“First, let me introduce myself, for those of you who may have just stumbled upon this blog somehow. My name is Erin Finsel. I’m 19 and am just beginning my summer break before my Sophomore year at Berea College. I don’t know for sure, but I think I will be an independent Sustainability and Environmental Studies (SENS- I don’t know where the N comes from) major. My ultimate goal (as of right now) is to have a house, a garden, maybe a few chickens and a really nice cat.
So far, at Berea, I have taken an ecological design course and next semester I will be taking an ecological architecture course. Currently, there are only a handfull of Bereans who know how to build naturally (that is, using natural, often non-traditional, local materials such as clay, dirt, timber, straw and sand.) I have been given a Compton Internship for the summer to learn the techniques of natural building from Berea grad Jessa Turner, who is starting up her own natural building business, Homegrown HideAways, and Phil Hawn, who will be graduating in December and has built multiple natural building structures on campus. I will be helping to build three different shelters in Berea while teaching workshops to educate others.”
Source: Erin is Building Stuff blog
Berea College’s Sustainability and Environmental Studies program
Sustainability and Environmental Studies