Here is another nicely made video in the Groundwork series featuring straw bale building and explaining why it makes so much sense to think in terms of using natural materials for dwellings. You can watch the video at www.youtube.com or click the title to watch on the blog.
I have been familiar with biochar as mainly an agricultural soil amendment that helps provide habitat for beneficial microbes and sequesters carbon in the ground. It hadn’t occurred to me that it could also be used as a building material, until a reader suggested that I check out this article at www.biochar-journal.org Biochar is a … Read more
Sustainable Life School‘s mission is to empower themselves and others with natural building and sustainable living techniques. Morgan and Mary Jane Caraway have been homesteading off-grid since 2009, when they built their first earthbag home. They held their initial public workshops in 2011, while building a sun room addition on to their earthbag roundhouse. In … Read more
Thousands gathered in the World Heritage city of Djenné in Mali for the annual Grand mosque plastering ceremony. This adobe building is considered to be one of the greatest achievements of the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style. The plastering is done with banco, which is a mixture of sand, water, shea butter, rice bran and baobab powder … Read more
With 25,000 euros and 1000 hours of work, Maurizio Cesprini and his partner Paola Gardin rebuilt a ruined home in the medieval village of Ghesc, Italy. They hope other young families will consider their example with a plentiful supply of medieval ghost towns. They also feel drawn to save the rich architectural heritage of artisanal … Read more
Recently, Joe Trumpey and a group of students put the finishing touches on the first straw bale building on the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus. Besides the straw, many recycled materials were used for the structure. The wood used in the building was sourced from campus trees that were dead or dying. “It’s very … Read more