In 1996, Raghava inherited a coconut plantation from his grandfather. Unlike his ancestors who had practiced agriculture for seven generations, Raghava, then an undergraduate, had no connection with the soil. “I grew up on a healthy diet of inspiring stories of local and international entrepreneurs. This was one of the reasons that motivated me to … Read more
A week long straw bale workshop near Ann Arbor, Michigan had 43 participants. “Building a straw bale home isn’t much different than a conventional home,” said Andrew Morrison, who created the workshop. “It uses regular foundations and floor frames, with posts and beams, and from there, workers stuff straw bales into the walls instead of … Read more
Mudgirls Manifesto is primarily a review of the evolution of the Mudgirls Collective, a radical group of Canadian women whose philosophy is that there should be no limits to their activities based on gender or social expectation. For over a decade they have been building homes for clients using natural materials and conducting workshops on … Read more
As part of the Silver City Clay Festival, Jeff Leblanc conducted a three-day cob workshop on his property, introducing the attendees to the basics of building cob walls and plastering them. There were nine participants, most of them thinking that they might well utilize cob techniques in building a residence. Jeff has lived in the … Read more
An article entitled “Typical wildfire recovery is ‘rebuilding to burn’, but there’s another way” makes the point that instead of rebuilding burned houses with the same mainstream concepts that continue to be vulnerable to fires, people should look toward more naturally fire-resistant methods, such as strawbale, cob, adobe, stone, etc. Not only are these methods … Read more
“Permaculture uses systems thinking and design principles to consciously design ‘landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fibre and energy for provision of local needs’” (David Holmgren) but one might think it go beyond this definition. EDGE EFFECT is a feature length documentary by Ana Sany … Read more