I am pleased to announce that my most recent book is now available, both in print form and as a Kindle from Amazon.com. Earthbag Architecture: Building Your Dream with Bags is the story of my involvement with earthbags over nearly two decades. I spent much of this winter resurrecting memories of the earthbag projects that I have completed and sorting through a multitude of photographs. Some 240 of these full color images grace the pages of this informative book.
I recently had a chance to chat with Matthew Cutler-Welsh in New Zealand. He has conducted a podcast called Home Style Green for many years and our conversation is now available to listen to. It lasts about half an hour.
A 48-page easy to read ebook that describes the many advantages of building your own home without the help of contractors. It explains how we’ve become financially crippled by easy credit and how the inflation of home prices has caused the housing crisis.
I’ve been corresponding with a long time reader about how to develop low cost natural building training courses. The idea is to provide a range of free and low cost training materials that instructors can choose from to develop training programs for students. Kelly and I have already made a pretty good start with our videos, free plans, online articles, blog posts and Instructables. Some of these are listed below for ease of reference. These free materials could be supplemented with my low cost Earthbag Building Guide and/or DVD.
“Who learns skills for free? Interns who assist aid organizations.
Learn and serve in the US only or here and overseas as well. Build Simple Inc. offers free training in construction and design of geo-textile buildings like earthbag and straw wattle or techniques like Ubuntu-blox that use agricultural waste or plastic trash.
Two weeks of training near Albuquerque, NM is being scheduled for early July, with repeat dates in September. Help BSI to advance building knowledge about alternative techniques while you learn. Builders, photographers, building designers, and service team leaders can all contribute needed skills. Engineers and engineering students are especially needed to test structures- ask about donating a day or getting involved in an ongoing study.