Introduction to Cob and Natural Building

This course covers the basics of natural building, while focusing on cob and straw bale construction. This course will teach you how to prospect and test for appropriate building sediment, how to mix cob, various cob wall building techniques, the installation of windows into cob walls, methods for attachment of wood (e.g. doors, roofs), and how to sculpt niches, shelves and furniture. The straw bale building component teaches students how to select, cut, stack, pin, compress, and trim straw bales. Students will learn how to smoothly integrate various natural building materials to create the best possible building solution for each individual situation.

Along with Cob and Straw bale, other materials and techniques that could be included in the course are:

• Slipstraw for interior walls and insulation


• Drylaid and mortared masonry for foundations (using unshaped stone, dressed stone, urbanite, and/or brick)


• Roundwood carpentry for posts and structural wall members and roofs


• Natural plasters using clay, lime, and gypsum


• Various additional techniques such as earthbag construction, rammed earth, adobe, cordwood, wattle and daub

The Natural Building Intensive

Henry Beston noted how the hand-made thing has the mark of the living soul. This sentiment forms one of the guiding principles for this intensive, and extensive, natural building program. The Natural Building Intensive is a unique course that brings together a collaborative group of experienced and enthusiastic instructors with students in an in-depth, hands-on experience in natural building, from the design stages through finishing touches. Students enrolled in the summer 2007 program will help design and build a complete structure from start to finish—a garden folly handcrafted from natural stone, cob, straw, timber, light clay and living plants right down the road from Yestermorrow in Warren Village. This program, which is a first for Vermont and the Northeast, provides the opportunity to develop a range of natural building skills for owner-builders and aspiring professional natural builders alike. This program includes the following courses: stone masonry; scribe timberframing; cob, strawbale and other mud/straw building techniques; earthen and lime plasters; earthen floors; living roofs, and; rocket stoves. Four slots will be available for students to complete the full 10 week intensive, and 10+ spaces are open for registration in individual classes. Deva (deva@sgnb.com) will be directing this project for the Yestermorrow Design/Build School (www.yestermorrow.org), and he can be contacted for additional information. Please contact Yestermorrow directly for registration.

Earthen Plasters

In this 2 day workshop we teach the basics of preparing, mixing, and applying earthen plaster. The workshop will focus on understanding the materials, rather than memorizing receipts, so that students can take what they have learned and create their own plasters from their own materials. Basic earthen plasters are a combination of clay soil, sand, water and sometimes fiber. They have been used all over the world for century's. They can be applied to on earthen or straw bale wall, or as a wonderful way to make an existing sheetrock wall more natural and beautiful. We will go over how to find clay in the earth, as well as ways to make plaster with bought materials.

Wood Fired Cob Oven

Earthen ovens are a great introduction for everyone who is interested in learning to bulding with earth. We will learn to mix cob and earthen plaster, and provide you with the skills to build an oven in your own back yard.

Introduction to Cob Building

Most of us played with mud when we were children. As adults you now have an excuse to do that all over again. Perhaps half the world's population lives in earthen buildings. Building with earth is an affordable, safe and ecologically sound method of construction. During the one week Introduction to Cob Building course you will learn how to begin building your own earthen home. Cob is a combination of clay sediment, sand, and straw mixed together with water and hand formed into walls. This course will teach you how to prospect and test for appropriate building sediment, how to mix cob, various wall building techniques, the installation of windows into cob walls, methods of attachment for wood (e.g. doors, roofs), and how to sculpt niches, shelves, and furniture. We will also have discussion sessions about natural building, the siting and design of buildings, foundations and drainage, plasters and earthen floors, and electric and plumbing for cob buildings.

Permaculture Design Course

Permaculture is an evolving and expanding system of design for ecological living: integrating plants, animals, buildings, people, communities, and the landscapes that surround us. This workshop series will introduce and develop permaculture concepts and principles to help us create beautiful, sustainable, productive, and regenerative human environments using natural ecosystems as models. With a weekend schedule ideal for those with families and weekday obligations, we develop these skills through experiential, participatory, and classroom learning. Participants engage in hands on-site analysis and ecological design than can be applied to sites anywhere, and develop familiarity with techniques and under-acknowledged species particularly suited to Vermont and the Northeast. Students collaboratively generate scale base-maps, design drawings, and implementation plans for an existing multi-use community space and ecological education center. Participants will also be guided through an in-depth design process for individual design projects for sites of their own choosing.

Intro to Coppice Forestry

Coppicing is a system of traditional sustainable forestry in which trees are cut during the dormant winter season and allowed to regrow on rotations of 5-20 years, producing an abundance of straight, fast grown poles typically used for fencing, fuel, furniture and construction. Through both lecture and hands-on woodland work, this two day intensive course will focus on the history and practice of coppice woodland management in the UK, the potential for its development in the northeastern United States, wood science and species selection, and the conversion of coppiced poles into useful products. Fieldwork will include charcoal production, chair making and green woodworking techniques, fence construction and coppice establishment and maintenance.

Intro to Green Woodworking

Green woodworking is a traditional technique where unseasoned wood is shaped and assembled using hand tools. Upon splitting out stock from freshly cut, straight-grained logs, a craftsperson shapes the wood by shaving or turning. This introductory level weekend course will introduce students of all levels to the history, science, tools and processes central to green woodworking through demonstrations, slides and hands on experience. We will also discuss the different properties and uses of woods native to the area. During the weekend, participants will build their own shaving horse, an essential tool for the green woodworker. Class size limited to five.

Straw Bale Design/Build

Have you always wondered about straw bale construction? Heard it is only for hot and dry climates? Think again! With their combination of insulation and thermal mass, plastered straw bale walls can be perfect for cold - and even wet - climates if they are designed and built according to a set of time tested principles. This course balances sessions in the classroom and on site so you will learn to think your way through a bale house while gaining a feel for the nature of straw, clay and lime as building materials. (The January offering will complete a demonstration project in our heated shop.) All Levels.

This course is being hosted by the Yestermorrow Design/Build School. Please click here for more information about this course and to register.

Natural Plasters and Finishes

Henry Beston noted how the hand-made thing has the mark of the living soul. This course will teach you how to create and apply beautiful hand finished plasters and paints on many wall surfaces. People around the world have been using clay, gypsum, and lime as plasters and paints for millenia, and these materials have shown a timeless aesthetic and utility. The course will cover at a basic level three principle plaster and paint mediums: clay, lime, and gypsum, and finish with plaster coats, paints, and washes of clay, lime, casein, wheat paste, mica, pigments, and other natural ingredients. Students will leave this course with practical experience mixing and applying a wide variety of finishes on various wall systems, from rough straw bale to finished gypsum wall board. Emphasis will be given on learning the working properties of the materials and developing critical thinking skills to apply the knowledge in real-world situations, rather than on specific recipes for specific conditions. All Levels.

• All fees include tuition, materials, vegetarian meals and camping accommodation, unless noted.
• A deposit of $100 is required to reserve a space.
• Full payment is required 30 days prior to Workshop.
• Course fee shall be paid by cash or money order. No personal or business checks will be accepted.
• We will never turn down anyone for lack of funds. We have work trade available for those in need.

• 20% discount for full payment received 90 days in advance of deadline.
• 50% discount for alumni.
• 10% discount for families and friends traveling together.
• 25% maximum total discount. (50% for alumni)
• * Discounts and meals may vary, contact the instructor for details.