Around 1846 lime began to gain popularity over erosion-prone mud; It was popular for plasters and for mortar in much construction until the arrival of Portland cement during the first decade of the 20th century. This first instance of the term “cement stucco” in the archives of the Santa Fe New Mexican appeared in 1907, … Read more
The following blog post was written by Michael G. Smith originally for motherearthnews.com and I have shamelessly posted it here to further spread his wise words.A group of about two dozen people gather on a wooded hillside in Northern California. They are women, men, and children, ranging in age from three to 72. They come … Read more
The Paddy Field Bookstore, located among paddy fields in the Xiadi village in China, is made from the remains of an abandoned house. Xiadi , which is over 800 years old, is in China’s Fujian province, which is close to the bordering island country of Taiwan. Rather than tearing down the village’s many dilapidated buildings, … Read more
Adobe haciendas and ranch houses sprinkled throughout the rolling hills of North San Diego County serve as enduring reminders of the region’s Spanish-Mexican rancho heritage. Much of our local adobe rancho history has crumbled into ruins, a trend that changed course at the turn of the 20th century, when gentleman farmers looking to escape urban … Read more
Arg-e Bam, the world’s largest adobe building in the route of Silk Road, is located in Kerman, southern Iran. You can see even more pictures at en.irna.ir
This artificial cave, called the Upton Chamber, features a 14-foot-long tunnel that opens up into a dark, igloo-like underground dome. No one is quite sure who built this stone chamber. Records show that the land originally belonged to a local leather tanner in the 1800s, and farmers who lived around the land before that may … Read more