Matts Myhrman, co-founder of The Last Straw Journal and a natural building legend, passed away peacefully on October 15th 2024.
I first met Matts and his wife Judy Knox at the 2000 Natural Building Colloquium in New Mexico and was immediately captivated by the sparkle in their eyes. Matts is an elder statesman in the straw bale movement, and the two of them had been traveling around the country interviewing people who have been living in straw bale homes to compile into a book. Matts showed slides of a straw bale retrofit of an existing concrete block house that they owned in Tucson, Arizona. What a transformation took place as they wrapped the cold concrete with warm straw!
While he caught the “straw bale bug” long ago, he was more committed to the people he worked and played with than any one technique. We’ll remember his relentless curiosity and focus on the fun of natural building.
At the 2003 Natural Building Colloquium in New Mexico Matts and Judy who not only presented a wonderful slide show about their work, but also conducted a workshop on building a temporary emergency shelter with straw. The building went up in just one day, complete with roof and door.
The next day Matts demonstrated the use of a simple spray gun that can handle a wide range of natural plasters.
Source: www.thelaststraw.org