Cob with Rob! Summer Camp for DIYers

There is a new school in town and it is called Mud and Pearls.
Teaching natural building techniques and demystifying tools through a
series of workshops over the summer of 2011, these summer camps for grown-ups inspire and lead people do it themselves. The biggest will be a week-long cob building workshop at Willow Springs, where students will learn how to build a wall from foundation to roof in just one week. This knowledge is easily transferable to one’s own property, in the form of a sauna or small house. Rob Pollacek, star student at Cob Cottage, has built many homes in the Northern California and will teach. Willow Springs is a community hub in North San Juan, currently hosting an organic farm, yoga classes, and a collective of artists and artisans.
       “I started Mud and Pearls because I built a little straw bale cabin with the help of my friends and family, and was so inspired to have a place to live without a mortgage that I wanted to pass on the information,” states Mud and Pearls head woman, Samantha Hinrichs.
“Jeff Adams, creative director of Willow Springs, is nearing licensure as an architect and loves natural building.  And Rob is one of the best cob builders I have seen... so this workshop was
a natural extension of what we all love.”
       Cob building is an ancient technique that is most often seen in old English countryside homes. Chubby and soft with limewash, they were often thatched and surrounded by cottage gardens: in a word, the perfect country house. Recently part of a renaissance in building
trends embracing natural and reusable materials, cob is the foundation of natural building: used in Earth-ships, straw bale and other homes, it is the first step in leaving traditional stick frame construction behind.
       Cob is extremely simple, which is probably why it has not caught on to the modern world. It is made out of sand, straw and clay, can be mixed by hand or a tractor, and can be molded into sculptures. It is often confused with adobe, a very similar material, but while adobe is dried and formed into bricks cob is built while it is wet, so the clay molecules can bond to one another. If made by owner builders, it can be cheap, but since it is so labor intensive it is expensive for the
homeowner who hires a contractor. However, with it’s thick walls it works well for most climates, and since it is so flexible, unusual-shaped projects are common.

Willow Springs hosts this workshop, with students camping on the property and eating meals prepared from fresh, organic produce produced by Honey Circle Farm, a CSA operated by Ruby Turple, co-founder of the Sierra Seed Cooperative.  Under the stewardship of Jeff Adams, Willow Springs is emerging as a prototype for small-scale ecovillage design integrating commercial, residential, and agricultural uses while implementing regenerative practices to balance the site's ecology.

The workshop will culminate in conjunction with the second annual Living Skills Day at Willow Springs.  On Saturday, July 2, from 1 to 11 pm, this event will celebrate our community's interdependence.  During the afternoon, visitors will be able to sample a diverse network of Skills Stations and by-donation yoga classes.  Featuring knowledgeable, local artisans, each Skills Station will have a scheduled 45-minute skills session of focused instruction as well as ongoing open demonstrations.  Skills will include timber framing, basket weaving, weaving and natural dyes, gardening and seed saving, primitive skills, herbalism, and more.  A farm fresh lunch prepared by Honey Circle Farm will also be available.  The evening will feature live music on a bicycle-powered stage with performances by Stitchcraft (Heather Normandale), Kipchoge and the Ginger Ninjas, and Shamless Seamus and Aimless Amos's starring the legendary Obo Martin.

Registration for the cob workshop is filling up fast. Register through Mud and Pearls, http://www.mudandpearls.com, or by calling 530 362 8082.