Travel Blog May 2005, Ukiah, CA

We took a natural building workshop in Ukiah last May.

First we went to the house, the person giving the workshop was the son-in-law of the woman who owned the house, he is a professional natural home builder. It was very informal, and besides having to sit in the house for a while for a short lecture, and sniff in dog hair, we spent the 2 days outside making a cob oven and earth bag wall.

The first day we had a little intro, it was very informative, a great starting point, and then we got to work, making cob bricks. Lunch was at a local buddhist vegan restaurant in a buddhist community - this place is a must see! Peacocks and interesting architecture. Menawhile the bricks baked in the sun, so we started on the oven when we returned from lunch. It was a brick bbq that we covered, and the builder had a special iron door made for it. he explained that it would require less energy and heat than a standard bbq and how u can use it all day long to make all of the daily cooked needs. We put a trash bag of rocks in the bbq center, in order to make a rounded igloo like top, and carved out the whole in the back for an air vent. The placement was important for this vent, it was in the back, and on a slight angle to allow the air to escape slowly, and keep the air & rain out.

The first night we pitched a tent and camped at a local camp ground. This was our first experience like this. It was ok, the tent was small, the sleeping pads not very comfy, having to p in the middle of the night was ok until i hear the coyote, and the bugs seemed to hoover right at our camp site. ok i'll complain a little more, it's so not a vegan place to be, people fishing in the lake, and bbq's fired up at every camp site. Hearing and seeing the animals was kinda scary too. On a good note, it was a beautiful campsite right on a huge lake surrounded by mountains.

Day 2 - more cob bricks, a few people showed up to help, the first day it was only one other participant and the family. We started the earth bag walls, filling these bags with rocks and laying them on top of each other, then pounding each one down to make them flat. The next step was to cover the wall in earth plaster (cob & lyme), which we didn't have time to do. The oven we did finish, we covered it in earth plaster, and when it dries the door will be added.

We learned a lot, I recommend anyone who doesn't have experience in cob to take a workshop like this, it was cheap and we didn't have to worry about making mistakes, because no-one was living in what we created.

(I HAVE PICS BUT IT'S NOT UPLOADING, i'll try again later)