the past, when people had to find a sustainable way of life or perish. Just as we will have to now. The new importance of vernacular building is that it has vital ecological lessons for today.  Building with Cob: A Step-by-Step Guide, David Pearson, Earth & Spirit  Weismann, Adam; Bryce, Katy (2006-02-01). 

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Would you like to spend a few months in Brazil this year? We’re looking for one or two people to live with us for a while and work alongside us on a variety of projects - permaculture, gardening, bio-construction, advanced composting, and working with bamboo. We offer room and board in exchange for a few hours of work a day. You pay your own round trip fare to Brasilia, we pick you up at the airport, show you around, assist you with practical matters, help you learn Portuguese if you wish. If you’d like to know more, please email me at gretabrowne@gmail.com.    

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Rocks

Bit by bit we’ve been building the foundation for our cob house. Guy dug the trenches and lined them with gravel, placing rounded tiles along the bottom of the trenches to provide a conduit for rainwater to drain. However when he tamped down the gravel it appears that the tiles broke. We believe it won’t be a problem here since the earth drains well, but we do plan to make a second ditch about a meter above the house to draw excess water away.

The trench digger

Fofo inspects the trench

Since we’re trying to build as much as we can with local materials that can be had for the taking, we’ve been collecting rocks along roads and streams within a 3-mile range.

White rocks along a sandy road, at 4000 ft altitude.

Sparkling creek and smooth well shaped rocks.

Building those muscles.

The rock pile grows.

Building with rocks is new to both of us and we’re learning as we go along.

The first puzzle-like layer.

Greta's second layer

Guy's second layer.

Mixing the sand/lime mortar.