Natural Building and a New Sense of the Earth

Have you ever dreamed of another kind of life? Not the job that you don’t want to go off to in the morning, or the house you have to keep on paying for year after year, but a life closer to the earth, a little place in the country that you build yourself, a garden and some solar panels for electricity, time to be with those you love and to do the things you most want to do. An impossible dream? Maybe not. Right now people all over are working to create an alternative to a consumer society that gives us less and less satisfaction and is more and more destructive to the earth and to us, as well. Explore the world of natural building and meet some of its pioneers who are creating beautiful and inexpensive houses out of earth and straw, houses that you can make, too. This is a way of building that can transform how you see the earth and yourself. Visit: Linda Smiley and Ianto Evans who pioneered the use of building with earth, straw and sand called cob in the U.S. and who now run the North American School of Natural Building in Coquille, Oregon where they and their students have used natural building methods to create a little village. Coenraad and Courtney Rogmans who took a piece of undeveloped land, built straw bale and cob buildings complete with solar electricity and a water catchment system, and who teach natural building workshops. Taylor Starr at White Oak Farm, an organic farm and educational center, which is putting the final touches on a striking timber-framed straw bale and cob community center. Brendan Flanagan, with his family and friends, turned a remote wooded hillside into a snug community of homes and gardens. Rob Bolman, an advocate of incorporating natural building techniques into mainstream building practices, who created an ecovillage in the middle of Eugene, Oregon, and who speaks passionately about the link between natural building and social justice. Meka Bunch who after only a week-long workshop, built his own elegant cob cottage and who works sharing natural building with people abroad. And Kiko Denzer, a sculptor and cob builder, and his wife Hannah, an organic gardener and baker, who transformed a dilapidated outbuilding in the country into a cozy cob home surrounded by beautiful gardens. For more on this subject go to http://innerexplorations.com/